Bavarian Multi-Purpose Camel Farm

Julia Evelyn Larsen
The KOMPAS Blog
Published in
3 min readFeb 1, 2017

A man in lederhosen walking a camel, a high-end executive manager peeking out between the two humps on its back, is not something you would imagine to ever see in the Bavarian countryside. Lucky for you, there is no need to imagine it as this is something you can experience at the Bayern Kamele farm in Mangfalltal, not far away from the Alps themselves. On the large piece of farm land live 30 camels, and a bunch of llamas, donkeys, alpacas, horses, goats, sheep, snakes… all in peace.

Camels and lederhosen have one things in common: they are very durable.

Konstantin (30) and his girlfriend Bianca (25) take care of all the animals together with three animal carers, four assistants, and two refugees. Konstantin grew up with both parents in advertising, and aside from that everything else was quite unconventional in their home. One day he and his father went to a circus show and came home with three camels. None of them had any prior experience in raising such creatures let alone any space for them or a fence to guard them. Before his mother managed to have a heart attack they moved to an abandoned land, and with 15 Konstantin started learning how to train camels. Today the farm offers a wide range of activities including trekking, children’s birthdays, company excursions, and therapy. They also travel around Europe to various events, film shootings, treks, and exhibitions.

Bianca and Konstantin with two donkeys and the head of a black dog.

Namely therapy is something Konstantin wants to highlight, as the personality of the camels is perfectly suited for animal-supported emotional therapy. Camels can best be described as calm, balanced, sensitive, curious, and relaxed — especially if they truly receive the rightful attention and love they need. These camels can bring down stressed out people and offer them a sense of trust and support. At Bayern Kamele they deal with victims of abuse, trouble-making kids, trauma patients, and burnt-out managers, offering them personalised therapy on their way to recovery. Konstantin points out everyone can learn something from a happy camel.

Two camels having a tea-party, waiting for you to join them.

If you would like to have the experience yourself, whether that be for the camels, donkeys, snakes, beautiful landscape, or simply the surprisingly harmonious mix of it all, then take a quick 30 minute S7 train from Munich City to Kreuzstraße. Remember to tell them in advance so they can come pick you up, camels and all.

Easy to spot: the pick-up at Kreuzstraße station.

Address: Bayern-Kamele, Kamelhof 1, 83626 Grub, Valley. Website: http://www.bayern-kamele.de/ Email: info@bayern-kamele.de

Party at the hut, alpaca joining in.
Here’s a picture of three baby camels — just because.
And a final one of a mixed-race relationship.

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Julia Evelyn Larsen
The KOMPAS Blog

All about decentralization, neural networks, and community building! On here are my old articles from my time at KOMPAS.