You might remember that line. “I’d walk a mile for a Camel.” Way back when, like about 70 years ago, that was a famous ad line for Camel cigarettes, a major, popular brand of unfiltered, strong cigarettes that could speed your way to an early, painful death from lung cancer. Nobody knew that then.
But I’m not talking about cigarettes. How ’bout a real camel?
Those big, but cute/ugly animals that look like wrinkly horses with ugly faces and one or two humps. Almost every zoo had a sure-fire money-maker for the kids: Camel Rides
I even rode on one, as an excited 8-year-old at the Bronx Zoo. The camel’s owner held the reins and led me and camel around in a 50-ft circle. Maybe two or three times. That was it.
Fast forward 15 years.
I’m a USAF 1st lieutenant navigator. Our C-130 had just landed in Karachi, Pakistan. As we taxied into our parking spot, our aircraft was suddenly surrounded by angry-looking Pakistani soldiers with AK-47’s.
Uh oh. Not a good sign.
Our Aircraft Commander radioed Command Post nervously.
“What the hell is goin on?”
Turns out, due to an Air Force screw up, we’d landed without the proper diplomatic clearance, because another crew ahead of us had used our clearance. Guess we were kinda illegal.
Our aircraft and crew were impounded in Karachi for three days. Poor us.
No Pakistani jail for us, though. We were released to the custody of our US Air Force Attache who gave us a custodian (Tour Guide) for the duration.
How terrible. LOL. I learned more than I needed to know about Karachi and Pakistan over the next 3 days. Two highlights stand out.
Day 1 – Camel Ride, Karachi-Style
We were taken to a big beach on the Arabian Sea. We came upon a familiar sign.
Camel Rides
“Hey Scooler,” said our Aircraft Commander, “you look like you could ride a camel. I dare you.” I thought back to my camel ride at the Bronx Zoo and answered, “Why not?”.
So I mounted the camel unsteadily but cautiously, expecting another slow walk around a 50-foot circle.
Not so much.
As soon as I was mounted somewhat securely on the cute little camel, the owner slapped the camel on the rump so hard I could feel it. My new camel friend took off in a beeline toward the water.
H O L Y S H– I held on for dear life, yanking on the reins and yelling “Whoa, camel!” I didn’t know its name. I pulled so damn hard the camel’s head turned all the way toward me. But he kept runnin like hell toward the water.
When its hooves splashed into the surf, it immediately did a 180 and headed back up the beach to the owner. When it reached him he went down from his hooves to an almost splayed position so I could get off. I slid off as quickly as my trembling legs would allow.
No, I didn’t soil myself.
Day 2 – Cobra vs. Mongoose
Camel rides were not the only “attraction” in Karachi. Do y’all know the relationship between a cobra and a mongoose? I wasn’t sure at age 23, but I learned really quick. Some more mature aircrew members told me they were arch enemies. And almost incredibly, the mongoose could kill a cobra in a battle.
On our second day, we met a snake charmer. We stopped to watch him with his horribly poisonous pet. After his little show, he asked us if we wanted to see a cobra battle a mongoose. Only $10 US. A lot of money to an aircrew in 1962. After a quick huddle, we responded, “Yes”.
So, after we handed the charmer his $10, we witnessed a very quick pitched battle between his cobra and his pet mongoose, the money maker. The cobra never had a chance. The mongoose was super quick and he hopped around a bunch before grabbing the hapless cobra in his teeth and ripping it apart. A rather short but telling episode of life and death in the animal world.
I asked the charmer why he charged so much for such a short fight. He told me, nervously, “Now, I gotta go catch another cobra.”
Our tour guide confirmed that the life of a snake charmer can be quite short.
Enuf
