Camels, horses, Cattle and Cars....

[Desert lover]

Dipmaker in the forum topic  about the CSR and Tanami Road                       asked of Tjupurula,  Quote "can I ask you a really dumb question? I see in your avatar that there is a large mob of camels, are these a significant road danger? do they act in the same way as roos and run in front of the car? or are they scared by vehicles? I wouldn't like to run into one."

Certainly not a dumb question IMHO but a question which all drivers need to ponder.

We have seen a few camels on the Tanami and know that they have been around the camp at night - inquisitive beasts.... but they were well off the road and visibility allowed us to see them.  However.... this is not always so and around the Luritja Road/Meereenie Road/Giles Road area there are a  large number of camels - also wild brumbies.   Not much road sense either.   Have seen the results of cars and buses hitting  both and its not pretty.   There are sections out there locally known as "horse alley" where brumbies regularly cross the road/s to access the water holes at the bottom of the ranges while camels tend to hang out in the bushes at the sides but will wander out at times. 

With the brumbies the stallion most often comes out first and will prop in the middle of the road until all his mares and foals have crossed.  If they get a fright and are belting down the side of the road they may just suddenly turn at right angles and come across in front of you.  You can tell where they normally cross by the "horse pads" or lines of dust /poo and urine stains on the bitumen and also by the number of skid marks made by vehicle tyres!


 At night camels will sometimes sit on the road because it's warmer and cattle and horses too will stand on the bitumen.

We never travel at night unless it is an emergency and we also are constantly aware during daylight hours of the likelyhood of an animal coming out of the scrub.

Oh, and the roos.  Yep, they will come hopping out just when you least expect it.  Not to forget the odd emu too!

Travel safe.

Take care out there.
Cheers,
Desert Lover

[rockman]

All go well on the bbq ....LOL

[Tjupurula]

Hi Desert Lover
I answered  Dipmaker as best I could, as I have only ever seen a few camels on the actual Tanami.  The bull camels get a bit nasty when defending their harem, other than that I havenever noticed a problem.  You are very accurate about cattle and kangaroos, as they tend to love the warm road at night, especially through Ruby Plains and around the Yuendemu area (speaking of where I regularly travel).
Locally horses are not such a problem, as they are predominantly work horses, and are fenced in.  I do know that around Kintore, Kiwwirrkurra and Papunya the brumbies can get annoying, and moreso around Papunya and Nyirrpi there can be problems with camels.  The area is so scrubby that the camels will frequently just run along the road at their own leisure.
Regards
Tjupurula

[GU_Thomo]

While we were out in the center last year a bloke hit a camel with his vehicle, near Uluru, and was killed.
We had a near miss with a herd of brumbies on the Mereenie Loop Road in the middle of the day.
Keeping the speed down was our saviour. I only ever drive at sunset, at night and at sunrise if I absolutely have to.

Cheers
Parry

[Desert lover]

  I do know that around Kintore, Kiwwirrkurra and Papunya the brumbies can get annoying, and moreso around Papunya and Nyirrpi there can be problems with camels.  The area is so scrubby that the camels will frequently just run along the road at their own leisure.
Regards
Tjupurula

Thanks for this great bit of info Tjupurula... we're heading out this way in a few months time so it's good to get the local knowledge!
Cheers,
Desert Lover