Al Shahaniya
"The camel ran with its robot jockey blinking red on its back, and nobody present found this strange."
A Qatari man I met at a café in the souq told me about the camel racing with the air of someone sharing something they don’t usually bother to explain to foreigners. The races happen early in the morning, he said, mostly on Friday and Saturday during the winter season, and the track is at Al Shahaniya, about forty kilometers west of Doha. He paused and added, as if I might need the information: they use robots now. Not people. Robots ride the camels. I thanked him and drove out the following Friday at six in the morning.
The Al Shahaniya Camel Racing Track is a purpose-built facility with a straight-run course of roughly nine kilometers. The camels race in groups of a dozen or so, and the owners and trainers follow alongside in a convoy of identical white Land Cruisers, pressed against the wire fence that separates the racing track from the parallel road. Each camel carries a robot jockey — a small mechanical device strapped to its hump, equipped with a whip and a remote-controlled radio receiver. The trainers in the SUVs hold remote controls, adjusting the whipping rhythm as they drive at fifty kilometers an hour alongside their animals, shouting instructions into the vehicle’s PA system that are broadcast through a speaker attached to the robot.
I stood at the finishing stretch and watched the first race arrive. The camels came in a loose group, their long necks extended in the strange rocking gallop that camels have — nothing like the efficient stride of a horse, more like a controlled stumble forward at speed. The robot jockeys blinked and whirred on their backs. The SUV convoy reached the finish and the drivers swung out wide in a choreography that must have been practiced many times. The camels slowed and their owners jumped out to meet them, touching the animals’ necks, checking for any sign of strain with a tenderness that was visible from fifty meters away.
The robot jockeys were introduced after international pressure in the early 2000s over the practice of using child riders — children as young as four had been imported from South Asia and Africa to ride racing camels. It is a grim history, and the transition to robots represents a genuine reform, even if the technology is surreal. The robots cost around five thousand dollars each and are effective enough that training times have not changed significantly. The camels, for their part, appear to have no opinion on the matter.
What I didn’t expect was the atmosphere of a Friday morning race meeting: casual, familial, smelling of strong coffee and camel. Qatari men in white thobes stood along the fence discussing form. A group of children pressed against the wire beside me, jostling for the best view. A man walked past with a tray of dates and cardamom tea, offering it to spectators with no expectation of payment. The sport has the feeling of something genuinely traditional — not performed for tourism but continued because it is loved.
I drove back to Doha through the morning traffic feeling that I had seen something specific and strange and entirely itself — which is the feeling Qatar offers rarely enough that you notice when it happens.
When to go: Racing season runs October through April, with races primarily on Friday and Saturday mornings beginning around 6am. Arrive by 6:30 for the early heats. The Al Shahaniya track is about forty kilometers west of Doha; a taxi or rental car is necessary. Admission is free. Dress modestly and bring water even in winter.