Saudi Arabia unveils largest camel replica in the world at Taif festival

A towering illuminated sculpture of a camel in Saudi Arabia has snagged the Guinness World Record for being the largest ever made, after it was unveiled at the Kingdom’s second Crown Prince Camel Festival in Taif on Wednesday.

The festival, which was the largest camel sports festival in the world last year, is hosting about 12,000 camels from Saudi Arabia, the GCC, and Arab countries that are competing in 439 categories for prizes worth a total of $11.2 million.

The key aim of the festival is to showcase and boost the camel-racing heritage of the Kingdom and the Gulf Arab countries.

The camel replica, located at the Camel Village of the Crown Prince Camel Festival, was unveiled by the President of the Saudi Camel Federation, Prince Fahd bin Jalawi.

The 10-meter wide and 4.65-meter high replica stands on a steel base against corrosion, and it is lit up by 51,000 lights.

Under the patronage of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the festival aims to celebrate and promote the cultural importance of camels- the mammals that are also known as “the ship of the desert.”