Leo notes

Caravan notes

Cristel notes

" Camels are a peaceful domestic animal. They are quite numerous in Africa, mostly in the deserts of Numidia, Libyia and Barbary. They are the wealth of all Arabs. When one refers to the fortune of a prince, one says: "He has so many thousands of camels" ; and not "He has so much money, or so many posessions".
Every Arab who owns a camel is a free man, for these animals allow him to live in the desert where neither prince nor king can go due to the aridity.
African camels are of the best quality, for they can carry their load for up to 40 or 50 days without being fed: every day, you unload them and let them roam about for wild grass, pines and branches.

Before you start on a trip, the camel needs to be fat. After 5 days travel without food, the camel first starts to lose the fat in his hump; 5 days later he loses the fat around his stomach, and 5 days after that the fat in his legs. Once he has lost all his fat he can no longer carry his load.
Africain merchants who travel to the Sudan do not worry about the return trip, as their camels come home with a much lighter load, given that Sudanese goods are much lighter than those brought from the Maghreb. As a result,       friendly bird plucking flees from camel's head
camels coming into the Sudan are very skinny and are sold for a few dinars to locals who nurse them back to health" (Leo, 556)

    Today, people still talk about camels with flattering words, and it is not unusual to hear flirting men offer to buy your beautiful blond friend for a few thousand camels (they say one camel is worth nearly $1000).
    Click here to learn about my experiences with camels..oops dromaderies. Cause everyone knows that camels have TWO humps and dromaderies only ONE.