The battle of Qarqarm, fought nearly 3,000 years ago in what is now northern Syria, is notable for two things.
According to Assyrian texts, it was the first time that the Arabs were recorded as a people. And the Arab king, Gindibu, led his men into war on the backs of what may have been as many as 1,000 camels.
Camels have since had a long and distinguished military record. They played a large part in the military successes of the Prophet Mohammed and were also part of the all-conquering legions of Rome.
Napoleon used them to conquer modern day Syria and Egypt and camel regiments also helped maintain the grip of the British Empire over northern Africa and what is now Pakistan and India.
The camels and soldiers in these photos carry the echoes of empire, but are in fact the Pakistan Desert Rangers. The animals were adopted barely a year ago.
Mechanisation seemed certain to doom the camels corps to history, but a decision was made to find them a new, ceremonial role.
Based in the Punjab, the result is what is claimed to be the world’s only camel-mounted bagpipe band in which the riders play possibly the only instrument whose sound is more alarming than that of the animal on which they sit.
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