Kenyan Wins International Camel Derby

Kenya's Ernest Lengupae on Sunday won the 2014 Maralal International Camel Derby, beating around 30 other competitors in a tightly-contested marathon in the northern Kenyan Samburu County.



Lengupae won the 42-kilometer race in one hour and nine minutes, followed by his compatriots Balas Lepaloone and Letabawua Lewarani.



"The race was really challenging and riding the camels on muddy and sliding terrain pulled us back," Lengupae told Anandolu Agency after reaching the finish line.



"I would have won the race in a shorter time if it had not rained heavily today," a triumphant Lengupae added.



The International Camel Derby, which started on Saturday, attracted camel racers from several countries, including the U.S.; Denmark; Australia; Canada; South Africa, and Kenya



The race has turned into a major tourist attraction in Kenya, functioning as a magnet for hundreds of tourists who converged onto Kenya's remote hillside town of Maralal for the event.



The sideshows of the race, which concluded on Sunday, included an exhibition of the cultures of nomadic peoples in northern Kenya and safaris to the Shaba National Reserve in central Kenya.  



"We organized safaris for tourists to the world class Shaba Game Park and also gave them a real-life experience in a Samburu village," Peter Leshakwet, the tourism minister in Samburu County, told AA.



"I was here for last year's camel  race," Nicole Brant, an American tourist attending the event, said. "I enjoyed this year's race and I hope to be back in Kenya for next year. It has been fun."



Race organizers say a large number of tourists were keen to attend the event, even as a ban continued to be imposed by Western governments on travel to some parts of East Africa on the background of attacks by the militant Al-Shabaab movement.



Samburu is world renowned for Safari tours in its national game parks, which boast elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards and Buffalos.



Camel is part and parcel of the lives of the northern tribes of Kenya who include the Somali, Boran, Gabbra, Samburu, Rendille and Turkana.



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