The real sea, the Atlantic - at Cap Juby, rich in memories of Saint-Exupéry - barely stands out against the sand so familiar to the camels. - Western Sahara - 1966

Moorish camp in the heart of the Spanish Sahara. The dwelling of the Réguibat nomads consists of a pointed tent made of camel and goatskin, usually sewn together from seven panels. Inside, they lay out mats, some rugs, sometimes fur blankets. - Western Sahara - 1966

Tarfaya est une petite ville du Sahara occidental située directement sur l'océan Atlantique, près du cap Juby. - Western Sahara - 1968

The dune will make nature lovers dream for a long time to come. The wind has wrinkled it, like the waves wrinkle the sand at the bottom of the sea. But when the sun goes down, it is a delicious feeling to lie on its still warm, blonde surface (Puerto Cansado, Tarfaya, Cap-Juby). - Western Sahara - 1966

The Wadi Ouaâr, southern Morocco. The water flows in multiple cascades. This liquid wildness is an unusual sight in the Sahara, the kingdom of aridity. In beds of wadis, terrible spring floods have also been seen approaching at the speed of a railway train and sweeping away everything in their path. - Southern Morocco - 1968

Entrance to an old house in Smara in the north of Western Sahara. - 1968

The sky over Smara (Spanish Sahara) is threatening. The caravan stands out against the grandiose background of the thunderstorm like a Chinese shadow play. I wonder if the clouds will burst? - Western Sahara - 1968

The Oued Azougi in Mauritania can also become a raging river. - Mauritania - 1968

Landscape on the plateau of the Amojjar Pass in Mauritania. - Mauritania - 1968

But if the Tassilian landscape owes its appearance to ancient volcanism, in many other regions of the Sahara it is from the complex and obstinate play of a thousand-year-old erosion that the landscape derives its grandiose cut. Not far from the Amojjiar pass, in central Mauritania, one can admire the monumental sedimentary section brought to life by a runoff which, although very rare today, must have been in ancient times of singular power. Sometimes, this enormous work of clearing was carried out in a very short time. In the Immidir, in the Tassilian region, the pottery made by Neolithic man, 3500 years BC, lies under I7 metres of alluvium! - The Saharan landscape is therefore being permanently modified, but this transformation is being singularly slowed down by the current extreme drought. - Mauritania - 1968

A Réguibat tribe on their way over the pass of Ammojar (Mauritania). Wife and children make the journey in a palanquin that protects them from wind and dust. - Mauritania - 1968

The Moors, like their cousins the Tuareg, are Berbers. They inhabit what is now Mauritania. You often meet them when, as here at Aïn ben Tili, they move from one camp to another with their heavily laden camels. Typical is the wide women's saddle, whose fragility and lack of balance are obvious. - Mauritania - 1970

A Réguibat tribe on their way over the pass of Ammojar (Mauritania). Wife and children make the journey in a palanquin that protects them from wind and dust. - Mauritania - 1968

In a country with a reputation for being devoid of vegetation, the traveller is sometimes surprised, especially after a rain, to discover the vivid hue of some strange flower. For example, this delicate and virginal star of a Liliacee ( Androfymbium gramineum McBride) in Mauritania. - 1970

The Idjil salt mine is located near the present-day town of F'dérik. The fact that the salt layers begin under a top layer only 1 metre thick made it easier for the Moorish Azarzir to mine salt. The very pure rock salt is mined in the form of trapezoidal ingots weighing 20 to 40 kg and is mainly sold in Atar, Chinguetti, Ouadane, Tidjikja and Ayoûn el-Atroûs. Due to competition from sea salt, which can be produced cheaply in the Senegalese salt pans of Kaolack, the formerly sought-after Idjil rock salt was increasingly pushed out of the market. - Mauritania - 1968

A Moor working in the Idjil salt mine near the present-day town of F'dérik. - Mauritania - 1968

The tent of a nomadic family Bir Moghreïn in the far north of Mauritania. - Mauritania - 1968

Dunes at Chinguetti, a historic trading post in the Adrar region in north-western Mauritania. - 1970

The well-preserved ruins of the Chinguetti trading post (Ksar in Arabic) amidst the sand dunes. The former centre of several trade routes running through the Sahara attracts tourists and Islamic scholars who continue to admire the architecture and the old libraries. The vernacular architecture of the older parts of the city is made up of stone and mud houses with patios, each of which huddles along narrow streets around a mosque with a minaret. - Mauritania - 1970

In a country where the sand is 75 degrees Celsius in summer, the main architectural problem is to create shady and cool zones. The oasis dwellers are masters in this difficult art, as here in the Bordj of Chinguetti in Mauritania. - 1970

Chinguetti is sometimes called the seventh holiest city of Islam. In any case, the city is one of the most important cities in the history of Islam as well as West Africa. It became a centre of Islamic, religious and scientific scholarship. In addition to religious education, schools taught rhetoric, law, astronomy, mathematics and medicine. The city has some of the most important medieval manuscript libraries in West Africa, most of which are privately owned. The area around Rue des Savants was once known as a gathering place for scholars discussing the finer details of Islamic law. Today, the abandoned streets reveal the urban and religious architecture of the Middle Ages. - Mauritania - 1970

A Berber woman travelling the streets of Chinguetti with a group of musicians. - Mauritania - 1968

A Berber musician group in the streets of Chinguetti. The tidinit is a long-necked lute and is traditionally played by nomadic Berber tribes. It has a body made of a calabash. The soundboard is made of a degreased but untanned animal skin. Unlike tanned leather, this rawhide becomes very hard and remains firm. - Mauritania - 1968

Berber nomad woman with child at Cara Aderg camp near El Beyedh, Maretania. - 1970

The earth absorbs the water only slowly because clay is often deposited in the bed of the losing rivers, as seen here at Chinguetti, Mauritania. - 1970

