The Sport of Camel Jumping
In the deserts of Yemen, Zaraniq tribesmen compete to leap camels in a single bound
- By Brandon Springer
- Photographs by Adam Reynolds
- Smithsonian magazine, September 2010, Subscribe
Legend has it that camel jumping began many generations ago with a dare between two Zaraniq tribesmen. Adam Reynolds
Among the members of the Zaraniq tribe on the west coast of Yemen are, apparently, the world’s only professional camel jumpers. “This is what we do,” says Bhayder Mohammed Yusef Qubaisi, a champion bounder. The presumably ancient sport was recently documented by Adam Reynolds, a 30-year-old photojournalist from Bloomington, Indiana.
Reynolds spent six months in Yemen before being deported this past May, he believes for photographing leaders of a secessionist movement. Politically, Yemen is troubled, with a repressive but weak government beleaguered by insurgents in the largely lawless northern and southern regions. U.S. authorities have expressed concern that a large number of Al Qaeda and other terrorists operate there.
The Zaraniq live in the Tihama-al-Yemen, a desert plain on the Red Sea, and they are mostly poor; Qubaisi’s home is a one-room hut. To see the daredevils in action, Reynolds traveled a dirt track to a village southeast of the coastal city of al-Hudaydah. “It was pretty amazing,” he says of the acrobatic athletics. “They did it with such ease and grace. Afterward, though, I wondered why there hasn’t been a Yemeni long jump Olympic champion yet.”
Brandon Springer is a Smithsonian editorial intern. This is photojournalist Adam Reynolds’ first appearance in the magazine.
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Related topics: Ungulates Yemen
Additional Sources
“Is Yemen the Next Afghanistan? ” Robert F. Worth, The New York Times, July 6, 2010
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Comments (8)
SO, how does one learn to camel jump?
Posted by RACHEL on February 10,2011 | 12:19 PM
The metacafe video shows what appears to be a small pile of sand as a 'step' for their takeoff. Not a springboard, apparently, but just a short elevated 'first step.'
Posted by Rich Delom on December 6,2010 | 04:25 PM
First seeing the article in the magazine, my interest was peeked. Looking forward to another page, I was greatly disappointed to find there were only three short paragraphs. In seeing the footnote to "see more of the camel jumpers at...", I was excited, thinking I would learn more. Again, I was greatly disappointed. While other articles receive multiple pages informing readers of cultures, history,etc., it was a shame that this article was only given limited space. Even if only one more page was provided, this tribe and generational event could have brought more of us into their world as well as answering some of those questions such as "how do they do it?".
Posted by Melissa Greene on October 4,2010 | 10:14 AM
Ditto what the other two said. I would like to know how they take off. Do they use a springboard? Are they assisted by others? Do they actually leap, without aids of any kind, over all those camels?
Posted by Susan Oliver on September 3,2010 | 08:14 PM
I had to find out more after seeing the picture in the magazine. Search "camel Jumping" in YouTube and you will find a few different videos showing how it is done. I still think there is some skill involved.
Posted by Kelly on August 31,2010 | 11:58 PM
I also felt that there was a trick.
Incredibly this is not the case. There are a few videos showing how it is done, the jumperbarefoot) takes a short run and explodes up and forward.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/892798/camel_jumping_in_yemen/
Posted by A. Brinck on August 31,2010 | 01:11 PM
I'd like to hear a little more about their jumping technique. The camels must stand over six feet tall at their back, and three or four of them standing side by side would have to occupy at least ten to twelve feet or more. In other words, the jumps these guys are doing would be roughly comparable to leaping lengthwise over an SUV. How do they get that much height for that muuch distance? In one of the photos, it looks like perhaps the jumper is being assisted by other men grabbing his hands to give him a boost and more or less throw him over the camels? Or is there a ramp of some sort that the jumper takes off from? How do they do it?
Posted by Pete Tritz on August 24,2010 | 10:09 PM
Surprised and somewhat dismayed after reading the article 'OVER THE HUMP' in the current issue of Smithsonian. (Sept. 2010).
The article is about camel-jumping, and the principal photograph showing the jump seems to imply that the jumper achieved this feat without any aid, which seems impossible.
Although a small stack of hay is visible in the 'takeoff area', and a smaller photo seems to show a jumper being lifted or thrown, no mention of anything other than the pure athletic ability of the jumper is credited for the feat in the text of the article. In fact the writer states, ' ...I wondered why there hasn't been a Yemeni longjump Olympic champion yet'.
In a magazine known for the accuracy of its scientific writings, this is very mis-leading, if the jumper is aided in any way. Can the writer, Brandon Springer, provide information about whether or not the jumper is actually aided by a raised take-off area, or the lifted or thrown by others?
If not, I may have to see it for myself, as nothing I've witnessed in a half-century of following track & field athletes lets me believe this could be accomplished without aid of some type.
Hope to hear from someone; thanks and be well!
Bob
Robert Trocchia
rtrocchia@verizon.net
Posted by bob trocchia on August 24,2010 | 01:41 PM