Photo Gallery

Fatamorgana in the area of Illizi - Algeria

Dunes in Erg Issaouane near Illezi at Fort Polignac, at the background Tassili n'Ajjer - Algeria

Dunes of Erg Issaouane in the vicinity of Fort Polignac, today's Illizi. - Algeria - 1969

Kel Meddale, a Tuareg Meharist from Tarat in the Illizi province of Algeria, on the border with Libya. - Algeria - 1962

Nomad tent at Fort Polignac, today called Illizi. - Algeria - 1966

Illizi in Algeria: This Tuareg boy is the son of Amastan, a noble Targui. - Algeria - 1962

Ruban de dunes
Belles dunes près d’Illizi, qui s’appelait Fort-Polignac pendant la période de la colonisation française. Elles sont situées au sud-est de l’Algérie, à une centaine de kilomètres de la frontière libyenne.
Algérie – Illizi – 1969

Long live the bride
The pectoral pendant is the centrepiece of the adornment of a woman on the day of her marriage. Around the neck, she wears a collar formed by cloves. The scent that emerges is very appreciated among women.
Algeria - Illizi - 1967

Dunes of Erg Issaouane in the vicinity of Fort Polignac, today's Illizi. - Algeria - 1969

Dunes of Erg Issaouane in the vicinity of Fort Polignac, today's Illizi. - Algeria - 1969

Muslim cemetery in Fort-Flatters. On the left, the tomb of a marabout, a holy man who knows and interprets the Koran. Sedentary and passing nomads come to his grave to worship. - Algeria - 1966

This picture, taken in the evening, strangely evokes - even in the uninitiated - a feeling of crushing desolation. Incidentally, a strange optical illusion, this Targui apparently splashing around in a pool. But we are here in the north of the Tassili, and the illusion simply stems from a difference in the density of the air in the area of contact with the ground overheated by the sun. - Algeria - 1969

Dunes of Erg Issaouane in the vicinity of Fort Polignac, today's Illizi. - Algeria - 1969

Kel Meddale, a Tuareg Meharist from Tarat in the Illizi province of Algeria, on the border with Libya. - Algeria - 1962

Every year, regular visitors meet at the Chouffane, a camel riding festival linked to an annual market that takes place at the Tarat oasis on the Lebanese border (Tassili n´Ajjer, Algeria). On this occasion, the Tuareg tribe leaders, who otherwise rarely meet, gather together in one of the tents. - Algeria - 1962

A Tuareg Meharist from Tarat in the Illizi province of Algeria, on the border with Libya. - Algeria - 1962

At the Tarat well in Illizi province, Algeria, on the border with Libya. - Algeria - 1962

Tarat is a fortification in Illizi province, Algeria, near the border with Libya, on a wadi on the eastern edge of the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains. A Saharan Meharist company (from méhari, the Saharan riding camel) was stationed here. The Meharists were units of the French army that were supposed to control the areas of the Sahara during the colonial period. They employed regular soldiers, the tirailleurs, and Saharan "suppletifs" recruited among the large nomadic tribes, the Moors, Tuaregs, Toubous or Arabs. Since the first automobiles could not penetrate these regions, they used dromedaries. As true guardians of the desert, these companies were tasked with pacifying Tuareg territories, topographical work, monitoring caravans and trails, border surveillance, etc. - Algeria - 1962

Tarat is a fortification in Illizi province, Algeria, near the border with Libya, on a wadi on the eastern edge of the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains. A Saharan Meharist company (from méhari, the Saharan riding camel) was stationed here. The Meharists were units of the French army that were supposed to control the areas of the Sahara during the colonial period. They employed regular soldiers, the tirailleurs, and Saharan "suppletifs" recruited among the large nomadic tribes, the Moors, Tuaregs, Toubous or Arabs. Since the first automobiles could not penetrate these regions, they used dromedaries. As true guardians of the desert, these companies were tasked with pacifying Tuareg territories, topographical work, monitoring caravans and trails, border surveillance, etc. - Algeria - 1962

Tarat is a fortification in Illizi province, Algeria, near the border with Libya, on a wadi on the eastern edge of the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains. A Saharan Meharist company (from méhari, the Saharan riding camel) was stationed here. The Meharists were units of the French army that were supposed to control the areas of the Sahara during the colonial period. They employed regular soldiers, the tirailleurs, and Saharan "suppletifs" recruited among the large nomadic tribes, the Moors, Tuaregs, Toubous or Arabs. Since the first automobiles could not penetrate these regions, they used dromedaries. As true guardians of the desert, these companies were tasked with pacifying Tuareg territories, topographical work, monitoring caravans and trails, border surveillance, etc. - Algeria - 1962