The earth is slow to absorb the water because clay is often deposited in the bed of the receding rivers, as seen here on the track between El Beyed and Ouadane in Mauritania. - 1970

When, due to a - really rare - coincidence, a spring bursts open, wonderful vegetation sprouts: Spring of Terjit, Mauritania. - Mauritania - 1970

This old man from Tidjikja, southern Mauritania, has the typical features of his breed. The sun and life in the wide open spaces have chiselled his countenance and shaped him. - Mauritania - 1968

The nomad Sidi Ali Ali from the Tamchekett region in Mauritania. - 1970

Sunset at Tichitt, an old oasis town in the Tagant region at the foot of the Tagant Plateau in eastern Mauritania. Tichitt is known for its traditional stone houses. The main source of income is date cultivation. - Mauritania - 1970

A caravan passes in front of the traditional stone houses of Tichitt. The town was founded around 1150 and was the trading centre of Tagant in Mauritania. - 1970

Dhar Tichitt is a Neolithic archaeological site in the south-western Saharan region of Mauritania. It is one of several settlement sites along the sandstone cliffs in the area. The cliffs were inhabited by farmers and pastoralists from about 4500 B.C. and lasted until about 2300 B.C. This area is one of the oldest known archaeological settlement sites in the western part of Africa. About 500 stone settlements were scattered throughout the region in the former Saharan savannah. In addition to cattle breeding (e.g. cattle, sheep, goats), the inhabitants hunted, fished, gathered wild cereals and cultivated rush millet. - In the background, the town of Tichitt. - Mauritania - 1970

Dhar Tichitt is a Neolithic archaeological site in the south-western Saharan region of Mauritania. It is one of several settlement sites along the sandstone cliffs in the area. The cliffs were inhabited by farmers and pastoralists from about 4500 B.C. and lasted until about 2300 B.C. This area is one of the oldest known archaeological settlement sites in the western part of Africa. About 500 stone settlements were scattered throughout the region in the former Saharan savannah. In addition to raising livestock (e.g. cattle, sheep, goats), the inhabitants hunted, fished, gathered wild cereals and cultivated rush millet. - View of a wind-eroded rock from a grotto. - Mauritania - 1970

Akreïjit, like Dhar Tichitt, is a Neolithic site in the south-western Saharan region of Mauritania. - 1970

A little girl from Akreïjit with a very special haircut. - Mauritania - 1970

Moorish woman from Tichitt - Mauritania - 1970

Oualata is an oasis town in the administrative region of Hodh Ech Chargui in south-eastern Mauritania. It was one of the most important trading centres of the caravans (gold and salt trade), but also the meeting point of pilgrims to Mecca. - Mauritania - 1970

The house door of Sassoul Moulaye in Oualata. Here the masonry is not made of stones, but of unbaked mud bricks dried in the sun and joined together with an earth mortar. Remarkably solid, as long as it does not rain, these buildings have the disadvantage of dissolving in water with astonishing rapidity, which is why constant attention must be paid to the condition of the roof. - Mauritania - 1970

This gate in Oualata (Ouig Bir) impresses with its monumental appearance. But stylistically it is already strongly influenced by nearby Mali, the home of such rich and diverse Sudanese art. Here, the masonry is no longer made of stones, but of unbaked mud bricks dried in the sun and joined together with an earth mortar. Remarkably solid, as long as it does not rain, these buildings have the disadvantage of dissolving in water with astonishing rapidity, which is why constant attention must be paid to the condition of the roof. - Mauritania - 1970

In front of the house of Sassoul Moulaye in Oualata. Here the masonry is not made of stones, but of unbaked mud bricks dried in the sun and joined together with an earth mortar. Remarkably solid, as long as it does not rain, these buildings have the disadvantage of dissolving in water with astonishing rapidity, which is why constant attention must be paid to the condition of the roof. - Mauritania - 1970

The little girl Lemine Oul Boulabatt from Oualata in Mauritania. - Mauritania - 1970

The interior decoration of the houses of Oualata (Mauritania) is linked to the brilliant doctrine that flourished in this town between the 16th and 18th centuries and attracted many foreigners. It deeply shaped the local, very puritanical mores, and one of the social consequences was the confinement of women. Struggling with boredom, they came up with the idea of richly decorating the interior of the house. The paintings were applied to the whitewashed walls with a finger. Here, the artist Fafa Mint Barka at work. - Mauritania - 1970

The interior decoration of the houses of Oualata (Mauritania), here the house of the prefect, is linked to the brilliant doctrine that flourished in this town between the 16th and 18th centuries and attracted many foreigners. It deeply shaped the local, very puritanical mores, and one of the social consequences was the confinement of women. Struggling with boredom, they came up with the idea of richly decorating the interior of the house. The painting was applied to the whitewashed walls with a finger. - Mauritania - 1970

Fossil wood is found in various places in the Sahara, especially in the Tidikelt. This is a piece of an old Araucaria. In itself, this once vegetable but now entirely mineral material has nothing to do with prehistory; but it was highly sought after by all the civilisations that followed where it occurred, because it can be worked extraordinarily well. Moreover, it impressively demonstrates that the face of today's Sahara is only a temporary aspect of a landscape that had several times had large forest stands. A few thousand years ago, one could still find large hackberry trees, firs and oaks there ... Much has changed since then. - Algeria - 1966

The well! Like any well in the desert, the one at Hassi Meniet (Immidir, Algeria) is a favourite spot where all the nomads gather to camp. But in the immensity of the great desert, the well is also the secret of the initiated: Find it if you can! Depending on the location, it reaches 10, 20, 50, even 100 metres deep. The unlucky person who has set out on an adventure with a rope that is too short runs the risk of dying of thirst at its edge if he does not summon up the courage to descend by taking advantage of the alternating steps installed by the daring well builders. Incidentally, the reward for so much effort is often very meagre, for clear and pure water is rare, and often the bucket raises only a greenish, stinking, salty, undrinkable broth! ... Note that the wreath of the well is replaced by four crossed pieces of branch laid on the bare ground. - Algeria - 1966

