Birqash Camel Market

Birqash took over from the old Imbaba market when the city grew over it, and it is now the principal camel market of northern Egypt, held mainly on Friday and Monday mornings. Most of the animals come from Sudan, brought north along the Forty Days Road and then trucked the last stretch, and they are traded here for meat, for work and occasionally for racing. The market is a dusty enclosure of pens and open ground where several thousand animals may change hands in a morning, with brokers, buyers and drovers working through the crowd and a great deal of shouting. It is a working livestock market rather than a heritage display, and the handling of the animals is rough by any standard. Trading is over by late morning.

What to look for

• Several thousand camels - pens and open ground filled on market mornings.
• Sudanese herds arriving - animals brought north for the northern trade.
• Brokers working the crowd - deals struck by hand signal and shouting.
• The desert-edge setting - the market at the boundary of the cultivation.

When to go

Friday and Monday mornings, and you need to be there by about seven for the peak; by ten it is winding down. October to April for the drive and the dust. Half a day including travel from Cairo.

Practical notes

Animals are handled harshly and beaten with sticks, and visitors who are troubled by that should not go. It is dusty, chaotic and loud, with no facilities of any kind. Camera fees are demanded informally and photographing traders can cause friction. Arrange a driver who will wait, because there is no transport back.

Nearby

The Nile Barrages at Qanater are to the north; central Cairo is about an hour back.

Key facts