We spent today taking friends across on holiday from San Francisco around again .... this time to the Camel Festival at Al Dhafra (about 1,5 hours drive south of Abu Dhabi) and the spectacular sand dunes around Liwa (another 45 minutes drive south).
Some of the contestants in the camel beauty competition .... the features that the judges look for is the height of the camel, the length of the neck and the size of the lips (in all cases, bigger is better) .... also the hump should be as far back as possible.
This is the grandstand alongside the main camel race track at Al Dhafra.
The camels used to be ridden by small children, but after this was made illegal, the camels are fitted with a small robot that comprises of a motor to rotate the whip to speed up the camels ....
.... and this motor is remotely controlled from the cars driving alongside the camels !!!
Sitting in the main VIP grandstand, being served arabian coffee, whilst watching the camel beauty parade.
A camel is paraded in front of the judges .... black camels are rarer, so are worth more than white ones .... the black camels are used for milking, and only the white camels are ridden. Last year's beauty compettion winner is worth Dhs. 50 million (Euro 10 million / US $ 13,7 million / GBP 8,4 million).
Just 30 minutes drive south of Al Dhafra (and on the outskirts of Liwa), there are the most spectacular sand dune formations.
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