Ethical camel trekking

The honest starting point

Animal-welfare organisations have criticised camel riding in Morocco, and some of that criticism is deserved. In high-traffic tourist spots, camels can be overworked, badly saddled, poorly fed and worked far past sensible ages. Pretending otherwise would insult your intelligence.

But “camel riding is unethical” is as inaccurate as “camel riding is fine”. Dromedaries have been the working partners of the Sahara for two millennia; the question is never the animal, it is the operator. Here is what we can honestly say about ours — and what to ask anyone else.

What we can say about our dromedaries

They have names. That sounds small; it is not. The dromedaries on our treks belong to the family and the cameleers who walk beside them, and they are known as individuals, not as a rented string.

On a trek, every traveller has their own mount — one dromedary per person, plus pack animals for the camp — and most people walk in the morning and ride in the afternoon, so no animal carries a rider all day. Our multi-day treks run from October to April only; we do not walk caravans in the summer heat, when daytime temperatures reach 40 °C and more. On excursions, the camel ride is a short climb to a crest at sunset, not hours in the saddle.

A fair chain and a clean camp

The agency was created so that tourism would pay the nomad families of this region fairly: everyone in the chain — cameleers, cooks, drivers, guides — is paid fairly and transparently. Our bivouacs leave no trace: the seasonal camp at Chegaga is dismantled every summer, water travels in refillable bottles, and what comes in with us goes out with us.

Questions to ask any operator

Whoever you book with — including us — ask: How many rides does a camel do per day? Who owns the camels? Do they have names? What happens to older animals? May I see the saddles fitted? An honest operator enjoys these questions. If you ever feel a company would rather you did not ask, you have your answer.

If you prefer not to ride

Every one of our treks can be done on foot, walking beside the caravan while the dromedaries carry only the camp — it is how many of our guests travel by choice. The desert does not require you to ride. It only requires you to come.