The Atakor volcanic field ("Atakor" means "swollen part, knot at the end of something" in the Tuareg language) is a volcanic field with spectacular landscapes in southern Algeria and is located in the Hoggar Mountains. The Atakor is one of several large volcanic fields in this mountain range. Volcanism in this region took place in several phases, starting 20 million years ago and lasting until the Holocene. Currently, there is fumarolic activity. The highest elevation is Tahat in the west of the volcanic field, the highest mountain in Algeria at 2908 metres. - Algeria - 1966

The Atakor volcanic field ("Atakor" means "swollen part, knot at the end of something" in the Tuareg language) is a volcanic field with spectacular landscapes in southern Algeria and is located in the Hoggar Mountains. The Atakor is one of several large volcanic fields in this mountain range. Volcanism in this region took place in several phases, starting 20 million years ago and lasting until the Holocene. Currently, there is fumarolic activity. The highest elevation is Tahat in the west of the volcanic field, the highest mountain in Algeria at 2908 metres. - View from the Assekrem to the Atakor. - Algeria - 1966

The flat stone slabs of Tiratimine (Hoggar) at the site known as the "slave market" are still covered with banal Tifinagh inscriptions (e.g. "Salah loves Mabruka"), but mainly with sandal prints of a votive nature. Each imprint measures 25 to 30 centimetres. There we have an example of modern (and quite decadent!) survival of rock art. - Moudyr - Algeria - 1966

Nomad tent made of animal skins in Sidi Mohammed's camp on the track through the Hoggar. - Algeria - 1966

Facing Mecca, a Tuareg performs his prayer in a nomadic «mosque». Everywhere in the Sahara, you can find such open-air churches, whose enclosure consists of stones piled on top of each other. - Hoggar - Algeria - 1966

Departure. The women fold up the Issabeur or Assaber, a kind of removable fence 8 to 10 metres long that protects against wind and winter cold. The Issabeur is made of mats stitched together with the long stems of the Markuba, a grass plant that thrives in clumps in the desert. - Algeria - 1966

Targui Kel Rela is a distinguished Tuareg of the Rela tribe from Hirafok in the Tamanrasset province in the Hoggar mountains. The lance has become rare. In the sixties of the twentieth century, gazelles and mouflons were still hunted with the lance. The veil that surrounds the head and masks the lower half of the face is called litham in Arabic and tagulmust in the Tuareg language. The son receives it from his father as soon as he reaches puberty. - Algeria - 1964

Targui Kel Rela is a distinguished Tuareg of the Rela tribe from Hirafok in the Tamanrasset province in the Hoggar mountains. The veil that surrounds the head and masks the lower half of the face is called litham in Arabic and tagulmust in the Tuareg language. The son receives it from his father as soon as he reaches puberty. - Algeria - 1966

The tea water is boiled on an open fire. Targui Litni in Sidi Mohammed's camp on the track through the Hoggar. - Algeria - 1966

Targui Litni in Sidi Mohammed's camp on the track through the Hoggar. - Algeria - 1966

In the camp, life melts away in little drops of time that you sip with relish. Every nomad loves to play. The favourite pastime is a kind of checkers game with stones, some of which are pebbles, others camel dung balls. There are endless discussions between the individual moves. - Algeria - 1966

Tuareg woman from the Dag Rali tribe in the Hoggar. Around her neck, apart from the simple necklaces, she wears a pendant of 14 silver, faceted diamonds attached to a leather base. Underneath is an amulet with geometric ornaments. It encloses a Koran verse and is typical of Berber art. - Algeria - 1966

Agricultural centre in Amsel near Tamanrasset in the Hoggar Massif. When the grain is ripe, it is cut with simple sickles. - Algeria - 1966

These three Arabs have plenty of time to chat. - Ksar Ikiss oasis south of Adrar in Algeria. - 1971

Back from the fields - Two women in Tamentit village south of Adrar in Algeria. - 1971

Schoolgirls in Adrar, Algeria - The oasis itself is of great beauty and is home to several historical monuments. The settlement of the region is quite old and the area has been home to different cultures. This intermingling has produced a number of traditions, cultural and craft practices that are still present in the lives of the inhabitants today and are reflected in the local folklore and cultural heritage. - Algeria - 1971

Young woman in Adrar, Algeria - The oasis itself is of great beauty and is home to several historical monuments. The settlement of the region is quite old and the area has been home to different cultures. This intermingling has produced a number of traditions, cultural and craft practices that are still present in the lives of the inhabitants today and are reflected in the local folklore and cultural heritage. - Algeria - 1971

Timimoun is located north of Adrar in Algeria. The town was a caravan site where, for centuries, grain, textiles and other valuable goods from the north were exchanged for metals and ivory from the south. - Algeria - 1971

The Adrar Oasis is of great beauty and is home to several historical monuments. The settlement of the region is quite old and the area has been home to different cultures. This intermingling has produced a number of traditions, cultural and craft practices that are still present in the lives of the inhabitants today and are reflected in the local folklore and cultural heritage. - Fantasia refers to various traditional horse spectacles simulating military attacks, practised mainly in the Maghreb, where they are called the "game of powder" (Goum) or the "game of horses". - Algeria - 1971

The Oued Saoura in the region of Béni Abbès on the western edge of the Western Great Ergs. - Algeria - 1971

The Oued Saoura in the region of Béni Abbès on the western edge of the Western Great Ergs. - Algeria - 1966

Béni Abbès is an oasis town in western Algeria inhabited mainly by Berbers. It is located on the Oued Saoura, which only has water in winter and spring and forms the western border of the Western Great Erga, the second largest sand sea in the Sahara. The new town of Béni Abbès is situated on a rocky plateau above the valley floor. The plain is surrounded by sand dunes that rise almost 40 m above the surface of the plateau in the immediate vicinity of the town. Other dunes reach a height of more than 80 m. - Algeria - 1971

