10 photos from India’s latest ‘Pushkar Mela,’ an annual camel trade fair also famous for the longest moustache contest

The festival begins with traders buying or selling camels and horses on a large scale with a religious carnival to conclude the festivities.

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Every year, around 50,000 camels along with thousands of camel farmers, musicians, folk dancers, and 200,000 tourist descend down in the festival.

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The Pushkar Camel Fair began over 150 years ago to boost trading in the region, with camel buyers and sellers from as far as Afghanistan attending the fair.

Today, the festival has become more of a tourist attraction than an actual trade fair

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Camels at the fair are decked with colourful accessories and made to compete in beauty and dancing contests.

The festival also features a camel race

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Camels competing for beauty while unique is accompanied by an even quirkier contest involving men competing for ‘longest mustache’.

A hot air balloon ride is also a popular tourist attraction at the fair.

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The local government promotes the dying art of puppetry at the fair.

Indian musicians perform live at the ‘Pushkar Fair’

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The ‘Pushkar Fair’ is one of the world’s largest camel fairs.Another big camel fair is the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival that takes place in Rumah, Saudi Arabia.