First place winner Mangiah Ghufran fetched one million riyal ($275,000) for his owner, Faraj Hadi Halil Al-Ghufran. (Qatar Camel Festival/ Twitter)
Doha: Mangiah Ghufran, a full-fledged camel, won the beauty contest at Qatar’s first camel festival on Tuesday, March 8 meeting the standards of size and beauty of the head, the length of the neck, the position of its hump, without undergoing a botox surgery.
Mangiah Ghufran won the first prize of 1 million riyals (£208,500) only after undergoing intense scrutiny at the beauty contest.
The camel had to be x-rayed to prove it was not surgically improved before the beauty pageant winner was crowned after 43 camels were disqualified at a recent festival in Saudi Arabia after it was found that they were given drug enhancements to make their lips droopier and their humps more shapely.
The animal’s owner, Fahed Faj Algufrani said it took him “years” to prepare his animal for the camel beauty pageant with the highest cash prize in the world, AFP reported.
During the 45 days of the Qatar camel festival, 114 rounds were held in the categories of Al-Asayel, Majaheem, and Al-Mughateer, with 54 local rounds and 60 international rounds. Huge financial prizes were allocated to them, exceeding 47 million Qatari riyals.
The festival received unprecedented, large, and wide participation by local and Gulf camel owners and lovers, from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, and the Sultanate of Oman.
Camels have always been a huge part of Qatar’s cultural heritage. The country’s ancient travellers would ride the majestic animals across long distances in the desert, helping them explore the peninsula and all the trade routes along the way.
This post was last modified on March 10, 2022 7:16 pm