Béni Abbès is an oasis town in western Algeria inhabited mainly by Berbers. It is located on the Oued Saoura, which only has water in winter and spring and forms the western border of the Western Great Erga, the second largest sand sea in the Sahara. The new town of Béni Abbès is situated on a rocky plateau above the valley floor. The plain is surrounded by sand dunes that rise almost 40 m above the surface of the plateau in the immediate vicinity of the town. Other dunes reach a height of more than 80 m. - Algeria - 1966

Béni Abbès, in the north-western Algerian Sahara, is the prototype of a Saharan oasis. Here, the roots of the palm trees are bathed by the waters of the Wadi Saoura, but the immense dunes of the western Great Ergs loom menacingly in the background. In a country where the sand is 75 degrees Celsius in summer, the main architectural problem is to create shady and cool zones. - Algeria - 1971

Sand dunes in the Western Great Erg near the small oasis town of Taghit on the - only in winter and spring water-bearing - Oued Zousfana. - Whirlwind on the sand dune. - Algeria - 1971

Sand dunes in the Western Great Erg near the small oasis town of Taghit on the - only in winter and spring water-bearing - Oued Zousfana. - Note the swirl of sand above the dune. - Algeria - 1971

Sand dunes in the Western Great Erg near the small oasis town of Taghit on the - only in winter and spring water-bearing - Oued Zousfana. - Algeria - 1971

Flock of sheep by the water near Mécheria, in north-west Algeria, on the northern edge of the Sahara. - Algeria - 1966

Moghar and Taghtani (Algeria). - The famous slabs, which have been known since 1847 and were first published in 1849, are situated in front of a landscape that already hints at a desert. It has been said that the real difference between the north and the south is the palm tree: it gives dates in the north, hard nuts in the south. You can see the engravings on the slabs opposite the meagre gardens of the oasis. The deep and mysterious engraving at the bottom right is of Neolithic age. Perhaps it shows a man? But nothing is certain. This engraving is a first indication of an affirmed spirituality: it encloses an idea in a symbol whose meaning escapes us. Height: 0.97 m. - Algeria - 1971

Ghardaïa is an oasis town in Algeria. The city is located in the M'zab in the northern central Sahara at an altitude of 526 m and forms the pentapolis of the M'zab together with the southeastern cities of Beni Isguen, Melika (both in this picture), Bou Noura (Has Bunur) and El Atteuf (Tadjnint). Together with the other oases of the M'Zab valley, Ghardaïa has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1982 because of its exemplary urban design. - The name Ghardaïa comes from a saint named Daïa who lived in a cave (ghar) in the area. Later, Kharijite Muslims fleeing persecution by Orthodox Muslims in the north built a city there. - Algeria - 1961

Ghardaïa is an oasis town in Algeria. The city is located in the M'zab in the northern central Sahara at an altitude of 526 m and forms the pentapolis of the M'zab together with the southeastern cities of Beni Isguen (in this picture), Melika, Bou Noura (Has Bunur) and El Atteuf (Tadjnint). Together with the other oases of the M'Zab valley, Ghardaïa has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1982 because of its exemplary urban design. - The name Ghardaïa comes from a saint named Daïa who lived in a cave (ghar) in the area. Later, Kharijite Muslims fleeing persecution by Orthodox Muslims in the north built a city there. - Algeria - 1971

Ghardaïa, one of the most beautiful oases in the Sahara and capital of the Mzab. The other Mzab towns offer the same characteristic sight: the houses are arranged in steps on a roundish hill dominated by a pyramid-shaped minaret. - Algeria - 1966

Ghardaïa, one of the most beautiful oases in the Sahara and capital of the Mzab. The other Mzab towns offer the same characteristic sight: the houses are arranged in steps on a roundish hill dominated by a pyramid-shaped minaret. View of the market place of Ghardaïa. - Algeria - 1962

Ghardaïa, one of the most beautiful oases in the Sahara and capital of the Mzab. The other Mzab towns offer the same characteristic sight: the houses are arranged in steps on a roundish hill dominated by a pyramid-shaped minaret. - Algeria - 1971

Ghardaïa, one of the most beautiful oases in the Sahara and capital of the Mzab. The other Mzab towns offer the same characteristic sight: the houses are arranged in steps on a roundish hill dominated by a pyramid-shaped minaret. View of the market place of Ghardaïa. - Algeria - 1966

Ghardaïa, one of the most beautiful oases in the Sahara and capital of the Mzab. The other Mzab towns offer the same characteristic sight: the houses are arranged in steps on a roundish hill dominated by a pyramid-shaped minaret. View of the market place of Ghardaïa, where a sheep market is taking place. - Algeria - 1971

Sheep market in the market place of Ghardaïa. - Algeria - 1971

Resting at a corner of the market place of Ghardaïa. - Algeria - 1971

Locals haggle over their goods in the marketplace of Ghardaïa. - Algeria - 1971

The marketplace of Ghardaïa. It is empty, it will soon be evening. Tomorrow, a teeming crowd will crowd here again in the sun. The donkey is the most comfortable means of transport to meander through the narrow streets that make up the coolness of the oasis. - Algeria - 1966

On the way home through the cool alleys of Ghardaïa. - Algeria - 1966

A Mozabite from Ghardaïa, "businessman". The Mozabite is a cunning trader, a fox in everything that concerns money. Trade is the essential driving force of the Mozabite state. - Algeria - 1966

In the cool interior of a house in Ghardaïa, an Arab woman weaves a carpet. Mzab carpets are well known throughout the Sahara for their elegant, colourful geometry, especially those from Beni-Isguen, the holy city of the Mzabites. - Algeria - 1966

