Part 5

journey alone, families often travelled together in caravans for safety. The caravans usually left once or twice a month at the discretion of the camel owners who preferred to make the long treks relatively infrequently The camels normally belonged to the bedouin tribes who tended and reared them in the desert where the occasional rainfall produced suitable fodder for the animals. The tribes moved with the camels from one grazing site to another throughout the year sometimes visiting the seaside with supplies of wood, dates or other essentials required by the inhabitants of the coastal settlements. The desert dwellers also offered protection to travellers through a code of hospitality they had practiced for generations.