Camel beauty queen dazzles the judges

Sporting long, curly lashes, a full hump and even spacing between her toes, one-year-old purebred Omani Asayel is top in beauty pageant.

Hassan bin Edghan al Nuaimi proudly holds Ruwayda, the winner of a beauty pageant on at the Al Dhafra Camel Festival, which kicked off on January 30, 2010. Jaime Puebla / The National

AL GHARBIA // A long, slender neck, full lips, a well-shaped nose and long legs - Ruwayda had all that, and then some. Sporting long, curly lashes, a full hump and even spacing between her toes, the one-year-old purebred Omani Asayel finished first in the beauty pageant at the Al Dhafra Camel Festival which began Saturday.
"She was born on my farm," said Hassan bin Edghan al Nuaimi, 55. "From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was the one. I love her like a father loves his daughter."
He entered two camels in the pageants. The other, Abraj, won fourth place in the pageant for Majahim camels. The winner was Thamina, a one-year-old owned by Masoud Saeed al Hajri. Each day of the festival, two pageants are held for camels of different ages and colours.
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