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Joining a Mobile Camel Camp in the Jiddat-il Harasiis January 2012

Between the 4-9 of January 2012 I set out from Muscat on a 1,000 mile drive [round trip] to find a pastoral household moving its herd of camels from the southern reaches of the Jiddat-il Harasiis to the northern regions where good rainfall had fallen a few months before.  I had a small team of researchers and film makers with me and our aim was to join one household and record a snippet of daily life in 2012 on film for uploading to my website www.nomadsinoman.  This small expedition was funded by two generous grants: one from the Anglo-Omani society and the other from the Oxford Department of International Development Staff Research Fund. My assistants were Adrian Mylne with the video camera and recording equipment and Drs. Thomas de Burgh and Miranda Mylne assisting as well as making their own report regarding secondary health services at the Haima Hospital [see Nomadic Peoples, Vol 17 (1)].


We left Muscat just before sunrise and drove for nearly six hours before we arrived at the tribal centre of Haima. Stopping at the petrol station to refuel and drink coffee, we made contact with the Harasiis family using SMS and international telephone calls to identify the turn off to the Wadi Mukhaizana where they were heading.  This wadi had recently become the scene of oil company exploration and extraction. Occidental Oil Company, having won the concession for oil and gas exploration in this area, had established a large spaghetti junction of a camp with pipes moving oil and gas great distances from the middle to this important dry river bed to the coast.  After a number of false starts because we kept on missing the turn off - it was marked as an oil company private road -   we pulled up at the right junction and waited for our host’s sons to find us. In a matter of minutes a Toyota Lexus pulled up and our host’s son and son-in-law alighted from the car with a shopping bag of cold drinks, crisps and biscuits.  They invited us to sit down on the sand and gravel and share these refreshments while we planned out the itinerary for the rest of the day.   The head of this family, Hamad, was moving up slowly from the south with a herd of 200 camels- many of them pregnant or recently delivered of their offspring.  He had with him two hired herders: one from Baluchistan and the other from Sindh. They had been working for him for the past four years and knew their jobs well.   Hamad was driving one vehicle, an old Bedford truck which he had bought at an Army auction. The Baluchi and Sindhi herders were driving the other two vehicles in this convoy - a mobile kitchen and storage vehicle and a water bowser. These three vehicles were being driven gingerly across the rock and gravel surface of the desert behind the herd of camels nudging and encouraging the female camels and their young to keep on moving.


We drove into the centre of the Wadi Mukhaizana and stood on top of our land Cruiser to  scour the horizon for the camel caravan.  First we saw a camel in the distance then  several and then more until we eventually realized we were being approached by a large number of widely dispersed camels and their young.  This time of year had become an important time to breed their camels  so that the young were largely delivered in late November and December.  Hamad’s two sons and sons-in-law had taken time off from their jobs with the border police to assist in moving the herd a few hundred kilometres north as well as to assist in the delivery of the young and later the mating of receptive   females.  The emergence of camel racing as a national sport with its large purses had meant that breeding camels for racing had become an important pastime.   November to December was the racing season.   Both Hamad’s sons preferred to enter their camels into the one year old category, so it was important to them that the camels were bred in late December or early January. The eleven month gestation period meant that November births gave them an upper edge in the one year old camel race category.


We spent the afternoon gently herding the camels on from behind the wheels of our 4 wheel drive vehicle.  It was the first time I had herded camels from behind the driver’s seat of a car. Often the newly born got tired and dropped to their knees wanting to rest or sleep, but the sound of our engines gently purring behind them meant that they staggered back to their feet and followed their mothers in the march north.

As the sun came close to the horizon, Hamad called a halt to the day’s march and we set up the vehicles in a large circle tying ropes around the outside perimeter created by the vehicles to keep the camels from entering the camp space.     The Baluchi herder built a good fire from wood which had been collected during the march and water was boiled for hot tea, dates and coffee.   The men all joined together for prayer and then returned to the camp fire to talk and catch up on news. Several hours later the Baluchi presented us with a massive tray of rice and meat which he had prepared while we sat around the fire gossiping and generally enjoying the evening air.

The next morning was cold, wet and heavy with dew.  The fog was so thick it was hard see more than 10 meters ahead, and most of the camels were lost from sight.  A roaring camp fire helped us to dry out and once the fog had lifted by mid-morning, it was safe to ‘round up ‘the camels and start moving them northwards again.  After a cooked breakfast of vermicelli noodles in camel’s milk and sugar, we had the energy for the day’s slow drive of camels across the Wadi Mukhaizana.

A noon time break for tea, dates, and coffee presented an ideal opportunity to interview Hamad about life on the Jiddat before the advent of the car and also about his thoughts on the future (see video clip).  With two of his sons on annual leave to help in this drive north, I also recorded them talking to each other in Harsuusi, the south Arabian ‘Himyaritic’ language of this tribal group (see video clip).

While some of the family group rested from the mid-day sun, we took the opportunity to drive to the Occidental Oil Company installation in the middle of the wadi to meet with the camp administrators to ask about their policy regarding hiring local young men for skilled jobs in the industry. We knew of one young Harsuusi man employed by them, but there were plenty more looking for work.

Our trip to the Oxy Company attracted some interest and that evening we had a lot of Harsuusi guests around our camp fire.  Bread baked in the ashes of the camp fire served as a good snack until our meal of rice and meat had been prepared.

On the third day we came close to Haima and said goodbye to our hosts.   Once at the tribal centre we stopped at the formal visiting room (majlis) of the locally elected Harsuusi representative to the government.  After a generous brunch we visited a racing camel compound where two of our crew were given a chance to ride.  Then after a brief visit to the Haima Hospital we began our long journey back to Muscat.