Middle East & Africa | Under the hump

Somaliland’s camel herders are milking it

Commercial dairies are scaling up an old trade

A camel farm in Somalialand where camel milk is producced
Next stop: camel milkshakesPhotograph: Panos Pictures/ Petterik Wiggers
|SALAHLEY

It is milking time on Mustafa Duale’s farm and the camels are lowing: an eerie groan, like the creak of an old door. A dozen herders strain the milk through a sieve into metal pails. They will sleep here tonight, in the open, beside a pen of thorns. The pails will be loaded into the back of an estate car and reach Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, with the setting sun.

From the August 3rd 2024 edition

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