WILDLIFE photographer Ahmed Sherif took these pictures of the camel race in the Wadi Al-Zalaga, between St Catherine's Monastery and the Oasis of Ain Umm- Ahmed near Nuweiba. At the meeting, held once a year in mid-January, the Bedouin tribes of South Sinai challenge each other to a camel race over 30kms. The Wadi Al-Zalaga race was established 12 years ago by the sheikhs and elders of both tribes to include most of the local tribes, but this year only two, the Tarabeen and the Muzeina, took part. Such races are an old tradition among the tribes, but in this area race meetings had been dropped and were in danger of disappearing altogether. The revival is thanks to the efforts of the Bedouins themselves who do not want to see their culture vanishing. The race gives them the chance to socialise, meet old friends and relatives, and show off their camels of which they are inordinately proud. It also helps them financially in the form of contributions to sponsorship and donations towards the winning prize. Tourists also flock to watch this authentic camel race. The race starts early in the morning and lasts for about an hour and a half. The night before the race, camels and cars begin appearing in all parts of the wadi (dry water course). This is an evening of partying for the Bedouins. Tea is served, and the famous lebba bread is cooked on the camp fires. The Bedouins drive from one campsite to the other visiting each other until the early hours of the morning. As the sun rises, all the cars and camels meet at the entrance of the wadi. This year 20 camels took part in the race. Once all the camels are assembled -- which takes some time -- the race begins. It is always a chaotic start. No one really knows when exactly the start sign is given: usually the organisers attempt to line up the camels, but there are always one or two camels that do not follow the rules. Their instinct is to run. Once this happens, the rest of the camels take off, followed by hundreds of cars. The scene looks like a war zone. Car drivers race to keep up with the camels, creating a huge cloud of dust and breaking the desert calm with the roaring of engines. Along the route, cars and camels mingle together at high speed while some people stop briefly to film with their video and still cameras. Others are stuck with their cars in the sand and try desperately to break free so as not to miss the action. As the spectacle approaches the end of the wadi, tension is high in the air. Shouting, screaming cars blast their horns, more cars arrive in a cloud of dust and dash to find a parking spot with a good view. Finally, in the midst of the pandemonium, two camels appear in the distance. The first and second prizewinners are about to cross the finishing line. As they do, the cheering gets louder and the pandemonium increases with people running, more camels arriving, and a continuous flow of cars followed by clouds of dust. As people gather round the winner the exhausted camels are lead away to rest. They will not be allowed to eat or drink until they have cooled down. The winner is announced after long consultations and discussions among the judges, and the celebrations begin. People sit around in circles, drink tea and chat. This year's winner was Ahmed, a 16-year-old Bedouin boy from the Muzeina tribe. The first prize is a sum of money collected by the tribes, plus donations collected from the audience and split between the winner and the runner-up. Ahmed has been practising for the past four months with his camel. The training period involved long distance walking and running, during which the camel was fed on barley and corn. Sheikh Mohamed Abu-Subeih, the sheikh of the Muzeina tribe and owner of the winning camel, said Bedouin riders of South Sinai had attended international camel race competitions, once in Tunisia and five times in Al-Arish in North Sinai. The sheikhs of the tribes and the organisers hope that the Ministry of Youth and Sports will back their tradition and help finance the annual event at Wadi Al-Zalaga as a tourist attraction. They are also looking for sponsorship so they can take part in a camel race in Saudi Arabia later this year. For Eid Suleiman, a prominent Tarabeen Bedouin and manager of the Anemone dive centre in Sharm El-Sheikh, the race was an event not to be missed. "Even though the Tarabeen tribe didn't win this year, the ritual of camping in the desert beside a warm fire, racing and meeting friends and relatives was well worth it," he said.
