Is Camel Riding Ethical? (2024)

I’ve always fancied myself as something of an explorer.

Ever since I studied 18th-century Scottish travel writers at university and read about their harrowing travels to the Hebrides, I wanted the same for myself. Well, except for the whole nearly-dying-in-a-boat thing (I’m very much a land person).

I didn’t really know what an explorer was though. I mean, it’s the 21st century. Everything’s sort of been explored already, right?

So I defaulted to an antiquated version that involved Indiana Jones movies and wild animals.

That’s how I ended up on a camel ride through the Moroccan desert.

🤩 I recommend this non-camel tour in Morocco

My First Camel Ride Wasn’t in Morocco

I’d ridden a camel before I went to Morocco.

The Toronto Zoo has offered camel tours to visitors for as long as I can remember. I’m pretty sure I was settled between the humps of an aged caramel beast long before I was considering riding one in a desert halfway around the world.

The camels used to walk in wide, lazy loops around an enclosed field. I’d grin widely at the camera as we returned to the dais to disembark. There are photos of me from childhood to my teenage years with a goofy grin as I rounded the same tree.

Looking back, the camels were never as enthused as I was.

They seemed bored, tired even, with their large eyes glazed over as they chewed cud with their giant lips.

But as a kid, and even a young adult, I never noticed the potential discomfort of my steed. I was too focused on the thrill of riding a camel, of feeling their fatty humps sway with each step, and living up to my explorer fantasies.

I didn’t know any better.

Problems with Animal Tourism

Before we head to Marrakech, Morocco for the body of this story, I want to take a brief moment to discuss animal welfare and animal tourism.

Things are going to get serious for a minute, but bear with me. This is important.

I think we’ve all come around to the fact that it’s unethical to ride elephants. There was a big movement nearly a decade ago to reveal the horrible treatment of the animals and how carrying people hurt their backs. So when Kim Kardashian rode one years later, people were outraged.

Back in undergrad, I worked with the World Wildlife Fund to help promote the negative effects of elephant riding and bear-baiting.

People rely on organizations like WWF to help teach them what’s right and wrong with animal tourism around the world. Their platforms share the hidden dangers for animals, mistreatment going on behind the scenes, and the issues with supporting these practises through your payment.

I knew to avoid those activities when it came to animal tourism. Although they’re common in some parts of the world, I understood that the animal’s wellbeing mattered more than my photo op, so I opted out.

But I’d never heard the same about camel rides, so I figured it was fine. I mean, most of Western society believes it’s safe and ok for people to ride horses as long as they’re treated well.

Camels are just misshapen horses, right?

🤩 I recommend this non-camel tour in Morocco

Is It Ethical to Ride a Camel?

Camels that are broken for tourists to ride them on camel tours in Marrakech, Morocco are typically trained with violence. These methods are incredibly cruel and cause harm to the poor animals.

Think of the ways we used to train dogs centuries ago, with whips and chains and sticks. You wouldn’t do that to your poor pup, would you?

So why would you do it to a camel?

Tour camels are often overpacked with items, weighing them down and injuring their backs. They are overworked to fit tourism schedules and help their owners earn a larger living. They don’t get breaks and are often poorly fed to ensure the owners make the maximum profit.

Unfortunately, the majority of camel rides are offered in low-income countries by poor owners. There are no protections for the animals in place and no oversight about the owners’ treatment of them.

Yet people still want to ride a camel through the desert.

So the camel tours keep running in places like Morocco and Dubai.

You’ll find tips online recommending you look for “healthy” or “happy” camels. But how do you judge this? If you aren’t a camel vet, you can’t be certain of the animal’s well being.

So in short, no, it’s not ethical to ride a camel on your holiday.

It is only acceptable for the nomadic Berber people who care for their camels properly, do not allow them to be used by tourists, and require them for their lifestyle.

🤩 I recommend this non-camel tour in Morocco

Riding a Camel in the Merzouga Desert in Marrakech, Morocco

I booked a camel tour through my riad in Marrakech, Riad Le Clos Des Arts. They helped me book a tour that I honestly wish I’d never gone on.