Resting at a corner of the market place of Ghardaïa. - Algeria - 1962

El-Oued, the city of a thousand domes, capital of the Souf, seen from the Sidi Salem mosque. Situated in the middle of the high dunes of the Great Eastern Erg, El-Oued is distinguished from the other oases by its houses with their differently shaped domed roofs. - Algeria - 1966

El-Oued, the city of a thousand domes, capital of the Souf. Situated in the middle of the high dunes of the Great Eastern Erg, El-Oued is distinguished from the other oases by its houses with their differently shaped domed roofs. - Algeria - 1966

El-Oued, the city of a thousand domes, capital of the Souf, seen from the Sidi Salem mosque. Situated in the middle of the high dunes of the Great Eastern Erg, El-Oued is distinguished from the other oases by its houses with their differently shaped domed roofs. - Algeria - 1966

Dunes of the Great Eastern Erg near El Oued. - Algeria - 1966

Sand rose. Some reach a respectable size, over a metre long. They are sold as ornaments in the main oases of southern Algeria. In El-Oued, in the region of the Souf, they are used as a material for building houses. - Algeria - 1966

In a country where the sand is 75 degrees Celsius in summer, the main architectural problem is to create shady and cool zones. The oasis dwellers are masters in this difficult art, whether in the Bordj of Chinguetti in Mauritania or in the narrow alleys of Ghadames (picture) in Libya. - 1969

To pass the time, the Arabs like to play a game of a kind of checkers. Taken in Ghadames in Libya. - 1964

Young Tuareg in Ghadames in Libya. - 1969

A young girl from Ghadames in Libya. - 1969

A lone palm tree peeks out from among the dunes of the Great Eastern Erg. - Algeria - 1966

The Sahara in the hour of technology: The oil town of Hassi-Messaoud (Algeria). The oil hums in the thick oil pipes. The waste gas flares spew their fury into the air. - Algeria - 1966

Unexpected parking! The asphalt road between Hassi-Messaoud and In-Amenas. This "international signal" for parking is unusual and surprising. Its incongruity may lead to a smile. But it marks all too clearly the end of an era, and the smile it first evokes ends in a sad grimace. - Algeria - 1966

Geographers have found that erosion in the Sahara was not subject to the rules that apply to temperate zones. In Europe, for example, there is mechanical degradation resulting from the intensive sprinkling caused by the multitude of steep slopes. Even a single waterfall in the Alps transports a considerable amount of earth and rock every year. Here, nothing of the sort. Everything seems to be frozen in perpetual motionlessness. In reality, however, one has to reckon above all with the sand. With infinite patience, in interaction with the wind, it gnaws away at the rocky reefs from whose debris it feeds. The softer materials it transforms into peaks before destroying them completely; and the others only seem to resist it, for its ally, the wind, blows, as it were, without ceasing. But it is not only the sand that changes the landscape. In an area where the temperature difference between 1pm and 1am can exceed 50°, even the most solid minerals are put to the test, and it is not uncommon to feel as if you are under artillery fire at night: this is due to the rocks shattering with a roar as they cool. We see a consequence of this "thermal destruction" here, on the slope of the Tinterhert plateau, not far from Port Flatters, today's Bordj Omar Driss (Algeria). - Algeria - 1966

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

The purple mountains of the Tassili N'Aijer shimmer in a mirage of water. The Tassili mountains are the domain of the Ajjer Tuareg, the land of veiled, poor but independent men. - Algeria - 1966

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. The Tassili Mountains rise in the background. - Algeria - 1969

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

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

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

The well of Edjef in the province of Illizi in 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

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

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

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. - Djanet - Algeria - 1962

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

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

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

Foothills of the Tassili, washed out and torn by river and wind erosion. This is the kingdom of the nomads who pitch their tents in the wadis, the dried-up rivers, not far from a watering hole where sprouts a meagre vegetation indispensable for the camels and goats. - Algeria - 1969

Tassili promontory not far from Fort Polignac. - 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

Tuareg nomad camp in the Oued Djerat in the Tassili Mountains. - Algeria - 1962

Targui Amasher prepares the fire in the Oued Touloult in the Tassili n'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1966

On the Fadnoun plateau in the "Parc National du Tassili", you come across a large rock slab full of engravings: giraffes, antelopes, ostriches as well as human figures, but above all the famous, five-metre-long cow that people carved into this rock slab thousands of years ago. – Tin-Terhert - Oued Djerat - Algeria - 1962

The preparation of the tea is a ritual. The water is boiled on an open fire. - Algeria - 1962

If you walk along the Wadi Djerat in the Tassili n'Ajjer, on its left bank you come across a stone known only to the Tuareg. If you pick it up, you will see the carefully oiled imprint of a human foot underneath. For the blue men there is no doubt: this is the mark left by their oldest ancestor when he came to this land. To prevent the precious relic from weathering, each visitor reverently brushes it with oil and places the stone on it again (length 22 cm). - Algeria - 1962

A gelta, a wadi pool with a rocky bottom in Iherir. Some are wide and deep, forming real little lakes teeming with fish, catfish and barbel; in 1934, a small crocodile was found in one of these waters, one of the last remnants of the green Sahara of prehistory. - Algeria - 1962

In the Sahara, water is more abundant than you think, but it is hidden, underground. In the valley of Iherir (Tassili N' Ajjer), however, it flows freely, bouncing off the rocks in waterfalls. Iherir is one of the areas of the Sahara where there is the most water. The rocky bottom prevents the precious wet from seeping into the ground. - Algeria - 1962

In the Sahara, water is more abundant than you think, but it is hidden, underground. In the valley of Iherir (Tassili N' Ajjer), however, it flows freely, bouncing off the rocks in waterfalls. Iherir is one of the areas of the Sahara where there is the most water. The rocky bottom prevents the precious wet from seeping into the ground. - Algeria - 1966

