(CNN) — In the expanse of wind-carved sand just outside of the air-conditioned metropolis of Dubai, is the first officially licensed school in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) dedicated to teaching camel riding.
For a country with a strong cultural connection to these animals, it might seem surprising that there aren’t more such schools. What’s even more surprising is that in a traditionally male-dominated practice like camel riding, one of the two founders of the Arabian Desert Camel Riding Center (ADCRC) is a woman — 30-year-old German expat Linda Krockenberger.
The school was established in January 2021 a little over 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Dubai, on the cusp of the Al Marmoom desert in a farming settlement called Al Lisaili. In this socially conservative area, Krockenberger says it’s uncommon to see women walking in the streets — and before the school arrived, women here never rode camels.
The school now has 30 regular riders — most of them women. “Initially, we didn’t target women in particular,” she says. “With me being a woman and being a part of the school, people saw it as unique, and it drew a lot of attention.”
Camel riding for all
For thousands of years the Arabian Peninsula has been home to domesticated dromedary camels. Dromedaries, a single-humped species also known as the Arabian camel, were historically used for transport and as a source of milk, meat, wool, and hide.
These days, camel festivals are popular in the UAE and camel racing is big business, featuring robot jockeys and with the prize money for the biggest races reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.
