At Camelot Adventure Lodge, on the Colorado River 18 miles from Moab, Utah, five golden-brown camels employed as ships of the desert draw "camel groupies," said Marcee Moore, who owns the lodge with her husband, Terry. Some of these people come back year after year to ride a specific camel — Bill, perhaps, with his regal attitude and stature, or Clyde, with his thick, curly coat and easygoing nature. Often, the camel fans have also traveled to Morocco or Egypt, riding camels wherever they could. (Camel lovers also find one another — and items like Egyptian camel saddles, olive-wood camel figurines and rosemary mint camel milk soap — online at
AllCamels.com - The Comprehensive Camel Resource Site!.)
Novice riders who sign up for rides at Camelot Adventure are likely to get some camel proselytizing (as well as lessons on camel anatomy, folklore, moods and diet) from Mr. Moore along with their rides around Canyonlands National Park. "Being up there on top of the world — with the exception of riding an elephant, there is not anything like it that you can ride," he said on a mid-November trip.
There are 3,000 camels in the United States, according to allcamels.com, far fewer than the numbers of horses or donkeys or even llamas, the camels' distant relatives. Opportunities to ride one in a desert remain rare. Most American camels are on ranches or in zoos or animal parks.
I just do not get religious people, if you want to not drink fine, but why do they have to take it away from everyone else?
