The Adventure Kid (aka Edward F. Nesta) was at it again, only this time I traded in mechanical options(cars, shifter carts, Seqways, and electric bikes), for four feet on the ground and took my rightful seat upon a camel for a ride in Palmyra, Syria with Mohammad Al Ali Camel Rides, which prompts the title, Riding a Camel in Syria, or How Do I Stay on This Animal, or So, This is How They Traveled Through Syria on the Silk Road?

Racing has always  been something close to my heart, I thrilled at racing high performance vehicles around tracks at 150+ mph (242 kph); my adrenaline was in overdrive racing open-wheel Formula Fords and shifter carts. During a shifter cart race I drove with only one contact lens, as the other lens had fallen out when I sped around a curve in a cloud of dust and slid just off the track and the resulting jolt knocked my contact lens out of my eye. I continued running the race,driving with one eye open, and one eye closed, and not only finished the race,I won! Although I digress, the point that I am trying to make is that I feel comfortable driving anything mechanical, on four hooves, not so comfortable,but I am always up for a challenge, and with this in mind, so begins my saga of riding a camel in Syria, or how do I stay on this animal. I found a local company, Mohammad Al Ali Camel Rides, which was within walking distance from where I was staying, and was excited that the tour went through the heart of the Palmyra, Syria ruins.

Mohammad Al Ali Camel Rides

Owing to not having much knowledge about riding a camel, or for that matter, not having much information about camels in general, I still thought it would be a lot of fun to climb aboard and give it a run. I am not much of an equestrian, so I did not have any bad habits to break so to speak, but I did have to worry about my tailbone on the hard thing that they call a saddle or a seat.

So, I was ready to saddle-up, so to speak, and I waited patiently for one of the handlers to come over and step on the kneeling camel's leg, thus providing stability as I climbed aboard. I had previously spotted a few other people who did not wait for a handler to hold the camel down and they ended up kissing the dirt as the camel decided to stand up before the rider was on board tossing the rider to the ground - watch and learn is my motto.

The trick to mounting a camel is hanging on as this very tall animal pitches forward at about a 45-degree angle as they raise their hind quarters first before raising their front. I figured any yelling or other loud noises coming from the rider during this process would constitute fear, thus, I hung on,closed my eyes, and hoped that no one was taking photos.

Camel Standing Up

Seated on the camel, I was ready for the ride to begin, that was until I looked around and  noticed that unlike riding horses, there were no reins, which immediately prompted the, how do I stay on this animal part of the title. Looking around at the other riders, I noticed a variety of styles from hanging on to the camel's hair, wrapping their arms around the front hump, or my solution, I got to hang on to the metal knob on the front of my saddle/seat; I believe this was a luxury experience versus the other methods. 

Edward Riding a Camel

I learned quickly not to expect a smooth ride, as a camel lifts its front and back hooves on the same side before they rotate their stride from side-to-side, thus creating a more bouncy ride. Add that to the hardness of what they called a saddle, and I was ready for a nice soft cushy pillow to sit on when I dismounted. Camels tend to be  a bit on the pungent side, thus I decided that with their somewhat questionable disposition and their tendency to expectorate unexpectedly, I would not comment directly to my camel, and that I would make sure that I rode in the front and downwind.

As the train,flock, herd, and caravan (all terms for a group of camels) meandered down the road we passed some amazing ruins. Other than a couple of quick surprise bursts of running camels, and camels can get up to speed very quickly, the overall ride was smooth. It seemed that all of the riders became experts quickly and regardless of their various forms of hanging on, they all weathered the unplanned camel jaunts. 

Ruins Along the Ride

I did a little post-ride research on the camel so that I could see how my experience shaped up to what I was reading. They say that the camel is smarter than a horse and more calm; hmmm, I ran into some pretty gnarly camels during my ride, and if you get a camel upset, they have a very loud and grizzly cry. So, from my observation, I did not see a lot of "calm" camels, although the one I rode seemed to listen, or at least it seemed to obey, as it stayed with the rest of the caravan, except for the unplanned jaunts.

Gnarly Camel

I also read that a camel could go days without water or food, luckily this was only a 40-minute ride, thus I will have to verify that fact at a later time. With regards to riding a camel, I read that to relieve the pressure on the rider's lower back that once the camel starts moving, you should throw one of your legs forward over the camel's neck; my lower back wishes I had read this before I rode, oh well, suffice it to say that I was thankful for the ointments I used after the ride.

Camel Ride Through the Ruins in Palmyra, Syria

Mohammad Al Ali Camel Rides
Palmyra, Syria
Telephone:       + 963.99.9521 228
Website:           www.Mohammadalali.webs.com  

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