An oasis means above all water and palm trees (Phoenix dactylifera), a symphony of green and blue in counterpoint to the golden yellow of the dunes, but also the contrast of royal fertility, completely isolated in the midst of an extinguished drought. Like so many others, the palms of lherir, in the heart of the Tassili n' Ajjer, reflect the beauty of their finely chiselled fronds in the fertility of a still water which, in gratitude, they protect with their shade from evaporating too quickly. - Algeria - 1966

There is water in the valley of Iherir in Tassili N'Ajjer. That is the only reason why these palm trees can grow here. - Algeria - 1966

Since there is enough water in the valley of Iherir in Tassili N'Ajjer, the sedentary people can cultivate their fields. - Algeria - 1966

The construction of this hut of a sedentary Targui is only found in Idaren in the valley of Iherir in the Tassili N'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1966

Landscape with tufts of grass in Maader de Dider in Tassili N'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1966

A small herd of dromedaries on their way to a grazing area in Tassili N'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1966

A Tuareg woman grinds the grain on a stone mill - Camp Idriss - Dider - Tassili n'Ajjer. - 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

Pre-Islamic tomb, facing east, in the surroundings of Idriss-Gardel. The tomb consists of a low stone mound in the centre, surrounded by two concentric circles with an entrance running through them. The Central Sahara is rich in such funerary monuments, which are most often found on the slopes of stony hills. - Algeria - 1966

Grave of the chief of a Tuareg tribe from the region at Camp Idriss near Iherir. - Algeria - 1969

Meharists on a reconnaissance ride at Fort Gardel, Tassili n'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1966

The Erg Admer in the southwest of the Tassili N'Ajjer. The Erg is a massif of dunes, a sea of sand, patiently shaped by the wind over the centuries. - Algeria - 1966

Dunes of Tahort in the area of Djanet, Tassili n'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1966

On the edge of the Erg Admer, with the Tassili Mountains to the west of Djanet in the background. - Algeria - 1966

Pre-Islamic tomb, facing east, in the surroundings of Djanet. The tomb consists of a low stone mound in the centre, surrounded by two concentric circles with an entrance running through them. The Central Sahara is rich in such funerary monuments, which are most often found on the slopes of stony hills. - Algeria - 1966

Pre-Islamic tomb, facing east, in the surroundings of Djanet. The Central Sahara is rich in such funerary monuments, which are most often found on the slopes of stony hills. - Algeria - 1964

A watering hole in the Djanet region. - Algeria - 1962

Arrival at the oasis of Djanet in the south of the Tassili n'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1969

Djanet is an oasis and the most important city in the southeast of the Algerian Sahara. The original city consists of three quarters (ksour), built in the 16th century: El Mihan, Adjahil and Azzelouaz (pictured), which lie on either side of the Wadi Idjeriou. During French colonial rule, the town was called Fort Charlet. - Algeria - 1962

Djanet is an oasis and the most important city in the southeast of the Algerian Sahara. The original city consists of three quarters (ksour), built in the 16th century: El Mihan, Adjahil (pictured) and Azzelouaz, which lie on either side of the Wadi Idjeriou. During French colonial rule, the town was called Fort Charlet. - Algeria - 1962

Overview of Wadi Idjeriou and the oasis of Djanet from Tin Beur mountain. Djanet is the most important city in the southeast of the Algerian Sahara. The original city consists of three quarters (ksour), which were built in the 16th century: El Mihan, Adjahil and Azzelouaz, located on either side of the Wadi Idjeriou. During French colonial rule, the town was called Fort Charlet. - Algeria - 1962

The shadows are getting longer, evening is coming. The shepherdess returns to the oasis with her meagre herd of goats. In the background, the Arab village of Azzelouaz, which together with the Tuareg-inhabited Adjahil and the predominantly black El Mihan forms the most important oasis in southern Algeria, Djanet. - Algeria - 1962

The water service is women's work. The containers are made of bottle gourds. The women carry them from the well to their homes with the help of a rope tied around their foreheads. - In the El Mihan district, Djanet. - Algeria - 1966

The water service is women's work. The containers are made of bottle gourds. The women carry them from the well to their homes with the help of a rope tied around their foreheads. . - In the El Mihan district, Djanet. - Algeria - 1966

Early in the morning, the Koran school is held in front of the mosque of one of the three villages that make up the Djanet oasis. The taleb (teacher) writes a Quranic verse on a wooden board. The student has to repeat it aloud until he knows it by heart. Since everyone has a different verse to memorise and speaks at their own discretion, you can imagine the relaxed atmosphere that prevails here. - Algeria - 1962

Early in the morning, the Koran school is held in front of the mosque of one of the three villages that make up the Djanet oasis. The taleb (teacher) writes a Quranic verse on a wooden board. The student has to repeat it aloud until he knows it by heart. Since everyone has a different verse to memorise and speaks at their own discretion, you can imagine the relaxed atmosphere that prevails here. - Algeria - 1966

At the festival that concludes the thirty fasting days of Ramadan, Djanet throws himself into gala, dons his flaming ganduras. And then the communal prayer takes place in the cemetery to honour the dead. - Algeria - 1966

Two Tuareg couples in festive garb. The woman on the left plays an imzad, the targui on the right has his lance stuck in the sand in front of him. - Djanet - Algérie - 1962

Young sedentary Tuareg woman in festive robe. - Djanet - Algeria - 1962

Tuareg girl from the Djanet region. - Algeria - 1962

The Sahrawi woman makes the "tasufra" from goatskin, decorates it with beautiful patterns and attaches a manual lock made from a leather rope called "sir" to make it easier for the man to open. It is a leather bag with a length of about 1.5 m and a width of 70 cm, which is attached to both sides of the camel. The "tasufra" is used to store food, tea sets and other things that nomads need when travelling. It takes 4 to 6 days to make. Liquids and sharp tools that could damage the camel during the ride are not carried. - Algeria - 1962

