Your friendly neighborhood Camel Mart?

My trip to the camel market had been quite overdue. Fresh out of sugar, salt, and camel, I had to head down to the local store. Hopefully you don't actually think that I make a habit of munching on camel, but the concept is actually not as far fetched as you might think. Camels are largely sold here in Egypt not to be beast of burden as much as to be ingredients in stew, but don't tell these guys to my left. They were two of hundreds of camels being displayed, bought and sold at the Cairo Camel Market. Located quite a bit out of the city and accessible through a series of mini buses, the market is a tourist destination only for the strong willed and definitely not PETA members. As much as the camels look like they are enjoying themselves with their constant smiles (except when they are snarling and reproducing alien noises which sound like a mix between a roar and a burp)they are certainly not pets, and so aren't exactly cuddled. One leg is tied up in order to keep their movement a bit limited, and they are often beaten strongly with a large wooden cane by the various camel vendors. While I couldn't help but wince at the seemingly harsh whacks, I definitely appreciated the limited movement of our one humped friends. Camels are huge. Can't emphasize it enough. With the average height of their head at about 7.5 feet and weighing about 600 pounds, these babies aren't the daintiest of mother natures children. As much as it pained me to see them uncomfortable hobbling around on three legs, when one got loose and was running around the lot I couldn't help but be thankful that there weren't 600 loose and using us as foot stools.


While there were a few moments of panic upon being stuck between two burping and disgruntled dromedaries, overall, I was charmed by everyone of them. What can I say, I am a sucker for the even-toed ungulates with their thick eyelashes and small hairy ears. I even like their ridiculously cantankerous vocals. But most of all, I love their smiles. There is a saying in the region that the camel is smiling because he knows the 100th name for God. In Islamic tradition, there are 99 known names for God, so of course if you know that desired 100th, you'd probably be smiling too.


It's always a little strange being a tourist at a place where people are just doing their job, you don't want to be that person who treats someone's livelihood like a game. But I think that the buyers and sellers got a kick out of the fact that we tourists were enjoying ourselves so far away from the pyramids, and marveling at the beasts which despite being undoubtedly mundane for them, hopefully still retain some charm for the seasoned salesmen.