Camel

The Camel is an ungulate which stores food as fat in humps on its back.
It is known as the ‘Ship of the Desert’. For millennia, the only method of moving through the Sahara desert or across the Arabian Desert was by Camel Caravans.

Move fast and silently through waist high sand. Its feet are pads which act like snowshoes on the sand.
Travel for three days without water. The camel stores food as fat in its hump. The camel is a ruminant and after swallowing its food which goes to the first stomach, it later returns to the mouth to be chewed as cud, like a cow.
Travel up to 25 miles (40km) per day walking at 3 mph (5kmh).
Speed and durability, it can gallop or ‘pace’ (similar to a horse trotting).
Kneel down and lie on its stomach, making it easier to mount.
Carry goods and supplies up to 250 kgs.
Survive Sandstorms: The camel can adjust its body temperature by six degrees Celsius either way. It has two sets of eyelashes to protect its eyes, and can close its slitted nostrils. It’s thick leathery skin protects it from the sand, and it has a thick coat of hair protecting it from the sun.
It uses its hump as a store for fat, not water.

The camel can survive sand storms and adjust its body heat.
It can travel more than 25 miles (40 km) a day without water and carry 240 kg.
It can carry upwards of 250 kg, compared to horses, mules and donkeys who can carry 60 kgs.
It has a life span of 50 years, compared to a donkey (30-40 years) or a horse (25-30 years).

King's Highway
- beween the Euphrates in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Incense Road
- from the Yemen to the Levant Coast.
Sahara
- along the trade routes between the Mediterranean and the Sahel African Kingdoms
- The main routes went from the Niger Bend to Morocco and Tunisia, with other Routes to Libya and Egypt.
- Carthage and Leptis Magna became the main Ports in the Mediterranean for the Routes from the Sahel.
Darb el-Arba Caravan Route
- meaning ‘the Way of the Forty’, it took 40 days from Kobbei in Darfur, Sudan, via the Kharga Oasis and Wadi Howar in the Libyan Desert and into Egypt.
- The Romans built a chain of mud brick Forts to protect the Route.
Mali to Morocco Salt Road
- From Mali in Africa, a Medieval Salt Road from Timbuctu ran across the Sahara to Morocco until the 1950’s with hundreds of Camels in the caravan.
Silk Road
- used Camel Caravans from Beijing across the Taklamakan Desert and the Gobi Desert between Northern China and Mongolia.

The Roman Army also kept a Roman Camel Corps for their operations in Syria, Egypt and the East.

Arabian Peninsular