Breakfast with Camel Herders

For me this was a really special part of our trip. After an early start and a bumpy ride across the hills we collected a vet from an isolated village and met up with some more Raika herders. This group herded camels, traditionally much valued in this area for their ability to survive the harsh desert conditions. Camel herding has been in sharp decline lately with 50% of the national herd disappearing in the last few years. Pressure from an increase in irrigated agriculture (which is government supported), development and creation of wildlife reserves has meant that traditional grazing land is being lost. The herders are away from their villages for months at a time and move from farm to farm, grazing the sparse vegetation and the trees. The farmers give them food and water and in return they get their field fertilized. The camel milk is good stuff, slightly salty tasting and it's meant to be healthy as well as TB free. Each year there are great camel fairs where surplus stock are sold. A hard life and one that the young Raiki boys do not want to follow, but to me a travel dream of sipping hot sweet tea and camel milk, as the sun rose in a setting that felt it hadn't changed in a thousand years.

Here's another wonky video to give you an idea how noisy those camels were, apparently they were hungry and ready to move on. Each one was hobbled in a different way to stop them wandering off and had a brand mark on their faces or neck to identify them.