Fadhi, the daughter of Philippon, in a festive costume - Djanet - Algeria - 1969

The imzad, a one-stringed violin, consists of half a bottle gourd covered with goatskin and a wooden handle. The string is made of horsehair. The bow is a curved piece of laurel rose wood. Only the women play this instrument on festive days. Tuareg poetry is expressed orally. - Algeria - 1962

Young Tuareg woman from the Djanet region. - Algeria - 1962

Tuareg society has a matriarchal structure. This imzad player (the imzad is a one-stringed musical instrument) praises the great deeds of her ancestors as handed down to her by her mother; she is the keeper of tradition. However, the difficult art of playing the imzad is becoming more and more lost. The instrument is made of half a calabash with sheepskin stretched over it, the bridge is made of the wood of the laurel rose. - Algeria - 1962

In the evening breeze, two Tuareg go to the Tindé, a gathering of young people, where they make acquaintances around the campfire. - Algeria - 1962

In the gilded sands of the evening, the inhabitants of Djanet dance. It is the festival of Shebiba, so called because it takes place in the first month of the year, which is called "Shebiba" in Tamashek, the Tuareg language. The two main characters of the festival, dressed in rich robes, twirl the takuba, the sword of the noble Tuareg. The women beat the obsessive rhythm tirelessly with their drum, the Ganga. - Algeria - 1966

One of the main characters of the Shebiba-festival. The jewellery he wears on his headgear is made of silver and comes from the village blacksmith. - Djanet - Algeria - 1966

One of the main characters of the festival. The jewellery he wears on his headgear is made of silver and comes from the village blacksmith. - Algeria - 1966

The inhabitants of Djanet dance the festival of Shebiba. The women beat the obsessive rhythm tirelessly with their drum, the Ganga. - Algeria - 1962

The preparation of the tea is mainly a man's job. It requires all the seriousness of this Targui, who demonstrates his agility by filling the glasses from high up: He must not miss a drop. The kettle in the foreground stands on a charcoal fire. The teapot is generally the obligatory souvenir that the pilgrim brings back from Mecca. Traditionally made of brass, it is often replaced by an enamelled pot on the bottom of which you can read Made in Czechoslovakia. The tea is always very heavily sugared, and the great luxury is to add a sprig of mint, which gives it a very pleasant taste. The walls of the tent are made of an assaber, a very fine weave of split palm leaf ribs held together by thin leather straps. This is not only decorative, but also has the advantage of allowing the air to circulate and yet shielding the tent occupants from the outside and protecting them from the wind. - Algeria - 1966

The preparation of the tea is mainly a man's job. It requires all the seriousness of this Targui, who demonstrates his agility by filling the glasses from high up: He must not miss a drop. The teapot is generally the obligatory souvenir that the pilgrim brings back from Mecca. Traditionally made of brass, it is often replaced by an enamelled pot. The tea is always very heavily sugared, and the great luxury is to add a sprig of mint, which gives it a very pleasant taste. - Hoggar - Algeria - 1966

The Takuba, the sword of the noble. As former warriors, the Tuareg are often homesick for their past. In their secret thoughts, they revive the memory of the former rezzous, raids against the caravans that brought slaves and gold up from the south. - Algeria - 1966

This targui crushes dates to free them from the seeds. Dates are rich in sugar and have a correspondingly high calorie content. This earned them the name "bread of the desert". Fibre, minerals such as potassium, calcium and magnesium, and B vitamins make them a healthy snack. The content of the amino acid tryptophan is particularly interesting. - Djanet - Algeria - 1962

A caravan leader from Sudan is resting in Djanet. He has brought goods from the south with which he barters here. - Algeria - 1962

Two Tuareg mime a fight with the takuba, the sword of the noble. As former warriors, the Tuareg are often homesick for their past. In their secret thoughts they revive the memory of the former rezzous, raids against the caravans that brought slaves and gold up from the south. - Algeria - 1962

A Saharan Meharist Company (from méhari, the Saharan riding camel) was stationed in Djanet. 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 major nomadic tribes, the Moors, Tuaregs, Toubous or Arabs. The Targui Caïd Bellaï is one of these "suppletifs". He is very tall and measures 2.01 m. - Algeria - 1962

This desert horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) was photographed near Azellouas, one of the three districts of Djanet. This snake is primarily crepuscular and nocturnal. In the midday heat, it buries itself in the sand, hides in mouse holes or under stones. The desert horned viper can be found in a wide variety of habitats, from rocky hamada to pure sandy desert, but prefers to stay around plant clusters. It moves sideways rather quickly. It alternately lifts a piece of the body from the ground behind the head and in front of the tail and puts it down again in a staggered manner. In doing so, the snake leaves the characteristic tracks of the sidewinders in the sand. - Algeria - 1966

From Djanet, two passes lead over the rock face that forms the western edge of the Tassili n'Ajjer to the summit plateau: the Tafilalet pass (photo), which leads in three successive steps (Akba) to the village of Tamrit, and the more direct and steeper Aroum pass, which leads to Jabbaren. - Algeria - 1962

The desert is only flat to those who have not crossed it. Sure, there are huge regs littered with pebbles blackened by the sun, but almost everywhere the rock seems hard, rough, often impassable. And nothing is more astonishing than the range of colours it offers us, like the deep blue discovered at the top of the Tafilalet in the Tassili n'Ajjer, Algerian Sahara. But it is a worn, shattered rock. - Algeria - 1969

In order to reach Djanet on the Tamrit high plateau (Tassili n´Ajjer), one must overcome – on foot or by camel – three steep, rocky paths known as akbas, one after the other. - Algeria - 1962

Somewhere in the Tassili, a Targui returns home; and nothing in his posture, nothing in his surroundings, nothing in his clothes yet makes us think that the mineral resources of the Sahara will one day turn him into a man of the distant 21st century. And yet ... ! - Algeria - 1962

In order to reach Djanet on the Tamrit high plateau (Tassili n´Ajjer), one must overcome – on foot or by camel – three steep, rocky paths known as akbas, one after the other. - Algeria - 1962