The camel ride was set to go through the Merzouga desert in Northern Morocco.

Problem 1: the Merzouga was north of the Atlas Mountains and required a two-day trip to reach it.

That trip was filled with awkwardly riding in a car with a lone driver and a silent Flemmish man for two days.

Problem 2: the tour was poorly planned. I never got a map or any information about breaks. We got limited toilet breaks throughout the drive, and mostly sat in silence. The riads we stopped in along the way were unheated and had freezing cold showers due to the lack of hot water.

It wasn’t exactly a welcome start to my explorer ideal.

But I figured this was my version of the Hebrides boat trips in the 18th-century Scottish travel writing I studied. I needed some drama to put in my memoir, right?

I held out hope for the camels, my first sight of the desert, and the golden blush of sunset over the dunes. That’s what I was in this for.

But a camel tour in Morocco wasn’t the glamorous thing I expected.

🤩 I recommend this non-camel tour in Morocco

The Harsh Realities of Camel Tours in Morocco

We arrived to herds of camels staked into hard sand on a roadside.

They all looked absolutely miserable, with sad hazy eyes that seemed permanently out of focus. They were already laden with rugs and tethered together in a tight line, forcing them within inches of each other.

A few camels had piercings that seemed painfully decorative. One had it through its nose, a giant silver hoop that had specks of rust around it.

Another had a giant chunk missing from its ear that looked like it had come from a ring being ripped out.

They were all mangy, with patches of fur missing and dark scars along their necks and backs.

The men leading the tours, overdressed in Berber garb that clearly didn’t fit them, had placed heavy woolen rugs between their humps. I assumed those were meant to be our saddles. But when I sat down, I felt the hard bite of a wooden board beneath my butt.

They were using wooden saddles on these poor creatures’ backs! There was no padding beneath them, the only attempts at comfort made for the sake of the paying tourists.

I wanted to cry at the sight of these poor creatures whose pain I had supported by paying for this camel tour in Marrakech.

My Ignorance of Camel Welfare

I wish I could say I recognized the camels’ pain and refused to ride them. Or that I’d berated the owners for their poor treatment of the gentle creatures.

But I didn’t.

I didn’t even think of saying no. I just hopped on the wooden saddle and bit back my grimace while I was carried for two hours into the depths of the Moroccan desert.

I’m not sure if it was my ignorance or politeness that kept me quiet. It might have been my selfish desire to get my money’s worth and live the dream I’d pictured.

But I do I know that I deeply regret my camel ride in Morocco.

The ride was physically and emotionally painful. I could barely walk after two hours and needed days to recover later from the harsh saddle. And I was just sitting on it.

That poor camel had to repeat the same 6+ hours with a human and all their luggage strapped to its back every day.

It tainted an already challenging experience and made it less the explorer fantasy I’d hoped, and more of an animal abuse nightmare.

I was complicit in the poor creature’s pain.

I repressed it for a long time, but when I finally dealt with that fact, I was so angry at myself.

How to Be an Animal Advocate While You Travel

I’m not going to talk about my actual trip into the desert.

Why? Because it paled in comparison to the atrocities that these camels faced. This is a story about animal tourism issues around the world, not about terrible tourist accommodations and false advertising.

Instead, I want to talk about how to be an advocate for animal rights while you travel. It sounds like it’ll be a lot harder than it is. But, honestly, it only takes a few moments to change your actions to better animal tourism.

Here are 5 tips to help you avoid making mistakes like I did with my camel ride in Marrakech, Morocco:

1. Research Before You Go

It’s not fun to google animal welfare. I definitely recommend avoiding the Google Images section. But a cursory search about whether or not an activity is safe for the animals you’re visiting can help stop a lot of mistakes.

If I’d Googled “camel ride Morocco” or “Marrakech camel tours”, I’d have seen a lot of ads for tourist experiences. But I also would have found a number of sources talking about how unethical the treatment of tour camels is in the country.

I could have avoided a lot of regret if I’d taken a few moments to search it for myself.

