Three Kings on camels

Julian, Peter and Marcel on camels at Marrakesh, Morocco

Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar were the Three Kings that brought gifts to Jesus at the feast of the Epiphany. Well, here are three more kings on camels, my brother and my two nephews as they visit Marrakesh in Morocco 2 days ago. On the front camel is my brother Marcel, in the middle is nephew Peter and in the back nephew Julian. Their mother Maria was probably the photographer. (click once to enlarge)

Camels are intriguing animals, and this description by a camel is truly fascinating reading:

If you ever doubted that God exists, meet the Very Technical, Highly Engineered Dromedary Camel. When I'm hungry, I'll eat almost anything - a leather bridle, a piece of rope, my master's tent, or a pair of shoes. My mouth is so tough a thorny cactus doesn't bother it. I love to chow down grass and other plants that grow here on the Arabian desert. I'm a dromedary camel, the one-hump kind that lives on hot deserts in the Middle East.
My hump, all eighty pounds of it, is filled with fat - my body fuel - not water as some people believe. My Mighty Maker gave it to me because He knew I wouldn't always be able to find food.
As I travel across the hot sands. When I don't find any chow, my body automatically takes fat from the hump, feeds my system, and keeps me going strong. This is my emergency food supply. I've been known to drink twenty-seven gallons of water in ten minutes. My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that in a matter of minutes all the water I've swallowed travels to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh.
In an eight hour day, I can carry a four hundred pound load a hundred miles across a hot, dry desert and not stop once for a drink or something to eat. In fact, I've been known to go eight days without a drink. After I find a water hole, I'll drink for about ten minutes and my skinny body starts to change almost immediately. In that short time my body fills out nicely, I don't look skinny anymore, and I gain back the 227 pounds I lost.
I love to travel the beautiful sand dunes. It's really quite easy, because my Creator gave me specially engineered sand shoes for feet. My hooves are wide, and they get even wider when I step on them. Each foot has two long, bony toes with tough, leathery skin between my soles, my feet are a little like webbed feet. They won't let me sink into the soft, drifting sand. This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him one hundred miles across the desert in just one day. Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere, bringing flying sand with it. My Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose but still allowing me enough air to breathe.
My eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens, keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly. If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye, the Creator took care of that too. He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper. Some people think I'm conceited because I always walk around with my head held high and my nose in the air. But that's just because of the way I'm made. My eyebrows are so thick and bushy I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them. I'm glad I have them though. They shade my eyes from the bright sun.
Desert people depend on me for many things. Not only am I their best form of transportation, but I'm also their grocery store. Mrs. Camel gives very rich milk that people make into butter and cheese. I shed my thick fur coat once a year, and that can be woven into cloth. A few young camels are used for beef, but I don't like to talk about that.

For a long time we camels have been called the "ships of the desert" because of the way we sway from side to side when we trot. Some of our riders get seasick. I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work. Both legs on one side move forward at the same time, elevating that side. My "left, right left, right" motion makes my rider feel like he is in a rocking chair going sideways. When I was six months old, Special knee pads started to grow on my front legs. The Intelligent Creator knew I had to have them. They help me lower my 1000 pounds to the ground. I'm very technical, highly engineered, dromedary camel.