Cairo's Champions

This edition of Cairo’s Champions probably should’ve come out closer to the time I went to the camel market, however there is still no denying that the Bedouin Camel Herder deserves to be up there with the newspaper delivery guy and the guy that carries bread on his head while riding a bicycle.

Camel herding is a skill no doubt passed down through the generations. This is evident at the Birqash camel market, where young herders of no more than eight years old apprentice with the legends of the skill. Small whips and sticks are provided for the young ones so that the techniques are honed before entering their prime.

Then men of market, however, a true men. Leaving aside the fact that they beat the living daylights out of camels as a job, these herders must make the long trek from as far as Somalia and Sudan—a journey that takes them through some of the most dangerous lands and across tense borders. Camel-jackings, injury, and starvation all enter into play on this epic quest.

Life in Birqash is no cakewalk, either. All around the men are crying camels, ferocious stenches, and a whole lot of s***. And, yet, they remain stoic in their demeanor. After all, who else will do such work?