KARACHI: Ships of the desert, camels, known for their steadfastness in hot and dry climates and for going without food and water for long periods of time as they transport people and supplies over extensive distances, are also known for producing milk, meat and even wool and leather products. And camels are also sold as sacrificial animals for Eidul Azha.

Those who can afford to buy cows for sacrifice also consider camels as some are even available within the same price range though transporting them, where to keep them at home and getting the right butcher can pose issues here.

Still, one doesn’t find camels in the regular goat or cattle markets of Karachi. At the biggest, Sohrab Goth cattle market, they are kept in a separate area, actually on an inside road nearby. No one would even ask for an entrance ticket while waving you in the direction of the camel market where you find all kinds of camels. There are the regular camel-colour camels along with the black and white camels, too.

Basically, there are two kinds of camels — dromedary or the Arabian camel and Bactrian or the Central Asian camel. But at Karachi’s camel markets, the sellers also talk about the Punjabi oonth (camel) and the Pakhtun, Sindhi and Baloch oonth. “They all have different appearances, although their meat tastes the same,” says Allah Dino Arbab from Mithi. “The white camel hails from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and the black beautiful ones are from Badin in Sindh. Aren’t they beautiful?” He asks some potential customers, hoping to make a sale. There are a few people with a truck. It is obvious that they are looking for a big animal. And while the cows can be loaded on pickups too, for camels one needs nothing short of a truck.

Arbab’s cheapest camel is worth Rs50,000 and his most expensive one is priced at Rs700,000. Some camels have beautiful designs made on them by some expert barbers. “We have to make them attractive for the customers,” he says. “Sometimes just the chains, bells and beads are not enough,” he adds.

“Even if I make one or two sales, I’ll be fine,” says Manzoor, another seller, who came to Karachi with his camels from Tando Allahyar. “Camel meat is not like beef. It tastes more like lamb meat, and the best thing is that it doesn’t have that peculiar smell associated with lamb meat, so it is the best kind of meat,” he says.

“But a camel must be young, around five years old or less for its meat to be of the best quality. If you cut an old camel, its meat will be tougher and also difficult to cook,” he said. “All my camels are young,” he adds.

Asked how to tell a camel’s age, the man explains that it is no different from telling a goat or lamb’s age. “From its teeth, of course,” he says. “Two teeth mean that a camel is under five years of age and if it has four teeth then it is older than that,” he says.

There are the words ‘Eid Mubarak ho’ inscribed with henna on a camel munching away on fodder but it seems to attract no customers. On closer inspection one gets a glimpse of his teeth. One could count around six teeth in the camel’s mouth. It seems to have lived a long life, and it looks like it has many more happy years ahead as well!

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2017