With my sister visiting us, we decided to once more check out the camel races. Over a year since our last visit, this time it was a lot more organised, plenty of police, an ambulance, more Land Cruisers (the standard four-wheel-drive vehicle for Arabs) and a lot more camels, I think a lot of this was also due to a refurbished camel track. We arrived a little too early at one o’clock and as usual didn’t really know if the camel races were going to occur or even where to watch.

As it approached half past one, Land Cruisers gathered on either side of the start, and we could see camels being herded to the starting pens, and as usual, with no prior notice, the gates were opened and the camels began to race.

We watched a few starts, and even followed the Land Cruisers with our Nissan Sunny, behind the scenes in the holding pen were plenty of camels waiting their turn to race.

To get there take Garafat Al Rayyan and Dukhan Hwy north-west for about forty kilometres and taking about forty minutes, signs will be posted once you get approach. Camel races occur on Fridays one o’clock.