The camel market in Berqash in Giza Governorate, stretches over an area of approximately 25 acres.  It is considered the biggest camel market in the Arab world and more than 350,000 camels per year are traded here. Today, fewer camels arrive—only 1,000 per week compared to 5,000 per week, prior to the 2011 revolution because of the prevailing political and security conditions. 

The camel market in Berqash in Giza Governorate, stretches over an area of approximately 25 acres.  It is considered the biggest camel market in the Arab world and more than 350,000 camels per year are traded here. Today, fewer camels arrive—only 1,000 per week compared to 5,000 per week, prior to the 2011 revolution because of the prevailing political and security conditions. 

The market opens each Friday at dawn. Hundreds of traders from outside Cairo arrive to displays their camels in the hosh (office) for customers to take a look. The camels usually come from Sudan and specifically from the Nayala area in the state of Darfur and al-Abyad, in the state of Kordofan, and then they are taken to Halfa. They also come from Kasla in the al-Sharq state through the Halayeb and Shalateen road. Somalian camels come by ship through the Red Sea to the Suez port and then by land to Berqash.

In the Berqash market, there are about 30 such offices— the owners are traders from Qana and Asoun.  They are usually agents of Sudanese traders and they take part of the profits as their service fees. Financial dealings are usually done without any documentation as the relationship between agents and merchants is based on trust. 

The traders of this market say that it was created in the beginning of the twentieth century, with the arrival of Haj Abu al-Qasim Ali Ahmad with the first convoy of camels coming from Sudan. In the beginning, he took the Embaba area as the location for his business and subsequently made the camel trade flourish and making Embaba famous. 

In 1995, the Embaba market was moved to its current location in Berqash in the al-Barajeel area due to the large numbers of camels and the suburban sprawl in the region.

Historically, the trip by camel used to take months to reach Cairo through the 1600-kilometer-long al-Arbaeen road, one of the desert roads connecting Egypt and Sudan. Camels used to walk 40 days to reach Draw town in Aswan, but today, camels are transported aong the country road and takes less time.