vango

We started at 9 am driving the ring road around Arrecife. Our first stop was the Dromedary station. One hundred forty camels awaited our pleasure in neat rows saddled and ready to go. We formed two rows and made our way carefully across the camel lot. Those weren't dates on the ground. We were told not to sit until told to by the handler. The camels were muzzled and wearing bright green saddles that bridged the hump. They knelt in a line of about a dozen or so animals each attached to the next by a leash.

When we were directed to sit the handler tied us in with a sort of seat belt. Our feet rested on a slat of wood suspended by rope from the bottom of the chairs. When the camel stood up the man balanced the load by tying sand bags to the chairs. This was their way of accounting for two different sized passengers.

The camels were very close coupled so we they were breathing in our ears during the entire journey. The muzzle prevented them from biting. Some had cloth over the end of their muzzles to keep them from spitting as well. When every camel was upright we started our journey by making a u-turn heading away from the buses and up the hill. We followed other camel trains up the hill to a vantage point then back down to the start. Our handler did photograph each of us so we can prove we were there. At the end of the ride the camels all politely knelt and we disembarked and headed back to the bus.

At the end of the trip the guide distributed photos taken of us on the camels. She told us that if we were “prettier than the camel” then we should give her 5 euros. If we determined that the “camel is prettier”:then we should return the photo.