Living with, raising, and training camels

For me, I've been trying to find facts on how people raise, train and live with camels, and the struggles to dealing with camels who aren't a menace or rabid, just a pain to train and earning their trust, kind of like horses. but from what I've found, it seems camels are the "Cats" among the animals people can ride, very proud, stubborn, and almost abnormally cheeky, as some cats are.

Be they feral, tamed or wild, though certainly there are exceptions to the norm, but in general that's what I've found so far.

The new novel I'm working on is set in a fictional, semi-tropical desert continent where camels are the preferred and primary mode of transport. I need info on how they're bred, trained and raised to be ridden, as modern travel as we know it today, is only just starting to hit mainstream culture, but is still too expensive for even most wealthy and middle class citizens to adopt as a viable option, let alone the working class.

Even the ones who had a positive education experience and holds a low-paying, but respectable job, or those self-made folks who built their businesses and careers from the ground up are slow to adopt some of the emerging tech and technology-centric transport because the upfront cost is so high. Yet after that, some of the emerging innovations start paying for themselves after the first couple months or sooner, depending on the overall strength and reputation of the business and trade of course.

Another big reason camel travel is still preferred, even among those who can afford other options, is that the dessert continent has unusually strong sandstorms and roads so rough and dense with sand that most motorized vehicles can't ride on it safely, but they've developed materials and designed trains that can navigate expertly along the dense sands safely and swiftly to make long trips on the continent take a few days to a week at most, instead of months on foot or on camels.

But camels are much more practical on an economic level, even after factoring costs on food, shelter, saddle and proper training, especially if you buy them one or two years after birth. While it's easier to raise and build a camels trust shortly after birth, they're the most expensive to buy. Females in general also command a higher price for breeding purposes and for the milk which can be sold and/or used among the owners for food and nutrients.

Most people are far better versed in living in and working alongside natre than dealing in the intricate tech-savvy one needs to operate certain machines and gadgets safely and efficiently.

May 19, 2013, 11:02:11 AM

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