Wednesday, January 17, 2007
From Lanzaorte to Norway: camels with a message in defence of the planet
"They've only just finished their annual task, responsible for transporting The Magi, but there are four camels who won't be resting until next January 5th, because they have much work to do this summer.", writes Bernardo Sagastume in ABC.
These four lady camels - called Rubia, Pamela, Mora y Lucrecia - are going on a journey that will take them 5,000 kilometers north of their home, Lanzarote, to Hammerfest, the most northerly city in the world, in Norway.
At this time when the poles are frequently alluded to as indicators of climate change, Vicente Hidalgo, who has designed and is financing the trip, believes that "Seeing a group of camels so far north, so close to the Artic, must attract attention."
To coincide with International Polar Year, Hidalgo's principal motivation is appeal to the public conscience, "over the necessity to respect the Kyoto Protocol". His message is clear, "In only a very few years, these camels, who normally live in the desert, could be living here happily, if we go on heating up the planet."
They also want to show other Europeans that we have camels in Europe and that folk don't need to go to exotic countries to see them. (Well, isn't Lanzarote, or Tenerife for that matter, because we do have camels here too, "exotic" enough locations?)
And, while they are up in Lapland, Hidalgo says that they wish to invite Santa Claus to do the return trip with his reindeer to participate in next year's Cabalgata de Los Reyes - sorta like exchange students, only with real animals.
The 11,000 kilometer trip is set to begin in June, from Lanzarote to Alicante in Spain, and will pass through six countries in 40 days. From there, the plan is to visit sixteen cities, among them; Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Oslo.
De Lanzarote a Noruega, con camellos y un mensaje en defensa del planeta
You can see the Lanzarote camels - actually, they are dromedaries - here.
2 Comments:
Pamela wrote (on
March 15, 2007)
No, pretty sure those are not "ours", because they are camels (two humps), whilst ours are really only (one humped) dromedaries and, the ones from Lanzarote are not due to leave until June.
It seems the camels have now reached Zurich
http://zurichdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/03/zuricamels.html