Beja camel warriors and cavalry - 'cavalry' or 'mounted infantry'?

[olicana]

I can't find anything specifically relating to the use of camels by Beja tribesmen. Were they used in a similar manner to cavalry (fighting from camelback) or were they typically only used as transport? Did the Beja even have a 'tradition' for actually fighting mounted?

Also, were any cavalry associated with Beja armies actually Beja, or would they be more akin to local horse owning Beggara (Baqqara) tribesmen. I am yet to find any photos showing horse mounted Beja, though I have seen a photo of two warriors stood next to a horse with a Beja style sword hanging from the saddle pommel/horn.

Without definitive information I'm personally tending to the view that camels were, for the most part, probably used as transport - especially for 'scouting' - though, like all mounted troops, I suppose they would be useful in pursuit.

[FifteensAway]

I, too, would like to know the answer to this question - and not so easy to find in my experience.  I have waiting in the wings my own Anglo-Egyptian Sudan figure collection which could use some winnowing before moving to painting.  Hope for some knowledgable replies.  Of course, we can always fall back on that gem of research - the movies! 

[italwars]

i cannot contribute with a straighformard answer but i can do some reasoning:
Beja tribesmen from what i've read and from various picts had nt been equipped with a lot of muskets..instead they sported lances, swords and shields..so my first querry could be ..why should they act as mounted infantry if they certainly cannot skirmish firing at their ennemies to soften them?..so mounted infantry just to dismount and attack with a smaller and more sparse front if compared to other melée armed warriors? it seems weird..
On the other hand i read a lot , including rare,even  first hand, sources in French   depicting Touaregs camel mounted warriors fighting against French (in the quasi totality of cases against Senegalese Tirailleurs or dismounted Méharistes, certainly not against Légionnaires)..
Ok they are not Beja but they are, in any case, North African warriors, mounted on camels and using smilar weapons (shields, spears and swords) in a Desert environment..with great surprise the reliable sources that i read claimed that those camel borne  warriors never charged and close in  but, instead, advanced, at high speed towards the French, almost charging them, just to trow  their spears at close range and, then,  dismount and attack with swords and shields..with just  a very few ones, taking position behind dunes and rocks and  firing their still antiquated muskets/jezails .the only instance of a  Touareg mixed camels and horses  (the so called "riverine Touaregs")  band effectivly charging a French unit occured at night, against a cautionless sleeping French Tirailleurs Sénègalais  encampment,  close to a pond,  surrounded by tall grass, at the gates of Timbouctou.

[olicana]

had nt been equipped with a lot of muskets

After the first Beja battles against the Egyptian army they had no shortage of modern rifles, capturing 7000
 modern breach loading Remington rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition after 1st El Teb alone. What they didn't do, was organise rifles into units of close formed infantry for 'volley fire', preferring to use their riflemen, often deployed in units several hundred strong, to skirmish at distance and soften up the enemy. At 2nd El Teb, versus the British, they deployed their riflemen behind earthworks and Snook  describes the force of 6-8000 as having "small arms in plentiful supply". At Tamai the Beja fielded not less than 1000 Remington rifles (enough to equip about 10% of the Beja force there).

That being the case, equipping a few hundred camel riders with Remingtons, as mounted infantry, would be entirely possible.

Also, as you say, the Touaregs dismounted to fight - the camels were essentially used for transport - because camels are not a good/stable/reliable platform for mounted 'cut and thrust', especially versus infantry (due to the height from which the rider has to fight).

[sjwalker51]

I’m sure that, had any action against the Beja seen a camel-mounted charge of any size, it would have been mentioned in the many eye-witness accounts of the 1880’s campaigns.

That’s reason enough for me to just have a few camel-Mounted figures mixed in with charging infantry or cavalry for variety - as mentioned, camels were valuable, principally used for transport - you wouldn’t want to be stranded in the desert without one.

Separate units of camel riders are probably as historically accurate as the Camel Corps using their mounts as a defensive barricade 🙂