Learning Saudi camel heritage through ‘friendship’

 In a span of four years, an investor took on a new interest that developed into passion which made him understand the local heritage of his new interest leading him to explore ways to invest in his passion ... albeit coming a compete circle of practicing what he does best — investing.

It did not occur to American Joseph when he made an investment in the field of education and training that it would lead him to the heart of the most ancient Saudi inherited sports, "camels and racing", and eventually to compete for the highest and largest prizes at the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. Moreover, it even led to attracting other investments in the field.

Four years ago, following his investment in the Kingdom, a visit of his acquaintance Faisal Al-Qahtani and his friends led to him to getting to know camels closely for the first time and to explore the depths of the experience that the Saudis have in their relationship with the desert and their deep-entrenched traditions.

This was also the moment that got him interested and involved with camels, and today into the singles’ race of camels in the fifth Camel Festival.

From a farm in Al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia, Joseph was acquiring a new passion that would consume his weekends, exploring the way of life in the desert, the desert picnics with friends and their camps that the travels between them with his friends for consecutive days.

When Joseph had time off from work, which is associated with a number of universities in the Kingdom, he would return to the desert to practice his passion.

He went through the whole experience of wearing Saudi dress, sitting next to burning fires, and drinking camel milk, in addition to growing his passion by getting acquainted with camels and their characteristics.

In seeking to acquire and adopt that whole experience, he set out looking for a way to own camels and buy and own a caravan.

While hanging out with his friends, Joseph got to know about the Camel Festival, and he avidly followed its news and competitions. With the increasing talk by the Camel Club about attracting investors and seeking investments in camels, he intended to be a player in this business.

Joseph shared his intention with his friends to own competitive camels for the fifth Camel Festival competitions.

With the help of his colleague Al-Qahtani, Joseph was ready to invest an amount of SR500,000 to acquire a single she-camel that suited his budget and met the beauty standards he was looking for.

So, Al-Qahtani took him to the farm of the owner, Eid Al-Otaibi to select a single camel from the Tamamyat bloodline. When he bought it, it was only a simple investment in a field in which the value of a single camel could reach three million riyals.

In his first experience, his friend Al-Qahtani believed that Joseph would not pay much as he was not so experienced like an Arab in this hobby.

But Joseph belied his expectations with a good buy, and Al-Qahtani believes that Joseph will gradually enhance his selection — hopefully — as he explores the field.

Al Qahtani confirmed that what was achieved for Joseph represents the transmission of the Saudi heritage with its depth to investors, and that has tickled their imagination such that their desire goes beyond the principle of buying and selling into opening new investment avenues.

Al-Qahtani mentioned that investors hold a further view of the field, as they focus on its revenues and how to increase them through establishing farms that produce milk, conducting research related to the medical field, and taking advantage of the "virgin she-camel urine” in treating some types of cancer.

He added that next year will witness attracting Robert, a professor of finance at Harvard university, to this field as well as our friend and British businessman, Simon, as he is looking forward to investing in this field.

SG