‘Swimming in the sea’ is what springs to mind while planning a visit to Dubai, the city drenched in sun all round the year. Stretches of sandy beach along the Arabian Gulf and temperature controlled swimming pools in luxurious hotels beckon tourists to travel to Dubai on a shopping holiday. In Dubai sports is invariably linked to water activities, and the city has innumerable sports clubs and associations offering facilities. Swimming has become such a popular activity that one of the hotels is planning to offer artificially cooled sand to guests on its beach in the near future.

Of all the Dubai sports activities, camel riding, horse racing and falconry are the oldest and an integral part of Dubai’s culture. The “Ship of the desert”, this beast of burden has served the Arabians in early history, not only as a mode of communication, but also its flesh was used for food and its hide for making articles of clothing and saddlebags. With modernization, the camel, like the date palm, remain the beacons of the Arabians and the Royal Families go to great lengths to encourage the preservation of the pure pedigree of the camel by giving a lot of financial aid to trainers and camel breeders. Every year, camel races are held and cash purses are awarded to the winner. The Royal families then have the camels paraded and buy out the best ones.