Desert Dessert

One female camel can supply milk for 40 children each day, explains Yagil. "There's such a lot of surplus camels' milk in these areas that there's enough to supply good healthy food that the kids, especially, need there," he continues. "It's better than flying in food [such as millet, corn and beans] that most of the kids cannot digest." Yagil unashamedly adores camels and judging by the nuzzles of the female members of his experimental herd, the feeling is mutual. Yagil, who is also a veterinary scientist, came to Israel from South Africa in 1955 and has been experimenting with camels for more than two decades. He recently started an experimental camel farm supported by the Jewish Agency in Sapir Center, in the Arava Desert.

The camel was the first animal to be domesticated for milk - centuries before the cow. It is the only milk-producing animal that thrives in extremely and regions and yields huge amounts of milk - some 20 liters a day - even during droughts. In Kenya and other sub-Saharan areas, all the cattle died because of prolonged droughts, but the camels survived. And, says Yagil, nomadic tribes, or pastoralists, who keep camels usually survive disease and famine because of the availability of camels' milk.

Desert areas in Africa and Asia are inevitably also areas where there are millions of camels, with as much as an estimated two-and-a-half million liters surplus of camels' milk per day. "What I have seen and learned from all my meetings with the pastoralists," declares Yagil, "is that they don't suffer from famine, because they have the camels." The only hope of those without camels during drought is foreign aid. "But other people in the area say, 'you people are coming and giving us food, we are surviving and then what? We survive only to face the next drought. We want more! We want to improve our situation!...

In the drought of 1984, recalls Yagil, when Africans themselves understood that the only animals that could survive were camels, the US and Europe supplied money to African governments to stock more camels. But the nomadic herders were breeding and selling poor milkers. It was while Yagil was running courses in Africa on proper breeding of camels that he had the idea of setting up camel milking farms. "You have to consider the concept of economic security by keeping camels on a farm, not wandering around in the desert," he says. The idea, in other words, is to get the nomads to bring the milk to receiving and distribution stations.

Local experts in Africa were skeptical at first. "Nomads are here today and 50 kilometers away tomorrow," they argued. "How are you going to get them to bring in the milk?" So Yagil went to the nomads and asked if they were willing to bring their milk to a certain place every day if they were offered a fair wage for every ten liters of milk. "No problem," they said. A model dairy farm for camels has now been set up in Isiolo in Kenya.

Ever in search of milk-producing camels, last summer Yagil and Uzi Merin, an expert on milk production technology at the Volcani Agricultural Institute in Rehovot, traveled to Kazakhstan. "There are millions of camels in Kazakhstan," says Merin, "but they are not being used for milk. This is strange since, traditionally, camels' milk and cheese are part of the local diet." When Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union, explains Merin, "the Russians used to ran dairies and sell the milk, but when they left they took their knowledge of how to produce and market camels' milk with them."

Merin and Yagil arranged for several trainees from Kazakhstan to come to the farm at Sapir Center for training under the Ministry of Foreign Affair's MASHAV program.

And just how is a camel milked? Carefully. The real answer is with two people - one on each side, each with a bucket. Camels give milk for only about a minute and a half. If only one person milks, only half of the available milk is recovered. "The native camel herders always milk with two people simultaneously," explains Yagil. To increase efficiency in the proposed milking stations there is clearly a need for milking machines. But because of anatomical and behavioral differences, machines designed for dairy cows are unsuitable for camels. An engineering graduate from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has invented a camel milking machine; the prototype is ready, but the project is still awaiting funding.

One wonders why no one has ever thought of developing a camel milking machine before. On second thought, if it's powered by electricity, what can be done in the middle of an African desert? And what about refrigerators to keep the milk?

Yagil maintains that generators using the plentiful solar energy are easy to set up. Camels' milk keeps much longer in refrigerators than cows' milk. Nevertheless, in the desert heat, sometimes that's not long enough.

But camels' milk can be made into ice cream. Yagil's team has manufactured the world's first camels' milk ice cream, which they're calling "Gama-lida" in Hebrew, a combination of gamal (camel) and glida (ice-cream); and in English, "Droma-Dairy," which is both a play on "dromedary" and darom the Hebrew word for "south."

"Here, try this. It's made with fresh mangos, and this one here has pieces of apples in it." Yagil's assistant Clara van Creveld is dishing out samples of her latest experiments in ice cream made from camels' milk. With a flavor and consistency somewhat reminiscent of dulce de leche, the stuff is absolutely delicious.

Because camels' milk is naturally quite sweet and low in animal fat, only half the amount of sugar is needed to make the ice cream, though some vegetable fat must be added. Yagil and his assistants aren't selling Gama-lida yet; in any case it's not targeted for the local market since the camel is not kosher. Tourists not bothered by the kosher restrictions can taste free samples at the camel farm.

But isn't the idea of making ice cream in places like Somalia or Kenya a bit far-fetched, even nutty? Not at all, replies Yagil. "There are enormous Problems of logistics in these places. You've got to transport the milk and the truck doesn't arrive, or the plane doesn't come and you're stuck with all this milk that will go bad. Ice cream you can keep for a year and a half; it's nutritious and easy to store."

Yagil and his team recently met with high-ranking Jordanian officials to discuss agricultural collaborative projects. "While we were talking," recalls Yagil, "Clara was passing out the ice-cream, and they said 'Oh this is very good,' and when I told them it was camels' milk ice cream, they stopped short, as I knew they would. Jordan has a large Bedouin population - here's an idea to give them an industry."

Bedouins and other herding peoples have long attributed healing properties to camels' milk; and, in fact, it does have therapeutic properties. It contains insulin, and there is some anecdotal evidence that it may cure diabetes. And while camels' milk contains some lactose, people with lactose sensitivity can drink it. "People suffering from all sorts of maladies are coming here to get camels' milk," says Yagil, "particularly patients who have difficulty digesting dairy products."

In addition to research projects, the farm at Sapir Center is also planned as a base for tourism. The camels will carry tourists over ancient desert highways, including the "spice route" from Petra to the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, Yagil continues to travel around the world spreading his camel gospel - that this underrated beast is the answer to the third world's economic security.