2. Ask Yourself, Would I Be Ok With Someone Doing This to Me?

I certainly wouldn’t be ok with someone plopping a wooden saddle on top of me and forcing me to walk for miles without a break or nourishment.

You can also ask yourself if it’s something you’d be ok doing to your pet if it can’t apply to humans.

3. You Can Always Say No

Unfortunately, the tourism industry is money-driven, especially in low-income countries. That means that as long as they aren’t punished for their actions and tourists keep paying, they’ll keep providing the service.

So you may find yourself on an excursion with animals that are clearly being mistreated.

You can always refuse the tour. I wish I had, even if it had meant losing money.

That’s why knowing about animal tourism issues is so important: so you can know what your money is (inadvertently) supporting.

If you aren’t willing to cancel the experience or can’t afford to, speak to the tour provider to complain. If your hotel recommended it, speak with them about the issue after. Make it clear that the animals are being mistreated and you’re worried about their welfare.

They may be able to rectify the situation or at least stop recommending that experience to their customers.

4. Warn Your Friends

Travel is a word of mouth industry. Most of us get information and recommendations from friends or family.

Do your part in stopping the mistreatment of animals by warning others about inhumane practices around the world. Help teach them about avoiding camel and elephant rides and other issues.

Talk to them about animal welfare issues. Even if you don’t change everyone’s mind, you may stop one person from making the same mistake. And that’s a win.

5. Mistakes Happen

People will always make mistakes. It’s important that we own up to them and learn from them.

I fully admit to selecting this tour, doing no research on it, and going through with it even when I saw the mistreatment of the animals. I really wish I hadn’t, because it was an awful mistake to make.

It doesn’t matter if you’re an animal rights activist, if you’re a sustainable traveller, or if you’re new to travel: mistakes will happen.

As tourists, it’s more difficult to know everything about another country. You’ll probably stumble and err like I did. Don’t hate yourself for it. Learn how to forgive yourself and move on.

If you feel the need for penance, offer a donation to an animal rights charity, volunteer your time at a local animal welfare chapter, or campaign against the mistreatment of those animals in that foreign area. Sometimes just signing a petition is enough to impact change and help your conscience.

Marrakech, Morocco Tours That Don’t Involve Camels

If you’re looking for other things to do in Marrakech, there are many guided tours that will help you discover the true beauty of the country. I did an immersive experience with local woman at Amal Non-Profit where I learned how to bake local dishes and helped support female education.

Or treat yourself to a Moroccan Hammam. No one gets hurt (except the dead skin cells the slough off).

🤩 I recommend this non-camel tour in Morocco

Closing Thoughts

As travellers we all have these dreamy ideals of what things will be like abroad.

We don’t expect hardships or animal abuse to play into them.

This camel ride in Morocco turned a bucket list dream of mine into my worst nightmare. After years of working for animal welfare, volunteering with animals, and being generally obsessed with four-legged animals, I was complicit in the very thing I was trying to stop.

I remember shoving that down for a long time. I felt so much anger at myself for not knowing better.

But it didn’t last. Because what’s the point of being eternally angry for something that’s over?

I managed to forgive myself and learn from my mistake.

Later, when I was in New Zealand, I did a ton of research before I went swimming with wild dolphins in Kaikoura. I made sure I felt comfortable with my own decision and would do my best to not harm the animals in any way.

It’s so important for travellers to be conscious of animals and the environment when we travel.

As we’re exploring the world, we should work to protect it. So that our impact doesn’t have negative repercussions. So that future generations can enjoy it. Or whatever other reason you need to give yourself to care for the planet.

I’m not telling you to devote your life to sustainability. I haven’t.

But work to find small things to help. Pick up your litter. Use these 5 tips to travel more sustainably and cheaper. Recycle properly whenever you can.

Do your part to travel ethically and avoid later regret.

And, please, don’t go on a camel ride in Morocco!

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Related Posts:

• 15 Best Things to Do in Marrakech
• Is Marrakech Safe for Solo Female Travellers?
• Baking with Moroccan Women at Amal Non-Profit Centre in Marrakech: Sustainable Tourism Option

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