Tired of pyramids and museums and seeking for some exotic experience, tourists are discovering new entertainment sights like the camel market in Giza. The market is located in Burkash, a little picturesque place in the valley of Nile, visited only by tourists traveling by themselves. As it's hard to imagine a huge comfortable bus with air-conditioner in a place where asphalt roads are still something new. Nevertheless, the enterprising administration is not losing time to get money – tourists have to pay for seeing the market at least, as they don't buy any camels.
Burkash market is the largest camel market in the country. A smaller one, in Aswan, is at a thousand kilometers south than Cairo. At a time there are presented not less than two thousands camels, brought mostly from neighbor countries. Only from Sudan, monthly there are brought more than three thousands camels.
Caravans, from 100 to 150 camels each, make a very long road along the Nile river, from the depth of Africa in order to get to this market situated not far from Egyptian capital. That may be the reason some camels are in pitiable condition and need to be fatten before sold. Rest of «lucky beggars» is brought to the market in trucks.
Camel's meat is popular dish in Egypt for it's not as rich in fat as beef or mutton but it contains a lot of protein.
Camels sold for taking part in the races are more expensive than regular one's. Their price could get over two thousand dollars though they are not different from usual ones. Though their meat is very popular, camels are still used as transport, especially in desert where they are appreciated for their endurance and ability to resist much time without water and food.
In Egypt, camels are not used in races, instead they are attractions for tourists.
Price negotiation is very agitated, someone could think the cost dispute could turn in a fight. Periodically, angry and offended, the seller just leaves in order to come back after several minutes and continue the dispute looking for a compromise.Security claims that criminal incidents are a big rarity here.
Usually, camels are bought by the gross, defining the price for all. Most of clients are professionals, peculiar intermediaries, knowing how to bring down the price. There is no scale, the weight of meat of a certain camel is approximated.The camel price varies from 1500 pounds (less than 300 dollars) to nine thousands pounds (about 1.6 thousand dollars).
Even if tourists do not buy camels they could purchase a rough camel-wool blanket and get a lot of impressions.In town you could taste camel milk, which is recommended for preventive maintenance and treatment for hepatitis, food allergy etc.