The Camel Ride

Having never ridden a camel, Frank, Jon and I were excited for the opportunity to climb aboard a "desert ship" and go for a spin. Donna was less excited because she had ridden a camel at a petting zoo with one of her daughters in the past but she entered into the adventure with us.

The first hurdle was to find the camels. We had procured a guide during our shopping time the day before, a nephew or cousin of Karim. However, the riad was very reluctant to send the four of us off without one of their approved guides; so we had two. That made us a party of six and the cab could only hold four.

The "official" guide had his own motorbike. While the guys were negotiating with the cab driver, Donna and I took rides.

 Finally we were off to our camel ride with Frank now on the back of the bike, shirt tails blowing in the wind careening around corners.

The camels were not far from the center of town in a big field that was large enough to eliminate buildings in the photos and make it look like you are in the middle of the desert. Frank made friends with the baby camel as soon as we arrived.

The camel driver took this photo for us as his son, probably 10 or younger, held the reins of Donna's camel. My camel brayed the entire time calling to her baby to follow us. But, the baby was tied and for a while we could here her crying back.




The dismount occurred in the same order as the mount: Donna, Jon, Susan, Frank. As Donna dismounted, her camel nuzzled her shoulder. Thinking he wanted a little appreciation for the ride, Donna turned to pat him. . .and he bit her, hard.

At this point, Jon is just dismounting as we hear Donna scream and clutch her forearm. Jon is good in an emergency and was quickly at her side. By the time I got off my camel blood was streaming down her arm. I rummage through my bag for the antiseptic wipes I carry when traveling and Frank is with us just as soon as he can dismount.

Pandemonium reigns for a few seconds before Jon takes charge of us all. The camel driver is accosting Frank for a tip for he and his son. (Needless to say, that didn't happen.) The two guides are arguing about the fastest route to the hospital while Jon applies pressure to the wound with me refreshing the wipes almost as fast as I can get them out of the container. We need to get to an emergency room as soon as possible.

We took a circuitous route to the hospital and pulled up in front of this.

Not particularly confidence inducing, but the interior was clean and occupied by French speaking nurses. Since Ramadan ended the night before, it was a holiday and the doctor had to be called in from his day off to attend to Donna.

We and the nurses got Donna into an exam room with the wound covered in antiseptic and the bleeding stopped.

By now Donna had her happy face back on and the doctor arrived shortly to put in 70 stitches in three wounds on her arm. She needed a tetanus shot and antibiotics but the hospital did not keep any medicines on site. So, a runner was sent to pick up the tetanus and a prescription was written for the antibiotic that we had to have filled at a pharmacy later.

Overall it only took two hours from bite to dismissal. But, they would not accept insurance or credit cards. So, off Frank went on the moped with the guide to hit three ATMs for the $400 cash to pay the bill.

Our afternoon activities were cancelled. But we all needed a rest before our cooking class that afternoon.