Post by yenilira on Sept 14, 2011 10:07:09 GMT 1
...and before anyone starts getting pendantic or dogmatic about where it is sited, it's in the 'Off Topic' section.....
Looking at the heading (which, incidently, has been used by some on here to explain my absences),
you'd be forgiven for thinking that I had either -
(a) got my own camel herd or caravan,
(b) breed 'em for stud purposes (eh? - I'm not rich enough!).... or
(c) whatever you may think .
First off, the only 'herd' ('flock' is the proper term) of camels I know in Anatolia is in the hills of the Fethiye region though there are quite a few in the rural villages ( towards Van, for example) but are used in the same way as cows, sheep, chickens, etc – ie domestic livestock, and for transportation to the local markets.
Their milk is delicious, though I'm not sure about their meat.
Of course, there is the odd one at the main resorts for touristic 'camel rides'.
In a couple of months or so, we'll be coming up to the Camel Wrestling Season, which many of you have previously heard about, as depicted on the link - www.allaboutturkey.com/camel.htm
but more recently - www.turkeysforlife.com/2011/02/camel-wrestling-fethiye-turkey.html
A couple of footnotes to the Selcuk Festival:
One owner, Rifki Sendur, 50, was waiting nervously for his camel, Cheerful Outlaw, to enter the arena for his debut encounter. He told Eurasianet.org that owning a camel had always been his dream. “My uncle had a camel in 1978, and we used to feed and look after it ourselves when I was about 15,” he said. “It's a culture coming from our ancestors and we want it to continue.”
Sendur brought Cheerful Outlaw about three years ago from Afghanistan after paying 20,000 Turkish lira ($12,800/£7,270). Along with Iran, Afghanistan is the main source of wrestling camels, which are bred specially for the Turkish market, and are hybrids of the one-humped dromedary and two-humped Bactrian.
Camel wrestling is a rich man’s game, according to Vedat Caliskan, an assistant professor of Geography at Canakkale University and an expert on the sport. Other than serving as occasional tourist attraction, wrestling camels have no practical uses. They cannot be bred, and the sport itself brings no financial rewards: the prize at the Selcuk tournament for a champion camel is a machine-made rug. “It is just the family interest that goes on and keeps the tradition going,” Caliskan said. “If … a new generation loses interest, it can die out.”
They are a very useful commodity, camels, and they are, and can be, used in numerous ways, and for different purposes, as touched upon above, but nowadays in Turkey, there are no 'camel caravans' .
They are found mainly in regions such as the Sahara and Gobi Deserts, although Bursa, Konya, and Antioch were staging places along the 'continental silk road' of days gone by -
www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/CentralAnatolia/SilkRoad/
Most of us are familiar with only two types of this 'beast of burden' or 'Ship of the Desert' - the one-hump or Dromedary, which is more particular to Arabian deserts. and the two-humped shorter-legged Bactrian which is Asiatic.
Then there is the 'Hybrid', a cross between the other two (don't ask!).
www.camelphotos.com/DifferentTypesP1.html
And so, there you have it – what would I want with a camel in a town such as Alanya?
Albeit, there are a large number of tourists who visit it, but not enough to pay for camel rides and keep me in the lifestyle I am accustomed to.....
Now for a pub quiz question -
What is a bigger draw than a Camel Wrestling Contest? -
A Camel Beauty Contest of course!
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704678004576089830885948812.html
Enjoy!
Hosca kalin.
YL.
Looking at the heading (which, incidently, has been used by some on here to explain my absences),
you'd be forgiven for thinking that I had either -
(a) got my own camel herd or caravan,
(b) breed 'em for stud purposes (eh? - I'm not rich enough!).... or
(c) whatever you may think .
First off, the only 'herd' ('flock' is the proper term) of camels I know in Anatolia is in the hills of the Fethiye region though there are quite a few in the rural villages ( towards Van, for example) but are used in the same way as cows, sheep, chickens, etc – ie domestic livestock, and for transportation to the local markets.
Their milk is delicious, though I'm not sure about their meat.
Of course, there is the odd one at the main resorts for touristic 'camel rides'.
In a couple of months or so, we'll be coming up to the Camel Wrestling Season, which many of you have previously heard about, as depicted on the link - www.allaboutturkey.com/camel.htm
but more recently - www.turkeysforlife.com/2011/02/camel-wrestling-fethiye-turkey.html
A couple of footnotes to the Selcuk Festival:
One owner, Rifki Sendur, 50, was waiting nervously for his camel, Cheerful Outlaw, to enter the arena for his debut encounter. He told Eurasianet.org that owning a camel had always been his dream. “My uncle had a camel in 1978, and we used to feed and look after it ourselves when I was about 15,” he said. “It's a culture coming from our ancestors and we want it to continue.”
Sendur brought Cheerful Outlaw about three years ago from Afghanistan after paying 20,000 Turkish lira ($12,800/£7,270). Along with Iran, Afghanistan is the main source of wrestling camels, which are bred specially for the Turkish market, and are hybrids of the one-humped dromedary and two-humped Bactrian.
Camel wrestling is a rich man’s game, according to Vedat Caliskan, an assistant professor of Geography at Canakkale University and an expert on the sport. Other than serving as occasional tourist attraction, wrestling camels have no practical uses. They cannot be bred, and the sport itself brings no financial rewards: the prize at the Selcuk tournament for a champion camel is a machine-made rug. “It is just the family interest that goes on and keeps the tradition going,” Caliskan said. “If … a new generation loses interest, it can die out.”
They are a very useful commodity, camels, and they are, and can be, used in numerous ways, and for different purposes, as touched upon above, but nowadays in Turkey, there are no 'camel caravans' .
They are found mainly in regions such as the Sahara and Gobi Deserts, although Bursa, Konya, and Antioch were staging places along the 'continental silk road' of days gone by -
www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/CentralAnatolia/SilkRoad/
Most of us are familiar with only two types of this 'beast of burden' or 'Ship of the Desert' - the one-hump or Dromedary, which is more particular to Arabian deserts. and the two-humped shorter-legged Bactrian which is Asiatic.
Then there is the 'Hybrid', a cross between the other two (don't ask!).
www.camelphotos.com/DifferentTypesP1.html
And so, there you have it – what would I want with a camel in a town such as Alanya?
Albeit, there are a large number of tourists who visit it, but not enough to pay for camel rides and keep me in the lifestyle I am accustomed to.....
Now for a pub quiz question -
What is a bigger draw than a Camel Wrestling Contest? -
A Camel Beauty Contest of course!
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704678004576089830885948812.html
Enjoy!
Hosca kalin.
YL.