To ride or not to ride?

I didn't.

I did see quite a few, though, from the dozen or so at the camel farm down the road from Kibbutz Ginosar in Galilee (one of our hotels) to the one who stood by the "Sea Level" sign in the middle of the Judaean desert.

But after seeing one close-up on the Mount of Olives with a leather thong through his pierced nose, crusted with dried blood, I decided to declare my own personal Be Kind to Animals week.

However, I witnessed a hilarious scene with a camel. Just after I learned that camels don't like their heads touched, I noticed a richly dressed female tourist who was apparently determined to get her picture taken with a Real, Live Camel.

The animal, tied to a post outside Jerusalem, was not enamored of the idea. As I watched, the effort turned into a wrestling match, with the tourist trying hard to keep an arm locked around the camel's neck and a rigid smile on her face, and the camel bobbing, weaving, snorting and trying to bite.

I never found out whether she got her picture, but I doubt her bright-yellow suit was the same afterward: Camels spit, too. (KB)

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