Ethical Camel Trekking

The honest starting point

Animal-welfare organisations have criticised camel riding in Morocco, and some of that criticism is deserved. In high-traffic tourist spots, camels can be overworked, badly saddled, poorly fed and worked far past sensible ages. Pretending otherwise would insult your intelligence.

But "camel riding is unethical" is as inaccurate as "camel riding is fine". Camels have been working partners in the Sahara for two millennia; the question is never the animal, it is the operator. Here is exactly how ours are treated, so you can judge for yourself — and know what to ask anyone else.

How our camels work

Every camel carries one rider or pack luggage — never both. Loads stay well under what a healthy dromedary carries comfortably, and children share a parent’s saddle instead of adding an animal. Rides are walked, never hurried, and our cameleers — who own their animals — walk beside them the whole way.

Camels work in rotation: an animal that does an overnight trek rests the following day. During the extreme summer weeks we shorten routes, shift to early and late hours, and cut the schedule to a fraction of high-season work.

Food, water, care — and retirement

Our camels are grazed and fed daily rations of barley and dates in working season, with permanent access to water at rest. Saddles are padded, fitted to the individual animal, and checked before every departure — most visible sores on tourist camels are saddle sores, and they are preventable with equipment and attention.

A dromedary can live 35 years or more. Ours work roughly between the ages of 5 and 20, then retire to pasture with the family herds. The cameleers who walk beside your camel are in most cases the men who raised it; its condition is their livelihood and their pride.

Questions to ask any operator

Whoever you book with — including us — ask: How many rides does a camel do per day? (One overnight or two short rides is honest work; more is not.) Who owns the camels? (Owner-cameleers care; rented strings suffer.) What happens to old camels? (A real answer takes seconds; a dodge tells you everything.) May I see the saddles fitted? (Watch for padding and for sores.)

An honest operator enjoys these questions. If you ever feel a company would rather you did not ask, you have your answer — book elsewhere, whether or not that is with us.

If you prefer not to ride

Every one of our treks can be done on foot, walking beside the caravan while the camels carry only the camp. It is how our guides travel by choice, and some of our guests prefer it. The desert does not require you to ride — it only requires you to come.