Reisesführer

East Macedonia & Thrace

The Camels’ Route

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In 1824-1925, refugees settled in Kardzhali and brought with them more than 500 camels. The same things happened in other eastern Rhodopean cities . To breed camels was difficult because the primary transport animal at the time was the mule.Furthermore, new vehicles began to appear in the 30s. However, there is evidence that camel breeding existed in these regions until 1932 when the railroad Kardzhali-Momchilgrad was built. The route of camels was then limited to Kardzhali and the neighboring cities such as Zlatograd, Ardino, Momchilgrad and Krumovgrad. They were used only for internal commercial transport. There were camels in Kardzhali until 1938. Thereafter,they were sold in Topolovgrad, Chirpan and Haskovo.
Elderly people from Kardzhali and Ardino remember that local merchants used to bring their goods all the way from Greece and Turkey on camels.Camel breeding was a major occupation for the Thracians living by the White Sea. The animals were used to transport people and goods long distances. After the forced exit from their homelands, refugees arrived in Bulgaria with their baggage loaded on camels. Famous cameleers from Yenikoy settled mainly in Topolovgrad. Some of them moved to Kardzhali in 1924. Each of them had from five to ten camels.
At that time there was already a paved road connecting Kardzhali to Haskovo. Wholesalers supplied goods by truck, and then rented the camel drivers to transport the goods to any location in the Eastern Rhodopes. Camel drivers would often travel together thus forming a joint caravan of a 100 to 150 camels, divided into several parts. Money obtained from the transport were allocated according to the number of camels a person had in the caravan. Villagers who had a few camels would usually give them to other camel drivers who had more. Most often such associations of camel drivers were between relatives, especially between brothers and first cousins. Helping each other was very important in the world of cameleers. If any of the camel drivers in the village died, the rest would do their best to keep his camels and then pass them on to his son. If the boy was underage, he was taken with the caravan to experience the life of cameleers firsthand. In settlements where camel breeding was the main livelihood there was a tradition families to intermarry - the son of a camel driver to take the daughter of another and vice versa. Thus, the camels were kept in camel breeding families and not only sons, but also daughters received camels as an inheritance.
The load would be carefully placed on the camel’s back, and the total weight, which a healthy animal could carry, reached 200-250 kg. The average lifespan of the camels was about 40 years. The camel turned out to be a convenient vehicle for the narrow and steep paths.
About 150-200 camels used to gather on the “loading piazza” in the 20s and 30s. The caravans would depart early in the morning towards different destination among which were Krumovgrad, Benkovski, Fotinovo, Chakalarovo. Some would go all the way to Zlatograd. “The loading piazza” used to be on the site of the current Cultural Center.
After the construction of roads, the camels were largely replaced by motorized vehicles and the cameleers couldn’t even scrape a living anymore. They had to return the animals to Topolovgrad where camel breeding lasted a little longer. The last caravan of camels in Kardzhali was in 1947.


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