Rabbit Chasing and Camel Wrestling

Thousands waited patiently in dusty stands for the Minister of Tunisia to arrive so that the final day of festivities could continue. Everybody in Tunisia knows Wadya (Zena) and our Tunisian Official Ezzedine so we too managed VIP status and stood center stage to the action.

Always the last week in December, two towns go wild in celebration of the Sahara Festival, Tozeur and Douz.

Despite what you might have heard, camels are extremely intelligent creatures. They are raised traditionally for their wool, milk, skin and meat but certain breeds are adept at showmanship. Dozens of them paraded like horses, lockstep with each other during the opening ceremonies.

A short demonstration of camel fighting shows how they can contort their long necks to wrestle their partner into submission. It's an exciting sport to some but controversial for many so the festival limits the degree of fighting to only a few harmless bites.

Usually performed by older women, the 'hair dance' is popular in Saudi Arabia but here a dozen children swing their long loose locks to music. They sway side-to-side making figure 8's and circles with their tresses. How they manage not to kink their necks or get headaches is a question I never got to ask.

The 'dog and rabbit chase' jolts the audience to their feet laughing with delight. We were rooting for the bunny to escape the clutches of the Pharaoh dog, a Mediterranean breed called Kelb tal Fenek, which literally means rabbit dog, but the odds were stacked against him.

It was one dog then two then three, all racing with the grace, power and speed of a winning thoroughbred. Locked inside a circle of spectators the poor rabbit didn't know where to hide.

The Bedouin horse races finished out the day racing back and forth kicking up stretches of desert sand with a blazing setting sun on the horizon.