Walking along one of the old streets of old Sana, I was a little mystified to see a camel harnessed to a circular wheel and walking in tight circles. This is one of the bizarre scenes that pop up in Yemen. The camel turns a large version of a mortar-and-pestle. The mortar is an extra-large stone bowl; the pestle is made from hard wood. The grinding motion turns mustard or sesame seeds into oil after about 2 hours of walking. The camel is 'blinkered' so that it doesn't get dizzy while walking in circles.
This particular shop was run by Abdullah, a 30-something Yemeni with a degree in geography and some good English skills. He looks after the two camels, Arafat and Rifah, and bottles the oil. A 300ml bottle of either costs 300 riyal ($1.5o). In Sana there are about 7 different camel-turning-oil-producing shops. I saw a few others but Abdullah definitely had the advantage; he rotated the camels every two hours and seemed to care about their welfare. What did Arafat and Rifah think? Not too sure, but they did get fed regularly.