Tarat is a fortification in Illizi province, Algeria, near the border with Libya, on a wadi on the eastern edge of the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains. A Saharan Meharist company (from méhari, the Saharan riding camel) was stationed here. The Meharists were units of the French army that were supposed to control the areas of the Sahara during the colonial period. They employed regular soldiers, the tirailleurs, and Saharan "suppletifs" recruited among the large nomadic tribes, the Moors, Tuaregs, Toubous or Arabs. Since the first automobiles could not penetrate these regions, they used dromedaries. As true guardians of the desert, these companies were tasked with pacifying Tuareg territories, topographical work, monitoring caravans and trails, border surveillance, etc. - Algeria - 1962

Tarat is a fortification in Illizi province, Algeria, near the border with Libya, on a wadi on the eastern edge of the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains. A Saharan Meharist company (from méhari, the Saharan riding camel) was stationed here. The Meharists were units of the French army that were supposed to control the areas of the Sahara during the colonial period. They employed regular soldiers, the tirailleurs, and Saharan "suppletifs" recruited among the large nomadic tribes, the Moors, Tuaregs, Toubous or Arabs. Since the first automobiles could not penetrate these regions, they used dromedaries. As true guardians of the desert, these companies were tasked with pacifying Tuareg territories, topographical work, monitoring caravans and trails, border surveillance, etc. - Algeria - 1962

Tarat is a fortification in Illizi province, Algeria, near the border with Libya, on a wadi on the eastern edge of the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains. A Saharan Meharist company (from méhari, the Saharan riding camel) was stationed here. The Meharists were units of the French army that were supposed to control the areas of the Sahara during the colonial period. They employed regular soldiers, the tirailleurs, and Saharan "suppletifs" recruited among the large nomadic tribes, the Moors, Tuaregs, Toubous or Arabs. Since the first automobiles could not penetrate these regions, they used dromedaries. As true guardians of the desert, these companies were tasked with pacifying Tuareg territories, topographical work, monitoring caravans and trails, border surveillance, etc. - Algeria - 1962

Every year, regular visitors meet at the Chouffane, a camel riding festival linked to an annual market that takes place at the Tarat oasis on the Lebanese border (Tassili n´Ajjer, Algeria). On this occasion, the Tuareg tribe leaders, who otherwise rarely meet, gather together in one of the tents. - Algeria - 1962

At the well of Tarat - Tarat is a village in the municipality of Illizi in the province of Illizi in Algeria. It is located near the border with Libya next to a wadi on the eastern edge of the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains. - Algeria – 1962

The preparation and tasting of green tea represent the most uniformly performed rite in the whole expanse of the Sahara, where coffee is practically unknown. There is an "etiquette of tea", and the way it is prepared and drunk is followed with a critical eye by the Tuareg. The Targuia of Illizi, Tassili n' Ajjer, stands out as much for the nobility of her bearing as the delicacy of her features. The Berber ancestry is very clear here. All the jewellery she wears is made of silver. The wealth of this "big tent" woman would undoubtedly allow her to own gold, but this metal is said to attract the evil eye. The Tuareg are extremely superstitious. - Algeria - 1966

Illizi in Algeria: The Touareg woman - wife of Amastan - loads her dromedary with her household goods. - Algeria - 1962

Feminine adornment. The silver chest pendant is the jewel in a woman's outfit on her wedding day. Its composition and ornaments are always the same. Around the neck: a kind of necklace composed of cloves, whose fragrance is much appreciated by women. - Algeria - 1966

Feminine adornment. The silver chest pendant is the jewel in a woman's outfit on her wedding day. Its composition and ornaments are always the same. Around the neck: a kind of necklace composed of cloves, whose fragrance is much appreciated by women. - Algeria - 1966

On this track you drive south from Illizi through the Tassili. - Algeria - 1969

Tassili promontory not far from Fort Polignac. - Algeria - 1966

Feminine adornment. The silver chest pendant is the jewel in a woman's outfit on her wedding day. Its composition and ornaments are always the same. Around the neck: a kind of necklace composed of cloves, whose fragrance is much appreciated by women. - Algeria - 1966

The Oued Djerat is a wadi located south of Illizi. It leads through a remote rock valley in the Tassili n'Ajjer National Park, which has thousands of rock paintings, mostly rock paintings, but also petroglyphs. The picture gallery stretches for many kilometres. What is unusual in this region is that the pictures are particularly large. Giraffes alone are depicted on an area of 100 m², the largest of which measures eight metres. The discovery for the public dates back to 1934, when the French officer Brenans stopped at this place with his troop and came across the drawings of rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, elephants and giraffes. The French explorer Henri Lhote picked up the thread and discovered thousands of other drawings, which he studied scientifically. The petroglyphs date back to the Neolithic period and show similarities to those in the provinces of Oran (Algeria) and Fessan (Libya). According to Henri Lhote, they date back more than 7000 years. - Algeria - 1966

From an early age, the Tuareg boy gets used to the harsh life of the desert. He looks after the camels and the herds of goats, takes them to the wells to drink. When he reaches puberty, he receives the tagulmust from his father, the veil he puts around his head and never takes off in front of the women, not even to eat. - Algeria - 1966