And the Winner is.........

Have a look at this;

Head and neck - 25 points awarded for large head, firm ears, long whiskers, shapely nose and lips, long neck
Upper body - 20 points awarded for large, shapely hump
Front - 15 points awarded for wide neck, strong shoulders, good feet
Rear - 10 points awarded for straight, strong legs
General appearance - 30 points awarded for shiny hair, overall health and fitness, space between toes
Source: Mohammed Abdullah al-Mehairi

You would be forgiven if you were under the impression that these are the criteria used for choosing the next Miss World! After all, apart from the shapely hump and long whiskers, and possibly the space between the toes, a lot of the things that they look for, are similar!

Smile girls!! (All camel photos are thanks to Google)

No, it is much more interesting and unique than that! This is how the judges mark camels in the beauty contests that are held annually in the UAE. (I had forgotten about this until my daughter added a comment after my ‘One hump or Two?’ blog and I was going to write this for the following post, but one or two other subjects slipped in between.)

Beautifully presented.

As I mentioned previously, I have a fascination for camels. They are much more important in the lives of the people than simply being a camel! And every year in December when the weather is cool(er), a festival is held to celebrate exactly that! At the 2011 contest, over 13000 female and male camels were entered in the beauty pageant, from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Omar, Qatar and the UAE. The festival lasted 31 days, three winners were chosen by a committee of prominent camel experts, and prizes of millions of Dirhams and luxury cars were awarded.

Intricate patterns on the hair of the camel. Amazing.

This year, the Al Dhafra Camel Festival will be held at Madinat Zayed, Western Region, from 17 to 28 December. To date, nearly 1000 entries have been received. As well as the beauty contest, there will be a camel auction and contests for traditional handcrafts, poetry, date packaging and photography. Both types of camel, the Asayel (a golden-brown camel originally from Oman) and the Majahim (the black camel from Saudi Arabia) are catered for in the pageant. As well as being a meeting place for family and friends, thousands of visitors enjoy the festivities. What could be nicer than wandering around, eating dates!

This may be going a little too far!!

Many camel owners set up camp in the festival ground. For the sum of Dh5,000 they can reserve an area. This is refundable if the camp area is left clean when they leave. I imagine that really depends on how many camels there are in each camp!

I wonder if they all arrive by caravan!