The Camel Market

It was a pleasant enough drive . The thirty kilometers out to the camel market were mostly paved and the scenery was interesting. There were many checkpoints and at the last one we were told to pay a fee as we were entering the Somalia region of Ethiopia. As we neared the camel market the big surprise was an enormous refugee camp composed of hundreds of makeshift tents covered with pieces of plastic. There must have been thousands of people there, displaced from Somalialand. We were told strictly not to take any pictures.


REFUGEE CAMP IN THE DISTANCE

The camel selling ground was nothing special except for the hundreds of camels sellers and buyers milling around. All the camels had been herded here some from as far as 20 kilometers away.




A lot were being sold for meat.
We were told that a young attractive virgin bride could bring a price of a hundred camels. So yes women are valued in this country. Her virginity is guaranteed because they sew up her vagina at an early age.
There was a big argument about fees to see the market. It seems just lately the local people have raised the fees for foreigners to visit the market. On the whole I would say the locals were not that enthused to see us there. 
Anyways a great place to look at camels 

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