In search of a camel

We boarded our next sleeper train at Atyrau in Kazakhstan, bound for Almaty in the east, and I had just got comfortable in my window seat when I noticed something crawling on my leg.

A small brown praying mantis, instantly named ‘Manti’ – we have no idea of gender but for the ongoing balance I have sought in my life we called her she. She travelled with us for fifteen hours until we were at a station where we could put her in a tree…but my focus was elsewhere, I was in search of a camel!

I was 8 years old when I saw a camel for the first time, a moment perfectly etched in my memory.

My mum and dad and our neighbour had both sold a bit of garden to someone to build a house, and they’d used some of that money to pay for a holiday (…so they could get pregnant it turned out nine months later :).

Usually in the holidays I went to stay with my Nan and Grandad …but not this time, I loved my holidays with my Nan and Grandad …but this holiday was a flippin’ cruise in the Mediterranean!

I remember the excitement of the travel to the ship, and being awe struck at the sheer size of it. I remember how incredibly blue and beautiful the sea was in Corsica, and that my dad saw a lizard on a wall. A lizard, in real life…

On the second day we arrived in Tunisia, I stood on deck leaning over the railings and caught a faint smell of spice. The people were wearing different clothes, the buildings were unusual shapes and everywhere there was noise and colour, and then, oh wonder of wonders, there were several huge animals loping across the main square, decorated in bright colours…I was in love!

That night, as we headed away from shore, I got sick, the sea was a bit rough and the Greek steward in charge of our row of cabins told my mum he’d look after me. I don’t think I was the only person he was looking after that night, he was funny and reassuring with me and rubbed some lemon oil on my back which really helped…and when we left the cruise a couple of days later he gave me a camel – it was soft and covered in rabbit fur and I have it still today – his kindness, the fact that he’d noticed I was in love, was a big deal in my young life and so here I am, looking for camels in the Kazakh desert.

The Steppe (more official title), extends more than 2,200 km from the area east of the Caspian Depression and north of the Aral Sea, all the way to the Altai Mountains. It is the largest dry steppe region on earth, covering approximately 310,629 square miles.

Quick aside: – what is the difference between a steppe and a desert?! – we have had a few questions like that on this trip – why is the Black Sea called the Black Sea, when it clearly isn’t. Do Russian school children have summer holidays? Why do they paint the bottoms of trees white…when did the last ice age end I had to check but it turned out I knew that one, (11,700 years ago) …and the most important one for my research purposes. Who are the official worlds worst drivers? …I am nervous that it’s going to be somewhere we haven’t been yet, but I’d rather know…

Anyway, the Kazakh ‘Steppe’ is home to camels. As I lay in my stupid top bunk this morning (no one likes them, but they are all that’s left when you book late) I could see on my map that our journey would take us past what was once the Aral Sea (didn’t Stacey Dooley do an expose on what the cotton industry did to the Aral Sea?) anyway the fourth largest inland lake is now less than 10% of its size and one of the main reasons is the production of cotton…

There was no point staying in my stupid top bunk because I couldn’t see out of the window so here I am in the corridor.

The train is quiet, the only other person awake is the slightly lecherous train guard, but I’m a dab hand at dealing with that sort of behaviour. He left me alone quite quickly…and so after some walking up and down the corridor, an attempt at exercise, I settled into stillness …to wait.

…they must be here somewhere, surely?!

Small villages and walled graveyards emerged out of the early morning mist but there were no humpies to be seen, and it’s not like I was looking for a ground squirrel or a lizard – if they were there, I would see them.

A young woman came by with her young baby and I waited some more.

‘Camel, camel!!’ I said in a breathless whisper when finally, out of the mist, a small group appeared right by the train track…there was no time for a photo I was too in the wonder (and I’d dropped my phone in the excitement 🙂 – I hugged myself in glee, did my famous camel victory dance and stood glued to the window…where there were six camels, there had to be more!

In the next two hours I saw small herds, big herds, solitary camels and baby camels and I even saw a camel running…there were two humped ones (bactrian – I’ve checked) and one humped ones (dromedaries).

Heaven 🙂

I’ve been asked often why I like them so much, and having had a chance to get up close and personal with a few in my life I can tell you that we love what we love!

Camels are often deeply unpleasant, they fart, spit, make horrible noises and are generally the rude ones. It’s no surprise that they are not one of Dreamworks animated darlings – because despite the long eyelashes they are the elbows on the table, plate licking, nose pickers of the animal kingdom …and they make me feel right at home 🙂

This is a forty-two hour train journey and we are now 22 hours in and I’m still scouring the landscape for these most majestical of creatures.

It was worth coming for this 🙂

PS – there are camels in the picture above – two of the first ones I saw but you do have to look quite hard to find them!

Angie

September 10, 2023 at 10:50 am

I’m so glad you got to see camels…. And both kinds. Just fabulous! A ya ya dream come true. And a praying mantis as well. They have such cute faces.

This train journey sounds way better than the one leaving Russia, even if the top bunks don’t have a view. Xxx

Jenn

September 10, 2023 at 8:44 pm

I’m relieved I’ve had a lengthy catch-up on your posts after a few days without, as it has meant that I read all about it whilst being able to know you have travelled through and onwards. I was pouring good energy into the Russian leg of your journey (why leg, why not arm, or stomach or heart…..???) and trying not to worry too much. So phew…. and wow….. and yes, camels are great; I think they do probably care and maybe they do have the odd insecurity (!) but they give the impression of being very chilled and resilient!! So glad you saw so many. Safe journeying and Love, Love, Love to each and all of you