My Humps

28,000 blonde, leggy hopefulls travelled to a remote western region of the United Arab Emirates earlier this month, to take part in a 10 day festival which saw them compete against each other in no less than 48 titles, prizes for the lucky winners included luxury cars and prize money totalling $10m.

However, this was no ordinary ‘Little-Miss-Dress-Up-Nonsense’ pageant, where girls are paraded, fake tanned and done up to the eyeballs in order to win some futile sash thing and giant sparkly crown. Nope! This was the UAE’s annual Camel Beauty Pageant!

The festival sees camels of all ages and types judged on different criteria, depending on the breed. The body is divided into five sections, with 20 points each, to mark beauty and elegance.

The scoring system is as follows...

Head and neck - 25 points awarded for large head, firm ears, long whiskers, shapely nose and lips, long neck

Upper body - 20 points awarded for large, shapely hump

Front - 15 points awarded for wide neck, strong shoulders, good feet

Rear - 10 points awarded for straight, strong legs

General appearance - 30 points awarded for shiny hair, overall health and fitness, space between toes

Unfortunately there isn't a section devoted to 'talent' or 'wow wear'.

After the prettiest camels are selected (yes, really!) their owners are brought before the panel to swear on purity of lineage and proprietorship.

“I swear that this camel is not a hybrid!”

Next comes the auction, the Gulf Arabs gather to place their bids with some camels expected to make as much as 16 million dirhams or $4m!

The contest is more than just money though, whilst being number one brings prestige and status, (and sometimes 4x4’s) it is also important to preserve the heritage of the Gulf and to also encourage cultural tourism. It's also a good excuse to droole over some sexy camels!