Young woman from the Kanouri ethnic group in the Kaouar region, Ténéré (Niger). Noteworthy is her traditional silver nose ring depicting a snake biting its tail. Equally frequent are the unavoidable black flies, which pervade everyday life in the Sahara.

The Kakala salines, near Bilma - Kaouar / Niger

Black woman from Bilma in the Kaouar valley in the desert Ténéré - Niger

Near Séguédine, in the middle of the desert, rises the Pic Zoumri, about 150 m high. It is a mountain of witnesses. - Kaouar - Niger - 1968

Kanouri woman with her traditional nose ring, Séguédine oasis - Kaouar - Niger - 1975

Salt worker at the Kalala salt works near Bilma. - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Fashion and tradition
Young woman of the Kanouri ethnic group in the Kaouar region, Tenere (Niger). Look at the traditional silver ring with the motif of a snake biting its tail. The hair braids are redone once a month. To make them shine, fat or oil is added. And always, as here on her forehead, you will find the inevitable black flies that spoil everyday life in the Sahara.
Niger - Séguédine - 1968

Two Addax antelopes running through the desert near Séguédine - Kaouar - Niger - 1966

Kanouri woman with her traditional nose ring, Séguédine oasis - Kaouar - Niger - 1975

In November 1960, this signpost number 13 was erected near Séguédine by the Berliet Mission - Kaouar - Niger - 1975

In Bilma, salt is extracted using a very old method, by evaporating the brine in holes. - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Young canoe woman from Séguédine. Like the tubu women, she wears a ring in the right wing of her nose, which represents a snake curling in a circle. The fine plaits of the hairstyle are re-braided about once a month. Grease or oil is added to make them shiny. – Kaouar – Niger – 1966

Salt statues, a living eternity. - Salt workers in the Kalala salt works near Bilma. - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Untouched portrait of a worker at the Bilma saline. – Kaouar – Ténéré – Niger – 1975

Young canoe woman from Séguédine. Like the tubu women, she wears a ring in the right wing of her nose, which represents a snake curling in a circle. The fine plaits of the hairstyle are re-braided about once a month. Grease or oil is added to make them shiny. – Kaouar – Niger – 1966

Young canoe woman from Séguédine. Like the tubu women, she wears a ring in the right wing of her nose, which represents a snake curling in a circle. The fine plaits of the hairstyle are re-braided about once a month. Grease or oil is added to make them shiny. – Kaouar – Niger – 1975

The beauty of the gesture of this young Kanuri woman, captured by the lens in Séguédine (Niger), should not make us forget that she is using an authentic prehistoric millstone to crush the grain used to prepare the flour from which we make the pita bread or the tasty couscous. Her gesture is the same as that of her distant ancestors, the same gesture that has also been preserved for us in Egyptian bas-reliefs. This primitive millstone, or "standing millstone", on which the grinder slides to crush the grain, must not be confused with the small Arab stone mill made up of two millstones, one, mobile, rubbing on the other, fixed, by rotation around a common axis. – Kaouar – Niger – 1966

Bilma is located in the Kaouar Valley in the Ténéré desert. The place is an oasis with numerous shallow smaller lakes and streams leading to them. Numerous fish cavort in the waters. There is a phenomenon in the entire Kaouar Valley: salt water and fresh water push upwards at short intervals. Due to complex fracture tectonics in this part of the Ténéré Desert, water from great depths penetrates sloping rock layers through artesian pressure. Where it flows through saline layers from the Cretaceous period, it reaches the surface as a saline solution and, after being greatly reduced by evaporation, is used for salt production. Otherwise, the date palms use the groundwater and therefore do not need any additional irrigation. - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1968

Calotropis procera is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae that is native to North Africa, tropical Africa, Western Asia, South Asia, and Indochina. The green fruits contain a toxic milky sap that is extremely bitter and turns into a gluey coating which is resistant to soap. Common names for the plant include Apple of Sodom. The locals call him Torha. - Bilma – Kaouar – Ténéré - 1975

In Bilma, salt is extracted using a very old method, by evaporating the brine in holes. In the background you can see salt domes and resting dromedaries before they set off with the Azalaï to Agadez. - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1968

Bilma, an important town in the Kaouar, owes its peculiar social and commercial traditions to its difficult geographical location. The picture shows a woman shaping "salt loaves", so-called "household packs". In fact, this quantity is used by families as a unit of account, much like the sugar stick, and it is remarkable that consumers often do not know the weight of either. More extensive forms of trade are brought by caravans to Agadez and are mainly used for animals. - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1968

The grey-yellow kantu, which are produced in cone form as cattle salt and weigh about 25 kg, are reminiscent of slightly oversized traffic pylons. The shape comes from the fact that hollowed-out palm stalks serve the salt workers as moulds for drying the salt. About three quarters of the salt produced is made as Kantu salt. - Bilma - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1968

The grey-yellow kantu, which are produced in cone form as cattle salt and weigh about 25 kg, are reminiscent of slightly oversized traffic pylons. The shape comes from the fact that hollowed-out palm stalks serve the salt workers as moulds for drying the salt. Another product form of salt is the so-called fotschi (foschi) (in the background), salt loaves shaped by women in enamel bowls, weighing up to about 2 kg and mostly consisting of beza, crystallised, relatively pure salt that is used as table salt. About three quarters of the salt produced is kantu salt, one quarter is beza salt. - Bilma - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

The grey-yellow kantu, which are produced in cone form as cattle salt and weigh about 25 kg, are reminiscent of slightly oversized traffic pylons. The shape comes from the fact that hollowed-out palm stalks serve the salt workers as moulds for drying the salt. About three quarters of the salt produced is made as Kantu salt. - Bilma - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1968

Packing the blocks requires a special skill and is done while the traders discuss the terms of the trade. Once an agreement is reached, the salt blocks are loaded onto the camels. - Bilma - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Packing the blocks requires a special skill and is done while the traders discuss the terms of the trade. Once an agreement is reached, the salt blocks are loaded onto the camels. - Bilma - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 1968

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