Abu Dhabi: Camel Sold For Eye-Watering Dh500,000 After Dramatic Bidding War

A female calf camel bred from a 'Shamekh' father and a 'Samha Al Saghira' mother fetched a staggering half a million dirhams at the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (ADIHEX) camel auction on Monday night.

The winning bidder was Mohammed Al Menhali, the same fierce competitor who dominated the first auction, which concluded at Dh140,000, and another bid that settled at Dh90,000.

The final half-million bid came after an intense head-to-head contest with a young bidder and poet Mubarak bin Bkheit Al Shamsi, who appeared to be in his late teens. Al Shamsi jumped the bid from Dh40,000 straight to Dh100,000, triggering a rapid escalation between the two until the price reached Dh500,000.

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“You will only see the highest bids go for the best accomplished breeds,” Al Menhali told Khaleej Times after his win.“I would have continued bidding for as long as it went - I was very keen on this breed,” he added, flipping through the auction catalogue to prove his point. Asked how many camels he already owns, he replied:“A lot,” while praising God for his blessings.

While Al Menhali placed the highest bid of the night, the lion's share of camels went to an even fiercer contender - 14-year-old Hamdan Al Kaabi, who walked away with four camels. He bid relentlessly, including in the first auction, which Al Menhali eventually secured.

The ninth grader was the first to arrive at the auction, accompanied by his uncle, two younger brothers and friends.“This will be my fourth auction,” Hamdan told Khaleej Times, adding that he was ready to raise bids to around Dh400,000 for a significant camel.

"Every auction we participate in, we win around three to five camels,” said his uncle Hamad, 39. The family, which owns about 85 camels at their Al Ain farm, has been raising and racing camels since 2016.

“We always look for the best breeds at such auctions - for instance, Al Munther, Majd, and Al Gharbi are renowned for their speed and posture due to their genes."

Hamad personally supervises the camels' training and can recognise a strong contender from its humps, limbs and bone structure.“The new camels we purchase, we train and enrol in races, and whoever is destined to be sold, we sell them. We also milk the camels, but it is considered shameful for a man to sell the milk of his camel; we only give it away,” he explained.

Recalling one of their most significant 'camel moments', he pointed to his nephew Hamdan's purchase of a Zaafarana bakra (baby female camel calf).“He refused to train it for three years, afraid it might be sold off as a lucrative purchase. He kept it like a pet. When he finally trained it, it won its first race and was sold shortly after for Dh2 million.”

After narrowly losing the first bid to Al Menhali, young Hamdan secured the second, third, fourth and ninth auctions. He appeared calm but confident, with a half-smile each time the screen pointed to him as the winner.

The auction achieved total sales of Dh1.77 million for 15 camels.

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