Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Horse rides and cattle trails…a dime a dozen in Texas…but saddling up camels?

In 1857, there was one very glamorous expedition, so to speak, that left San Antonio and took 24 of the US Army camels and made it all the way to Los Angeles.

Doug Baum became fascinated with the historic US Camel Corps and established a unit of his own: the Texas Camel Corps. It’s up for hire—not to the military—but to folks interested in trekking alongside camels on an educational and breathtaking camel-assisted excursion through Monahans Sandhills State Park.

It fits exactly what everyone’s image, the romantic ideal is, of a desert. What we do out there guiding camel treks is overnight. We actually start in a public area and head way out into the dunes. There’s some coyotes up there, feral hog, deer. The wildlife is beautiful, but we go into areas where most folks simply don’t go. And you can thank the camels for that: they’re carrying all the supplies for us.

True, it’s a literal walk in the park, but don’t expect a walk in the park.

Just moving through the terrain, working with the camels. I teach these folks how to the hobble camels, how to lead the camels, how to kneel them down so they can load and unload gear. This may push some folks limits, and I think that’s fabulous.

Trek to our website for more on camel tours at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Sarah Loden… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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