Camels Through the Sahara Desert

When most of us think of Morocco we think of the Sahara Desert, and riding camels. That was certainly a highlight of this trip. This is my camel, Carmen - who turned out to be a bit cantankerous: at the end of the trip he didn't want to kneel down to let me off because we were on a rocky road. He did get down, but when I was half way off he got up. Now when a camel gets up he starts with his back legs first, then his front. They are very tall, and the effect was to throw me off. I wasn't hurt except for a rather bad rope burn, scraping skin off my wrist. Note to self: don't get off a camel unless the camel handler is hold him (Said had gone back to help Judy). I have been told camels can spit and bite, but Carmen seemed to like people in general and walked with his head almost on Said's shoulder. 

 

 I was fascinated by camels. There are over a hundred words to refer to camels in Arabic. A camel can drink 7 gallons of water at one time, and then go without water for a month. They can lose 40% of their body weight and survive. Their big padded feet originally evolved, not to walk on sand, but snow. And a camel can outrun a horse.