The Al Dhafra Festival is principally a camel beauty contest — Mazayna — judged over two weeks across classes of Asayel and Majahim camels on criteria that are precise and, to an outsider, invisible: the set of the head, the length of the neck, the droop of the lip, the size and symmetry of the hump.
Prize money and the prices paid for winning animals run into millions of dirhams, and the contest is policed for cosmetic interference, with animals disqualified and owners banned.
No attendance figure is collected in this pass.
Alongside it run saluki racing, falconry, date and honey competitions and a heritage souk.
It is held at Madinat Zayed in the Western Region in December, and it is the single clearest window onto Bedouin culture as a living economy rather than a museum display.
PlanningA December window in the Western Region; the Mazayna judging is the event, and it is conducted seriously.
Dates
Season
Computed from the recurrence rule we record for this entry, not copied from a listing. A date marked ~ comes from a calendar conversion and the observance may fall a day or two either side.