Camel Ride: The Sequel

Background: earlier in November in a parking lot outside the Roman theater at Aspendos, fellow Turkey tourer Brian and I paid to take camel rides; we each took pictures of the other during our few-minute rides in circles on a level parking lot.

That was before I knew that each person on the Egypt tour got to take a camel ride by the Pyramids. So, on the way from the Pyramids to the Sphinx, the tour stopped to take a group camel ride.

This time, the trip was significantly longer; the handlers led us a hundred yards or so down a small dune and then back up again for a trip of 10-15 minutes. Before Turkey, I'd never ridden a large animal. This time, I noticed that the saddle only had one stirrup; that led me to think of the severe ankle damage I'd likely sustain if I fell off. The inclined path didn't help either. The desert is somewhat rocky and uneven and it seemed that my camel kept stumbling and lurching a little as it went up and down, which made me more nervous. Much of the time, I had one hand on the reins and another hand on the post of the saddle behind me to secure myself. This awkwardness amused some of my fellow riders.

Another portion of camel rides that are somewhat disconcerting is that camels are too tall to easily mount or dismount while they are standing; so they have to crouch down for the riders. A standing camel, though, doesn't really want to go back down on the ground. So the handlers have thick sticks with which they strike the camel behind its front knees. This induces the camel to quickly kneel on its front legs and then more slowly lower its back legs. So the beginning and end of the rides are somewhat lurchy and I was never sure how the camel was going to react to this method of correction.

Here are some more pictures from my Giza camel ride.