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The camels at the start line growl and grunt before the gate goes up, then stretch out their long necks and gallop along the sandy track.
“Yah! Yah! Yah!” shouts one camel owner from a car next to the racetrack in Taif, southwestern Saudi Arabia, banging on the car door to urge on animal and jockey alike.
Welcome to the Crown Prince Camel Festival, an event that has been dubbed the Grand Prix of camel racing, where camels race some 250 laps for prizes worth US$13 million.
This camel festival, held in honour of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is now in its sixth year and is on par with the richest horse races worldwide. It has come to be recognised as a serious international sport and a great tourist attraction in several Middle Eastern countries. This year, some 21,000 camels are taking part.

For centuries, camel racing has been male-dominated, but women are now breaking into the sport, with support from a pioneering German woman.
Linda Krockenberger founded Dubai’s first camel riding school for women. “Confidence is growing that women can do it and that the training wheels can be taken off,” she says.
The official first camel race for women at Taif’s camel festival was held in 2023.
“Last year, it was still an exception, but now it’s really part of the programme,” Krockenberger says.
The women’s races fit the modern image that Saudi Arabia has been trying to project, with the country now allowing women to drive cars, start businesses – and compete in camel races.
“It’s not accepted by everyone,” says an Iranian rider. “But some people really do support it.”
Despite the reforms, Saudi Arabia has a poor record when it comes to women’s rights, say human rights activists.

Delighted to meet female jockeys from many countries, including from 🇨🇭 !
Proud of our successful female Swiss jockey @Jorina279 at the races of the #CrownPrinceCamelFestival in #Taif pic.twitter.com/iN3zWZNk4F
— Ambassador Yasmine Chatila Zwahlen (@SwissEmbassyKSA) September 8, 2024

On the Arabian Peninsula, the one-humped camels are something of a status symbol and were once kept for their meat, milk, wool and leather as well as for transport.
Camel racing can be traced back to the seventh century, when it would be staged at weddings and religious festivals. The sport gradually spread to places like East Africa, India and Australia.
The breeding of racing camels is highly refined in the Arab world, thanks to advanced training techniques and breeding programmes that include artificial insemination and embryo transfers.
What began as a tradition among nomadic desert people has now evolved into a high-performance industry. Today, some camels are not ridden by jockeys but by small robots which are controlled remotely. Their owners can activate a whip with radio signals.
The robots’ lighter weight means the animals can run faster and suffer fewer vertebral injuries than if they had a person riding them.

At the festival, owners and trainers eagerly follow their camels’ progress, driving alongside the track in their vehicles, jostling and honking, and occasionally causing an accident.
Krockenberger and her team look focused as they mount. They tuck their feet – shoes are not worn – under the seat, and support their knees on the camel’s back.
There are no saddles or stirrups. “You bounce around a lot. It’s against every law of physics,” says one participant after the race, which is only two kilometres (1.2 miles) long and takes just a few minutes to complete.
“It’s such an exhausting three minutes, you just can’t underestimate it,” says Swaantje Jorina Niehus, who travelled from Switzerland for the race.
She started at Krockenberger’s school two years ago and now flies to Dubai every three months to train.

Riders are at the camel’s mercy to some extent, says Niehus – the animals can weigh up to 800 kilograms (almost 1,800 pounds) and will usually keep on moving with the herd once they get going. “In horse racing, you can stop. That’s not an option here.”
An Algerian woman from Krockenberger’s team takes first place, visibly overwhelmed with emotion as she stands on the winners’ podium.
Krockenberger understands that it will take time and patience before women are included in major official races in places like the United Arab Emirates.
Still, she remains hopeful, watching as drivers guide the herds around the track outside the grandstand.
“If I don’t do it, who will?”


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Women camel jockeys race in Saudi Arabia, breaking a social barrier

Women jockeys at the 2024 Crown Prince Camel Festival in Taif, Saudi Arabia. Women are challenging centuries of male dominance of the sport. Photo: Instagram/@arabianleaders

Camels have been raced for thousands of years in the Arabian peninsula. Photo: Instagram/@experbia

Today, some camels are not ridden by jockeys but by small robots which are controlled remotely. Photo: Instagram/@experbia

Camels race during the festival in Taif, Saudi Arabia. Photo: Instagram/@mefriendapp

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Travel & Leisure

Camel racing has been a male sport for centuries in Saudi Arabia. Women from the Arab world and Europe are challenging the men’s dominance


Camel racing has been a male sport for centuries in Saudi Arabia. Women from the Arab world and Europe are challenging the men’s dominance.


Women and gender

Saudi Arabia