King Abdulaziz Camel Festival 2024

King Abdulaziz Camel Festival 2024 is the ninth edition of the King Abdulaziz Camel Annual Festival, organized by the Camel Club in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its events were held from December 1, 2024, to January 3, 2025, under the theme "The Pride of its People," at King Abdulaziz Equestrian Field, in al-Sayahid, northeast of Riyadh City. The festival is one of Saudi Arabia's prominent cultural and heritage events. It hosts hundreds of participants and thousands of visitors yearly.

The camel races held at the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival feature 233 rounds held in the morning and evening, with 185 morning rounds and forty-eight evening rounds, in which camels cross a total distance of 1,335 km. The rounds are entitled "Haqayiq," "Laqaya," "Jaza'a," "Thanaya," "Hayl," and "Zamoul." Moreover, a women's marathon, covering a distance of two km, was held in the evening. The marathon sought to enhance the presence of women in heritage sports.

Participants competed in various categories, namely: "Bairaq al-Muwahad," "Saif al-Malek," "Shalfa Wali al-Aahd," "Nukhbat al-Nukhba," "al-Fahl al-Muntij," and "al-Fardi" for all categories. It encompassed the participation of twenty purebred camels, twenty crossbred camels, and twenty camels of the Sawahil camels. The event also held al-Tabea race, al-Hajij race for the second category (Shaal, Sofr, and Habash species), al-Hajij race for the second category (Humr, Shaqah, and Wadah species), and al-Hajij al-Muqawid race. Camel races were allocated monetary prizes that amount to around SAR200 million.

Represented by the General Directorate of Passports, the Ministry of Interior launched a stamp dedicated to King Abdulaziz Camel Festival 2024, in cooperation with the Camel Club. The stamp was used on the passports of the travelers arriving in Saudi Arabia through the international Saudi border points.

Within the framework of King Abdulaziz Camel Festival 2024, several activities and events were held to introduce this traditional heritage and shed light on the value of camels as a cultural, economic, and social element of the Saudi heritage. These events include "Hinna Laha" evenings that broadcast unique footage of traditional arts, seeking to foster cultural presence and communication. The event held the "Levant Folklore Evening" during which the Levant folkloric group performed dances to the sound of traditional music.

The "Cultural Camp" exhibition, which introduces visitors to the rich history of camels and displays a rare collection of heritage artifacts, some of which are hundreds of years old, to highlight the deep relationship between humans and camels in the Arabian Peninsula, features corners that shed light on civilizations featuring camels and their names. In addition to displaying artifacts made from camel skins that were used in daily life, a corner related to camels in the Sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him (PBUH), a corner that introduces visitors to the species of camels, their ages, colors, categories, camel accessories, and ornamental tools, as well as an interactive corner that introduces the names of different camels in popular dialects were also featured in the exhibition.

The Ministry of Interior participated in the festival with an exhibition titled "Security Oasis," which was inspired by Tuwaiq Mountain. The exhibition seeks to introduce the ministry's current and future projects and its efforts in maintaining security. The exhibition includes pavilions dedicated to the provinces' emirates, security sectors, and several departments. It also features many military events and performances, a shooting range, historical, awareness and introductory corners, and augmented reality scenarios and simulations. The Security Oasis exhibition shed light on two aspects of the evolution of the Saudi security sector from its inception to date, which are the use of camels and Lucid, the electric vehicle.