The world in the lens

The camel beauty pageant occupies a central place in the Bedouin Cultural Festival held every year in the United Arab Emirates.

Pelt ears? Check. Drooping lips? Check. Nose ring? Check. Long eyelashes outline expressive eyes? Check. CEDIT...

Photos and text by Kiki Streitberger

I just arrived at the Al Dhafra festival, and a little boy in kanduras or robes ran towards my car and pointed his index finger in the air and yelled. In the distance, two people are riding camels, and each one is pulling the other camel with a belt. One of the camels was draped in a winner's blanket with golden tassels.

Behind these people, slowly crossing the sand dunes, is a large group of pickup trucks honking their horns. The men and boys stood on the bed of the vehicle, leaned out from all the windows, waving and cheering. Many of them filmed the scene with their mobile phones.

I didn't hesitate to leave my little taxi behind-I wouldn't walk much in the deep sand anyway-and jumped behind the nearest pickup. I want to be part of this impromptu celebration.

The annual Al Dhafra festival celebrates Bedouin traditions and is held at the edge of Rub al Khali or open areas, which is considered the world’s largest desert, near the UAE city of Madinat Zayed and two hours’ drive from Abu in the southwest of the UAE Zabi.

Highlights of the party include Saluki competitions (the dogs are prized by Bedouins for their speed and eyesight), poetry recitations, and exhibitions on falcons and traditional handicrafts. From fresh dates to camel milk, there are various foods and beverages.

However, the core of the festival is the camel beauty pageant.

During the weeks of events, Al Dhafra is the center of the camel universe. In 2019, the year I participated, more than 24,000 camels from all over the Middle East competed for a prize of 60 million UAE dirhams-equivalent to more than 16 million U.S. dollars. With the sale of particularly beautiful camels, huge amounts of money also changed hands.

Some participants traced the origins of the beauty contest to a family dispute in 1993, when two camel breeders had to ask some independent judges to determine whose animals were more beautiful.

Since then, the camel beauty pageant has developed into a multi-million dollar industry, and state-sponsored traditional festivals are held all over the country.

The purpose of the Al Dhafra Festival officially launched by the government in 2008 is to celebrate Bedouin culture, promote tourism and protect the purity of certain camel breeds.

In the past fifty years, Bedouin society has almost disappeared. Modern borders have strangled nomadic grazing patterns, and the erosion of economic and technological changes has subverted other traditional cultural practices.

For urbanized Bedouins, festivals like Al Dhafra are one of the few ways they can meaningfully maintain their traditions.

The camel beauty contest is divided into different categories according to the breed, age, gender, and whether the camel is owned by a chief or a member of a tribe. However, the standard remains the same.

The ideal camel has slender straight legs, a slender neck, a well-proportioned hump (located right on the lower back), beautiful ears, curled eyelashes to outline expressive eyes, long drooping lips, and of course Sleek jacket and elegant posture.

A supermodel without jewelry is incomplete, and the entire industry has sprung up around beauty pageants to provide the right equipment. For example, camel tailors set up a camp in Al Dhafra, where they sell colorful reins, shiny camel blankets decorated with wire tassels, and even shiny necklaces made of plastic beads and chord coins.

Million Street, the road taken by the camel superstar, has become an open-air market of tents, caravans and food trucks.

The market is not just a place to buy camel nails and shampoo. It also provides colorful winter blankets, coffee utensils, stoves, carpets, hunting equipment, folding chairs, water bags and various clothing. Bright lighting advertises restaurants that serve kebabs, cakes and sweet karakcha. There is even a laundry service to keep the celebrities-including people and camels-looking pristine.

Women in the UAE have a limited role during the festival. Women and children are usually excluded from participating in camel races and spend most of their time in the market around or near the family tent.

However, as a foreigner, I don't seem to be restricted by gender. During my three-day visit, I was able to move around freely, participate in camel beauty contests, and participate in the celebration of the winners with the host.

As the sun went down, the sky turned dim purple, and the canopy dotted with thousands of lights began to flash between the sand dunes. Inside are members of the Bedouin tribe, they are usually scattered in various places in the area, and they come here to respect their traditions. Each tribe has built a richly decorated tent.

Invited to celebrate one of their camel wins, I followed the men of the Almuharrami family into their brightly lit tent and followed the beauty queen Wahira.

"She has just been crowned as the most beautiful little camel in the Middle East," her 12-year-old owner Munif said proudly.

Then the music started, and the men raised their bamboo sticks to perform the yowlah. In the traditional stick dance, people recite poems and simulate battle scenes. When I left the party, it was already dark, and the carnival continued into the night.

Kiki Streitberger is a photojournalist and documentary photographer living in London and Germany. You can follow her work on Instagram.

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