Checking out a camel market near Abu Dhabi
Plenty of countries have huge numbers of camels—Somalia is estimated to have 7 million—but Australia has the largest population of genuinely wild camels.
With more than 1 million feral camels, you’d think we see them peering over the back fence, but they are mostly scattered across our central desert. I’ve seen them only in the outback.
But domestic and wild camels can be seen all over the Arabian Peninsula. We got our first close-up look at these beasts in the Al Ain Livestock Market, east of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
In addition to camels, the market features goats, cows and sheep. Apparently the animals and their sellers hang around until all sales are completed. The animals come in all colours, sizes and ages.
The sellers come from long distances, even as far away as Sudan and Afghanistan.
Young man with camel. Photo by Annette Gribbin
Some camels are bought for racing or breeding purposes, but I think most end up as meat. Not sure about the fate of goats, sheep and cows.
We saw animals (mostly camels) being loaded into trucks and the back of pickups. It’s quite a sight to see a camel trussed up and hoisted into a truck. It’s all snarls, struggle and snorting even after liftoff. I felt so sorry for them.
Farm goods for sale
Unloading hay
There were also sales of feed, farm wares, and some household goods.
We’re visiting another camel market soon in Saudi Arabia. I wonder how much different it will be?
Note: Not all pics have captions. Also, the video at the bottom of the post is of a camel being loaded unto a truck (turn up the sound). If you can’t view it, the four still photos just above the video show the same process.
Loading a camel 1
Loading a camel 2
Loading a camel 3
Loading a camel 4
Where to next? 
Thanks for sharing these camels 🐫 in Abu Dhabi . But visited there years ago. Anita
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It’s a fun way to spend a morning.
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Thanks 👍
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That’s something we don’t see in England. I also felt sorry for the camel, but I have to add that I am glad we do not have ‘smell-o-vision’. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I wouldn’t subject you to smell-o-vision.
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Holy wow!! Thanks for the video – trussed up is right! Great photos. 🙂
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You should have heard the complaints as the trussing up took place.
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Poor being-loaded camel, but awesome photo of the young man with the white camel! I saw a collection of (apparently) royal family camels in Doha this past spring, and they are such strange-looking creatures – simultaneously ugly with their awful teeth and charmingly awkward with their long legs. Keep having fun!
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Camels really are elegantly, beautifully ugly.
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I last saw and watched a camel auction in Egypt
Saw a really big herd, wil;d in Oz, they were crossing the road, there must have been 150-200, I didnt count them though
Anne got spat on by a camel in a zoo, they have terrible breath
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Oh my goodness, do they ever have bad breath.
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Heaven help you if you look edible to people!
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I’m sure I’d be considered too chewy.
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I’d take a long time in boiling water myself if I were for lunch!
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It’s fascinating to cross borders at times and experience different cultures. I wish you both, Peggy and John, an enriching, enjoyable time.
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Thank you so much. We have almost four weeks to go.
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What a traffic. I like the goats gallery
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I have more goat pictures. 🙂
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The first side on head shot looked like a smiling Camel. if it was the one being loaded into the dump truck the smile would have been long gone.
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It was almost the first camel I saw, and it wasn’t one being loaded. But that’s some toothy grin.
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I remember my first af trails trip Cairo to Istanbul with you and John seeing camels whizzing along in the back of pickup trucks… and thinking wow.. I am not in Kansas anymore
Sent from my iPhone
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Yep, certainly not Kansas.
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Fascinating! Wild video.
Tony
https://www.breadtagsagas.com/
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Thanks Tony. I’m glad I was able to film it.
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Peggy,
Your camel market adventure near Abu Dhabi, capturing the essence of a diverse and vibrant animal world, is a vividly engaging read. The descriptions of camels with their “toothy grins” and the bustling market atmosphere, where sellers from distant lands like Sudan and Afghanistan converge, bring to life a unique cultural experience. It’s fascinating to learn about the scale of camel populations and the contrast between the wild camels of Australia and those in the Arabian Peninsula. Your empathetic perspective towards the camels, especially during loading, adds a poignant touch to your narrative. Looking forward to your insights from the upcoming market in Saudi Arabia!
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Thanks so much for your lovely comment. We are in Saudi now and off to another camel market tomorrow. I wonder how they will compare.
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Love to know….
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Stay tuned.
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My neighborhood farmer’s market is so…tame now. And that poor beastie; it reminds me of the Swiss flying cows back down a valley in a harness below a helicopter after they’ve wandered too far afield. The had a harness under the belly, but no bag under the derriere. Tactful of you to skip that cyclical aspect of moving animals around. 😉
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Sometimes you can share too much information.
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Interesting and thank you! Have looked at both photos and video – understand but do not like . . . beautiful animals shoved around with purely money in mind . . . yup, of course practical and necessary, but . . .
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I truly hope the ones I saw being loaded were being taken for riding or breeding.
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I’ve heard camels can be bad tempered. I can only imagine what it must have been like to witness one being trussed up and hoisted into a truck.
Great shot of the young fellow with a camel.
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You heard right. Camels can be very bad-tempered. The one being loaded in the video was especially cranky.
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That was not a happy Camel, Peggy. The video really added because we could hear how unhappy!
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You should have heard how cranky he was when being trussed up!
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I can only imagine. I suspect its language was fairly easy to interpret, Peggy.
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Expletives deleted. 🙂
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LeggyPeggy,
What an education on Camels!!!! I never knew that people eat camel meat… I just thought camel milk and hauling heavy loads. The video of that poor camel
was interesting and can easily see why he was complaining “So Ticked Off” !
And I never knew that central Australia has many, many camels as well. Finally, I think in a zoo in Germany (two many years past to recall) I had seen a double humped camel.
Sy S.
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Oh yes, camel meat is quite common is this part of the world. So are grumpy camels. We saw double-humped camels in Mongolia.
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Poor thing, must have been terrified! Maggie
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Yes, I imagine so.
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Well that had to be a bizarre experience for the camel! It reminds me of a story Bo shared with me when he and Blondie went to the Milwaukee zoo last year: the camel was in labor, and they watched the camel give birth! While in labor, the mother paced and walked A LOT. I can understand why, when there’s half a little camel sticking out of you, lol. Apparently a lot of passers-by didn’t quite understand why that camel seemed to have a fifth leg…the baby came out just fine!
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What a fabulous experience for Bo and Blondie. Baby camels are super cute.
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