The world's first content creating... camel!

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10 pro photographers have joined together to showcase the isolated Saudi Arabian desert via a camera rig on Sarha the camel

No camels were harmed in the making of this project (Image credit: Saudi Telecom)

Ingenious and imaginative PR stunts are all part of working in the media industry, but a PR team called Wunderman Thompson (acting for Saudi Telecom) installing a dedicated high tech camera rig system on a camel's hump might just be the best yet.

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The camel, Sarha, is being hailed as the first ever content creating camel, and will roam the desert to reach places no human being can. Not just a silly stunt, the aim is to put stc (Saudi Telecom), the Kingdom’s biggest network to the test and demonstrate its wide coverage.

The rig on the camel's hump consists of a laptop, solar panels, cam-ranger, and hotspot router connected to the internet, which allows photographers to connect remotely to the camel while it is roaming, and to control the whole system in order to take photos in the most remote areas of Saudi Arabia.

With the help of Sarha, pro photographers from around the world including Cody Cobb and Marco Grassi to connect remotely and join Sarha on a journey of discovery.

Not only is the camel symbolised as the “ship of the desert”, but it can travel long distances on harsh desert terrains and can visit places that are hard to reach on human foot. The total number of camel steps (taken from Strava data with a human-to-camel step translation) reached 49,493 over the course of the shoot. 

“This is art meets technology meets culture. All in a creative, data-driven way. A journey of cultural discovery documenting breathtaking imagery through the lens of technology,” said Rayyan Aoun, Executive Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson Saudi Arabia.  

Sources have made it very clear that no camels were harmed in the making of this project, and that animal rights issues were taken into serious consideration. The PR team hopes to unveil more areas with more photographers from around the world in the coming months.

Where to follow Sarha the camel

To see more about Sarha, click here or follow along at @UnveilSaudi on Instagram.

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Lauren Scott
Lauren Scott
Freelance contributor/former Managing Editor

Lauren is a writer, reviewer, and photographer with ten years of experience in the camera industry. She's the former Managing Editor of Digital Camera World, and previously served as Editor of Digital Photographer magazine, Technique editor for PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, and Deputy Editor of our sister publication, Digital Camera Magazine. An experienced journalist and freelance photographer, Lauren also has bylines at Tech Radar, Space.com, Canon Europe, PCGamesN, T3, Stuff, and British Airways' in-flight magazine (among others). When she's not testing gear for DCW, she's probably in the kitchen testing yet another new curry recipe or walking in the Cotswolds with her Flat-coated Retriever.