Egypt bans animals (and their mess) at Pyramids

Camel campsite set up for tourists

From Cairo Bureau Chief Gayle Young

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Egypt has announced it will make significant improvements to the Great Pyramids archeological site in the coming year, but not everyone is happy with the changes.

Chief among the complaints is a plan to ban all four-legged creatures from the Giza plateau. For centuries, animals have been free to roam across Egypt's most famous archaeological attractions. Camels are part of the landscape.

For many tourists, a trip to the pyramids isn't complete unless they dress up and mount up. Egyptians, too, routinely take a spin around the pyramids in carriages and on horseback.

It's a controversial move, but archaeologists say the site looks like a three-ring circus.

Aside from tourists missing one of the traditions of the pyramids, there are the hundreds of animal owners who earn a meager living offering rides to the visitors.

"Without tourists come to me, I'm dead, do you understand?" laments camel owner Kamal Ahmed.

But officials say there's no way to house-train a camel, and they spend $30,000 a year sweeping up. And all those horses' hooves are causing wear and tear.

Officials have tried licensing and limiting the animals on the plateau, but the size of the area and the sheer number of animals have made it difficult to tell who belongs and who doesn't.

So next month, all of the camels and their owners will be on the move to a camel campsite with a sweeping view of the pyramids. Horses will be banished to the desert surrounding the site.

And since the camels can't be brought to the tourists, the tourists will be brought to the camels. Officials plan to bus visitors to the panoramic overlook where they can ride a camel and take a picture without stepping all over 4,000 years of history.

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