Mongolia wraps up camel festival

Mongolia held a camel festival over the weekend, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. In the two-day festival held in central Mongolia, more than 100 camels from South Gobi Province and East Gobi Province took part in camel racing and camel ball. The most thrilling part of the festival was a race among camels strictly trained for the match. In this year's festival, camels raced for 12 kilometers at a speed matching galloping horses. Camels are taller and have more endurance than horses. They can walk more than 50 kilometers one day and can run very fast. Camel racing has become one of the most beautiful scenery in the country. Camel, called "cattle king" by steppe nomads, has played a special role in the life of the Mongolian people. Nowadays, camels as a means of transportation have been replaced by modern transportation, but camel racing has become popular among herdsmen. There are about 500,000 Bactrian camels in the world, and 300,000 of them are in Mongolia. The government has encouraged camel breeding in recent years. The festival also featured trade fairs on camel milk, camel hair products and other camel-related commodities.