Rising temperatures take toll on Africa's camels as heatwaves intensify

Even the camel, that storied beast of burden long celebrated as the ship of the desert and renowned for its capacity to endure the most unforgiving conditions on Earth, is no longer immune to the relentless advance of rising temperatures across the African continent. In the Afar region of north-eastern Ethiopia, one of the hottest and driest places on the planet, nomadic herders who for generations have led camel caravans laden with salt through the searing landscape are now witnessing their animals succumb to heat stress in ways they have never before encountered. Ali Umer, a 40-year-old camel owner from Semera who tends a herd of approximately 500 animals, told the BBC that he can see his camels suffering from extreme heat, describing how they develop blisters on their feet, experience watery eyes and suffer burns from the hot sand, which also eats away at their hair when they sit. Within the past month alone, he said, he has lost eight camel calves to the extreme heat, which he described as having become far more intense and difficult than in previous years, adding that even the wind, which once brought cool relief, now carries heat – a dramatic change he has observed over recent seasons.

His observations are echoed by scientists, animal welfare workers and a growing body of research, all of which point to stress, fatigue, dehydration and increased disease prevalence as direct consequences of extreme heat, while the higher temperatures also inflict indirect harm through severe loss of water, vegetation and reduced shaded areas. North Africa and the Horn of Africa are home to roughly 80% of the world's largest population of dromedary camels – those with a single hump – and over the years, farmers and cattle herders have increasingly turned to these animals precisely because of their reputation for resilience in the face of drought and harsh heat. Yet a study based on the perceptions of camel herders in southern Ethiopia, published in 2025, revealed that high temperatures and climate variability have had a detrimental impact on camel herd health, with respondents reporting that climate change and variability have affected camels' health, productivity and reproductive performance. In neighbouring Somalia, the situation appears even more grave, with research published in June indicating that drought-related camel mortality has become a widespread crisis affecting nearly 46% of camel-owning households; the study, which included nearly 6,000 pastoral households, showed that mortality was concentrated in northern regions, with Sool reporting a staggering mortality rate of nearly 73%.

Extreme heat is identified as the primary driver behind the drought in the region, though experts say other factors such as inadequate veterinary services and poor animal management exacerbate the problem, and an analysis by atmospheric scientists found that high temperatures were behind the 2021-22 drought because extreme heat causes water from soil and water bodies to evaporate while plants release moisture into the air as vapour. Veterinarians report that they are treating more sick camels and witnessing more deaths due to extreme heat and drought; Hassan Nuya Guyo, a veterinary officer in Marsabit county in north-eastern Kenya bordering Ethiopia, told the BBC that his team has seen a significant increase in cases of hyperthermia in camels, leading to multiple infections, and that in the last two years there has been a more than 15% increase in camel deaths in the county he oversees. A similar story is unfolding in North Africa, where a study in Algeria published this year showed a significant increase in camel deaths during summer heatwaves, with time series analysis highlighting significant seasonal mortality patterns that underscore the need for targeted interventions during high-risk periods such as peak summer months, including strategic water provisioning, supplemental feeding and enhanced disease monitoring.

The World Meteorological Organization has stated that extreme heat events have become a common phenomenon in several North African countries, with heatwaves having increased in a clear upward trend since 1981, and it noted that a number of countries in the region and the Middle East reported temperatures above 50C in 2024. The WMO's State of the Climate in Africa 2025 report further indicated that North Africa recorded the most rapid warming of the six subregions – 0.43C per decade – between 1991 and 2025. Experts explain that camels comfortably tolerate heat up to around 40C by allowing their body temperature to fluctuate by several degrees throughout the day, a mechanism that enables them to avoid sweating and, combined with concentrated urine and dry faeces, minimises water loss, while their thick skin coat helps ward off solar radiation. However, Dr Mohammed Bengoumi, a scientist with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization who specialises in camel health and works in North Africa, cautioned that camels can also experience heat stress when temperatures rise beyond their comfort range; in many parts of the Sahara, he said, summer temperatures now frequently exceed 50C, increasing the risk of severe heat stress, particularly when accompanied by reduced vegetation cover, water scarcity and limited access to shade.

Professor Abdelmadjid Chehma at the University of Ghardaia in Algeria, who has conducted experimental work on camels in the Sahara Desert, reached a similar conclusion, telling the BBC that his work shows that prolonged day-and-night heat above 41 to 45C directly attacks the animals' cells, damaging their immune system because such heat levels harm white blood cells and other cells, which struggle to repair themselves and ultimately self-destruct. For camels, he explained, this means that when heat stress sets in, their metabolism slows down to limit internal heat production, leading to a sharp reduction in food intake, lethargy and generalised fatigue, which in turn causes a drop in milk production and reproductive disorders. Professor Mohammed el Khasmi, an animal hydrobiology expert at the University of Casablanca in Morocco, has compiled a long list of heat-stress effects observed by his team, including weight loss, inflammation, muscle and bone-related illnesses, chemical imbalances due to kidney malfunction, and infectious diseases caused by parasites. While extreme heat is the primary culprit, experts emphasise that its impacts become severe when other factors such as loss of vegetation and water, lack of shaded areas and inadequate veterinary services compound the problem, which is why many herders in Ethiopia have moved their camels from the northern region, where the animals were historically found, to the south where water and vegetation are relatively more available.

Daniel Gelan, professor and pastoralist development researcher with Vision University in Ethiopia, told the BBC that this is not the seasonal movement of herders but a permanent exodus, as they are leaving the northern region for good because they can no longer sustain camel herding there due to extreme heat and drought. The Horn of Africa has been recovering from the longest and most severe recorded drought spanning from 2020 to 2023, but charity organisation Oxfam reports that the region is now experiencing another round of harsh conditions, with water prices in some parts of Somalia having risen by more than 2,000% because of the drought. Umer, the camel herder in Afar, expressed his worry that an outbreak of disease could begin killing his adult camels at any time, a concern that Professor Chehma validated, observing that while camels remain the livestock herders' last line of defence against the desert, the unprecedented intensity of current heatwaves directly threatens their vital functions, turning this historically resilient animal into a victim of the very climate it was once celebrated for surviving.