Yaiza "accentuates" the figure of the camel and the camel sector in the history of the municipality

The City Council premieres a video paying tribute to the socioeconomic trajectory of this livestock activity, now linked to tourism.

September 19 2021 (09:02 WEST)
Updated in September 19 2021 (09:49 WEST)
Yaiza "accentuates" the figure of the camel and the camel sector in the history of the municipality
Yaiza "accentuates" the figure of the camel and the camel sector in the history of the municipality

The wrestling ground of the town of Uga was the facility chosen by the Yaiza City Council to "accentuate the figure of a very noble animal", the camel, and the work of families of all generations dedicated body and soul to the camel herd. They have played a transcendental role in the history of Yaiza, thus, its mayor, Óscar Noda, highlighted this Friday that "the people of Yaiza want to highlight the enormous effort of the camel sector and its historical contribution to the well-being of the municipality and the entire Island." A tribute participated by public representatives that has had with total merit a leading role in the program of commemorative events for obtaining the title of Historic City for the southern municipality.

The City Council presented on a giant screen a video that summarizes the socioeconomic trajectory of this livestock activity now linked to tourism through camel rides for visitors in the Mountains of Fire. "These are three minutes of images and voices of our people, also images and sounds of our landscapes, which captivate and excite us, in such a way that this audiovisual production magnificently achieved by Orlando Pérez and his team is already beginning to enrich the tourist promotion of the municipality," said the mayor. Marcial Cedrés, Gregorio Felipe, Caridad Cejas, Toño Morales and Carla Morales are neighbors who appear in the video along with the camels.

Review of rates in Timanfaya

The pandemic has also been a terrible burden for the camel sector. From the City Council they point out that "protected by economic studies that have long been in the possession of the Cabildo of Lanzarote", both the Consistory and the representation of the camel sector, claimed in the act the revision of rates that have not risen for thirteen years, are 12 euros per trip, that is, only 6 euros per person, while the "study determines that a rate of at least 20 euros per trip should be established".

"We have already asked the president of the Cabildo, and the camel herders as well, for the urgent convocation of the Board of Trustees of the Timanfaya National Park to solve this issue," said the mayor. This last week the camel herders suffered a further increase of 20 percent in the purchase prices of feed. The camel herders estimate that to strengthen the organization of the sector it is necessary to establish a cooperative.

Recognition to the retired camel herder Gregorio Felipe
Recognition to the retired camel herder Gregorio Felipe

The councilor of the camel sector, Águeda Cedrés, valued the commitment of the farmers in the care of their animals, "they do it with sufficient diligence and from the City Council we have always wanted to defend all that effort, all that legacy, all that work of the families that are dedicated in the Vallito de Uga to the care and breeding of this animal that has been accompanying us for more than 600 years".

For his part, the Councilor for Tourism, Ángel Domínguez, assured in the same direction that "we are very clear, we want to vindicate the figure of the camel, intimately linked to labors of effort and sacrifice that our camel herders did and do. I celebrate that we can share with the world the creation of this video as a new letter of presentation of our destination".

Óscar Noda, mayor of Yaiza
Óscar Noda, mayor of Yaiza

And if the video launched by Yaiza is in itself an artistic expression, other forms of creation also surrendered in the act to the figure of the camel. The writer Jaime Quesada did it with a masterful text that mixes prose and poetry entitled 'Camel' and the timplista Gabriel García accompanied by his band with the work 'Hunchback'. The living presence of the camel in the Uga wrestling ground was represented in 'Edu', a 25-year-old specimen owned by the camel herder Marcial Viñoly.

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