Focus on... Camels

The camel is a remarkable animal. Hardy in the harshest of arid environments, it has enabled man to survive in some of the most inhospitable places on earth. Carrying heavy loads, pulling carts, providing meat, milk, hides and hair - the camel's usefulness is legendary. From Mongolia to Morocco the camel is a source of livelihood to farmers and pastoralists in a hundred countries - but for how much longer? Camels - and the people who live and work with them - are usually to be found in remote places but does that mean that they have to be at the margins of development thinking and excluded from policy?

Or, could and should camels make a comeback?

Camels at a cross-roads: decline or development?
No livestock market anywhere compares with the annual Camel Fair on the low hills outside Pushkar in central Rajasthan, India. In conversation with any of the bright-turbaned Raika, their main concern is access to grazing. Vast areas have been lost to irrigated agriculture...

Making more of the market for camel milk

It may be an acquired taste but, if there was a league of camel milk consumption worldwide, one country would come near the top - Kazakhstan. The current challenge, however is how to help Kazakh producers improve...

Kenyan camels thrive where cattle cannot

On 7th Street in the Nairobi suburb of Eastleigh business is brisk in camel meat and milk. Until recently sales were mainly to the Somali community settled in the Kenyan capital but, increasingly, there are....

The camels of northern India: keeping the wheels of the rural economy turning

Across northern India it is estimated that there are more than 200,000 camels at work - whether on the land or in the busy streets of towns and cities - earning their keep...

Camel milk magic - myth or marvel?

Camels are kept in over a hundred countries, and from Mongolia to Morocco there are traditional sayings or practices in which the alleged healing properties of camel milk and milk products are shared and passed from generation to generation. But are the healing properties of camel milk all myth or can they be proved...

Cashing in on camels

In many countries the camel and their keepers are relegated to the margins of usefulness. But there are regions of the world where the 'ships of the desert' are more highly prized than ever...