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Explore UAE's past on camel back

Dubai - Team begins 10-day trip in a bid to revive heritage and history

A team of Emiratis and expats began a 10-day camel trek on Friday, free of all modern comforts and electronic devices.
The expedition is being organised and supervised by the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Centre (HHC), with UAE explorers Ahmed Al Qassimi and Mohammed bin Taryam.
"The objective of the trek is to provide an unforgettable experience that also helps in the dissemination of our culture here in this country. There is a clear need for such an expedition as it takes participants back to the olden days, when our ancestors led a far more nomadic lifestyle and transported goods in an altogether different manner," Bin Taryam said.
"At the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Centre (HHC), we are striving to revive our heritage and history among the UAE community at large in order to come to the collective - and full - realisation that it is of fundamental importance to our present day and our future. It really promises to be great fun for all of the adventure enthusiasts on this trip," he added.
Ahmed Al Qassimi noted that it was of vital importance to train participants ahead of time and familiarise them with the camels they'll be riding.
"If a person feels fear while riding a camel, then that can be a clear cause for concern and create difficulties on this trip. Therefore, the training session - which was held before the start - aimed to remove that fear factor and establish a link between the reins and the rider, knowing full well that the participant has to care for and feed the camel to be able to consolidate that fledgling relationship and that will ultimately bear fruit over this 10-day trip," he said.
Each day, trek participants will wake up at 7.30, stopping at noon for two hours before travelling towards their night camp at 5pm, before sundown. Organisers expect that participants will travel around 50km every day, a total of 500km.
"I'm a very sporty person and I wanted to try something new. I'm also going on this expedition because I've been in Dubai for three years now and I want to know more about the culture here," said French national Charlotte Sarrazin. "I've learnt so many things about the heritage and the history since I started this training programme and it is truly amazing."
Another participant, Indian national Rasheenah Ahmed - a mother of two - said the trip was a dream come true for her. "I make a mental note to read the newspapers most of the time and I never quite get round to it. Fortunately, for me, I opened up the paper on this particular day, read about this camel trek and I thought to myself 'Wow! This is something I've been waiting for all of my life.'"
"Everyone has been very supportive and told me: 'If you want to do it, you should go for it!'"
reporters@khaleejtimes.com