Who goes to Egypt and doesn’t take a camel ride? Not me!

Camels are the truckers of the desert.  The Arabian camel has been used for thousands of years by the Bedouins to move goods.  Historically camels have also provided meat, wool and milk and are an essential part of life in Egypt.  For our adventure the camel rides were a fun tourist experience.    

Bridget, Andy, Me, Chris and Shayna

My vacation buddy Jason didn’t want to go on a camel ride, but I wouldn’t take no for an answer so I gave him a camel ride for his upcoming birthday.  Luckily he let me talk him into it because I would have been really mad if he wasn’t in the camel pictures we took.  Being a tourist is fun! 

We took a short bus ride from the Great Pyramid to a photo lookout spot.  We got off the bus and walked over to meet the camel owners.  They set each of us up with a camel.  I like riding horses so I was excited to try riding a camel.  It is TOTALLY different.  Camels walk by moving both legs on the same side.  It creates an unstable rolling movement.  Since they are also a lot taller than horses I was a little intimidated by the feel of riding a camel.  The camel owners were nice enough to us and they encouraged our camels to run as well as stop for our Kodak moments. 

Jason enjoying his birthday gift.

The only thing I didn’t like about the camel ride was the way the tip system works with the camel owners.  I was excited to take my friend Jason on a camel ride for his birthday so I was a little bummed when the camel owner separated him from our group.  I didn’t think anything of it but after our tour I found out that the guy was begging for a tip the whole time and was incredibly annoying.  I felt really bad when I found out about this after the ride. 

As the ride ended we all dismounted our camels.  I didn’t have change so I told my camel owner I was paying the tip for me and two of my friends with an American $10 bill.  I was trying to get the money out of my wallet and he kept standing beside me harassing me for a tip.  He even told me he would be willing to take the $20 bill in my wallet and that would be a reasonable tip.  I told him I wasn’t dumb and he would get exactly what my tour guide told me to tip him - $3 American per camel.  He was annoyed but he accepted.  In Egypt a good meal costs about 75 cents so a $15 camel ride and $3 tip is a good amount of money for a half hour of work. 

I enjoyed the camel ride and figure the annoying tip requests are all part of the experience.  I would never go to Egypt and not ride a camel, because that would be lame.