Camel racing in Bidiyah

Camel and horse racing are still very popular in Oman. It is truly a social event, when men dress up and even wear their traditional khanjar (a dragger worn in the belt). But it is not easy to get to know about the racing schedule. Through a friend, who gets her tips from some Omani friend, we eventually had a date for a race in Bidiyah, a town at the edge of the desert. The race started at 6 am so we got up at 3am to be there on time - bit of a rough start for the day :).

It was very interesting to see how the event unfolded. At 6am it was still dark, and there were only 2-3 cars, no camels - we thought we got the wrong tip. But by 6.30 there were cars everywhere, camels everywhere, spectators started to show up and slowly the race began. A local guy explained, that this event is more about showing off the camels than a race - there are 2 camels at the time racing and their riders are actual people (in modern races camels have robots on their back). The riders were amazing and from all ages - they jumped off the running camels to stop them, they practically were hanging mid air to control the animals. Truth to be told they had to be quote rough on the camels to make them obey and the camels did not always seem happy about it - some had thick white foam around the mouth.

It was super fun to watch the people, how they interact - like robbing noses is pretty much a live tradition among men it seems! There were plenty of kids, even girls but hardly any women. People walked around, talked and overall seemed to have a great time.

Bidiyah has some interesting sights to check out, like the Al Mintarib castle, which is closed at the moment (2022) or the Alshariq castle which is an interesting little proper ruin (not renovated at all). 

If you need a bite, the egg roll in paratha and the karak are super nice here .

Camel race track location is here

Salon car is ok, as long as you do not drive into the desert.

If you are interested in our other desert adventures, you can find all the posts here!

They started with casually riding up and down in bigger groups

Once the race started, there were 2 camels against eachother

They made the camels sit, the rider mounted them and they basically jumped to start,

Camels did not always look happy.. see that white foam?

When not racing, the camels patiently waited for their turns.

Alshariq castle