Camel Farm Alice Springs

Pyndan Camel Tracks

Marcus Williams

I’m Marcus Williams, the owner of Pyndan Camel Tracks, a Camel Farm Alice Springs in Central Australia. I’ve been a camel man in the outback of Australia since 1982. Really ‘cameleering’ has been my main job all my life. I started working with camels because they completely enthralled me. Any questions about camels and outback Australia, I hope that I can find you an answer when you visit us for a tour by camel. I also make all my camel saddles and fix rope, so I’d be happy to show you what I’m working on or chat by phone.

I believe in looking after our beautiful country. I want visitors to my place to experience a gentle form of nature tourism in a natural area that leaves minimal impact on the environment. I want them to be able to hear the quiet of the bush and the sounds of the birds. I want them to experience, as they sit on their camel, the way the camel’s side expands as it breaths in and out.

The landscape around the MacDonnell Ranges is diverse in habitat. Many different animals such as kangaroos, dingos, birds and lizards plus big trees, small shrubs, grasses and tiny flowers coexist on the varying land forms like claypans, rocky hills, and sandy flats. I want to give our visitors the opportunity to explore this exception area and learn about camels and their history in the region.

Why Pyndan?

I’m often asked why Pyndan Camel Tracks? It all goes back to my early experiences with camels back in the 1980s in outback Australia. I learnt to handle camels in the red ‘pyndan’ sand plains around Broome, Western Australia. Pyndan soil is the red earthy sand that blew in on the wind from the Great Sandy Desert during the past two million years. The pyndan sand plain collides with the Indian Ocean. When I moved to Central Australia to catch my own camels, the red sands of the Simpson Desert butting the cobalt blue desert sky reminded me of pyndan country.
I am proud that Pyndan Camel Tracks has been awarded Nature Tourism Certification through Eco Tourism Australia.

Why Camel Tracks

I caught my two original herds from Todd River Downs Station south of Alice Springs. An old fellow out there pointed towards the Simpson Desert and told me to look for the camel tracks. Once I’d tracked some wild camels, I herded them into an old, broken down set of yards made from mulga. I broke them in slowly using a lasso and ropes. After three weeks of camping in the desert with my new herd, I walked them back to Alice Springs.