‘Dabuka’: Camels’ journey from Sudan to Shalateen market

CAIRO – 12 April 2022: The camel market in Shalateen is one of the most famous camel markets in Egypt, where camels arrive from Sudanese cities in successive trips and take several days to reach the market.

In the below lines, et displays information about the market:

- The dabuka journey starts from the Sudanese cities and valleys after gathering at a specific point on the Sudanese border and conducting a veterinary examination before arriving in Egypt.

- Camels arrives at the Ras Hadraba land port after a few days, then it continue its journey to the Camel Shalateen market.

- The camels go on a "Dabuka" journey, accompanied by their guards, in the Sudanese mountain valleys. When they reach the Ras Hadraba port, they are subjected to the veterinary quarantine, then they walk parallel to the road linking the cities of Halayeb, Abu Ramad and Shalateen to the camel market.

- It takes two days or more, depending on its numbers, and the veterinary examination process for it inside the Hadba land port.

-       The camels are led by Sudanese guards affiliated with the Sudanese traders, the owners of camels who want to sell them in the Shalateen International Market.

- The guards depend most of the time on walking during the day, in the hot sunny weather, to avoid the dangers of walking at night, and to make sure they can see the mountain paths.

- There are places where the camels get water on their "Dabuka" journey, these places are wells that are called places of watering for camels. The guards accompanying the camel herd know well the locations of the wells.

- The number of camels joining in one Dabuka journey amount to 500 camels, marked with its merchant’s sign.