The proclamation of Uga exalts the nobility of the camel and the work of its breeders

A start to the San Isidro festivities in which they also remembered the "twenty-two deceased camel drivers of Uga"

May 10 2023 (16:00 WEST)
Uga's Proclamation
Uga's Proclamation

Uga, the town that has the most important camel herd in Europe, opened the San Isidro Labrador festivities with an entertaining narration full of anecdotes and experiences in the voice and interpretation of Pedro Mariano Viñoly Camacho, who has known about the breeding and care of camels since he was a child, who served as town crier this Tuesday, May 9, representing the camel sector of Uga, reports the Yaiza City Council.

With a message of exaltation, first, to the figure of the animal for what "it represented in the past in the agricultural tasks of Lanzarote and the construction of a unique landscape such as La Geria", they make clear.

In addition to what "it represents today with the walks for tourists in the Timanfaya National Park, and also, to the work of generations of families dedicated body and soul to the care of the animals in the Vallito de Uga", they comment.

"The camel is noble and noble are the camel drivers", the town crier stressed, eliciting applause from the public that filled the room of the newly opened Camel Interpretation Center, in an act in which: Óscar Noda, the Councilor for Festivities, Javier Camacho, Águeda Cedrés, and councilors of the Municipal Corporation participated, they advance.

Pedro Viñoly named one by one the "twenty-two deceased camel drivers of Uga" who "promoted the animal-back rides in Timanfaya" as a sustainable activity linked to tourism, an activity declared Heritage of Social and Cultural Interest on which the subsistence of forty families of the town depends, without a doubt, the moment of greatest emotion of the act, the Council collects.

Óscar Noda also defended that "there is work and sacrifice, for sure, costs, too, but there are also enormous satisfactions in carrying out a tourist activity that not only makes Lanzarote more beautiful, but is also very respectful of animal welfare".

Pedro Mariano stressed that "the camel was the truck of the Island", and then made a sketch of the animal's passage to Timanfaya.

There was a moment, Pedro Viñoly noted, "that we were running out of camels", the difficulty in feeding them or the lack of technical advice seriously threatened the maintenance of the herd. However, "the good work of Domingo Brito, in the technical part, of Enrique Pérez Parrilla, in the political part, and the action of the camel driver Francisco Mesa, saved us from ruin", he acknowledges.

In the past, the camel saddles were made of wood, "a man from La Asomada made them for us", until the craftsman from Uga, Marcial Viñoly, came up with the idea of making them of iron, "which are the ones we currently use and which last much longer", they recall.

And an artisanal figure of a camel with its saddle made by the craftsman Marcial was "the symbolic gift that the City Council gave to the camel drivers in memory of their emotional proclamation", they conclude.

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