The Tassili n'Ajjer is a mountain range in the Sahara in south-eastern Algeria and forms the north-western border of the Chad Basin. It is about 500 km long and consists mostly of sandstone. Erosion has formed almost 300 stone arches in the area, among other forms worth seeing. The inhabitants of the mountainous region and the surrounding desert areas belong to the Tuareg confederation of the Kel Ajjer (People of Ajjer). - Algeria - 1964

After crossing the Tafilalet pass, the trail descends again through a gorge to Tamrit. - Algeria - 1966

In the middle of the Tassili, you can suddenly come across a nomadic mosque. - Algeria - 1962

Bizarre forms of erosion in the Tamrit area of the Tassili Mountains. - Algeria - 1962

One of the last survivors of the green Sahara in Tassili N'Ajjer: the Duprez cypress (Cupressus dupreziana), called Tarut in the Tuareg language. It is about 3000 years old. The Tuareg at the foot of the tree gives a size comparison. Some trees are more than two metres in diameter. It is estimated that there are about 300 of them in the Tassil Mountains. - Algeria - 1966

One of the last survivors of the green Sahara in Tassili N'Ajjer: the Duprez cypress (Cupressus dupreziana), called Tarut in the Tuareg language. It is about 3000 years old. The Tuareg at the foot of the tree gives a size comparison. Some trees are more than two metres in diameter. It is estimated that there are about 300 of them in the Tassil Mountains. - Algeria - 1962

Because of the altitude and the water-retaining properties of the sandstone, the vegetation in the Tassili is somewhat richer than in the surrounding desert. This includes a very sparse tree population of the endangered, endemic Sahara cypress (Cupressus dupreziana) and the Sahara myrtle (Myrtus nivellei) in the higher altitudes in the east of the area. - Tassili n'Ajjer - Tin Abou Teka - Algeria - 1966

At the foot of these bizarre erosional forms in the Séfar area, you will come across shelters where you can admire countless rock paintings. - Algeria - 1966

At the foot of these bizarre erosional forms in the Séfar area, one encounters shelters where one can admire countless rock paintings. The Targui Hosseinie gives us a size comparison. - Algeria - 1966

The Targui Hosseinie stands at the entrance to a cave created by wind erosion near Séfar. - Algeria - 1966

At the Guelta of Séfar, Targui Hosseinie is busy raising water. - Algeria - 1966

At Jabbaren, Targui Hosseini kneels in deep prayer. - Algeria - 1966

The Tuareg script, the Tifinagh, is reminiscent of that of the ancient Libyan peoples. The rocks often bear engraved signs of this kind; sometimes they are love poems dedicated to the beauties of the desert. Hosseinie, a Tuareg from the Meddak tribe (Tassili N'Ajjer), deciphers «verses». - Algeria - 1966

This picture of the site of Jabbaren in the Tassili n' Ajjer (Algerian Sahara) shows the extensive abris where Neolithic people lived. On their walls they painted with consummate skill the familiar scenes from their daily lives. - Algeria - 1966

The Tin Tazarift area also has bizarre erosional forms. - Algeria - 1966

Targui Hosseinie with his donkeys in front of a large rock gate near Tin Tazarift. - Algeria - 1966

The stone forest of Tin Alkoum, Tassili n' Ajjer (Algeria), is a sight to behold in the Sahara. It is the result of erosion, which is not unusual in itself. Here, however, the factors determining the attack on the minerals are quite peculiar. First of all, there is the abrasion caused by the Saharan storms, which hurl the sand against every obstacle in a manner comparable to a sandblaster. Then there is the difference between the daily temperature maxima and the nightly minima of such magnitude that it causes veritable rock explosions. And finally, although this has practically ceased, the attack by water at a time when the rains fell mainly in the form of thundery and heavy downpours. Witnesses to the violent thunderstorms are the numerous fulgurites or thunderbolts that formed in the sand as a result of lightning strikes by melting it around the impact hole. These hardened tubes were then exposed by erosion. - Algeria - 1969

The members of mission T4 (Tassili - Ténéré - Tibesti - Tchad - 1966/67 - led by Maximilien Bruggmann) on the march in the Tissouar area of Tassili n'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1966

Rocky landscape, shaped by erosion into strange sculptures, in the highlands of the Tassili Mountains. Hidden amidst these stone citadels are the numerous rock art sites. - Tamrit - Algeria - 1966

Rocky landscape in the Tissouar area, shaped by erosion into strange sculptures, in the highlands of the Tassili Mountains. Hidden amidst these stone citadels are the numerous rock art sites. - Algeria - 1966

A Torha plant at Terarart in the south of Tassili n'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1975

The Oued Terarart south of Djanet in the evening sun. - Algeria - 1966

Stone tombs on a slope near In-Affelalea, in the south of the Tassili. - Algeria - 1975

In prehistoric times, when water still flowed through the Sahara, the erosion of the rivers formed strange mythical creatures out of the stone. Today, the water has disappeared and the wind takes care of the erosion that gnaws at the rocks and slowly grinds them into sand. - Algeria - 1969

Rock formation in the south of Djanet - Algeria - 1962

At Tin-Amali on the southern edge of the Tassili, near Djanet, these rocks rise out of the sandy desert. - Algeria - 1969

Years have passed since the last rain. Only in the evening, when the shadows of a rare plant finally lengthen on the pale-multicoloured carpet of soil, does the immense panorama show its true face. The rock, lost on the edge of the Adrar Tin-Amali somewhere southeast of Djanet, is reminiscent of an island. Don't we also have an ocean in mind when we call the camel a "desert ship"? - Algeria - 1969

Mont Gautier south of Djanet, on the southern edge of the Tassili. - Algeria - 1975

Stone and sand desert between Ghat and Serdeles, today's Al Awaynat - Libya - 1964

Ghat Oasis in Libya with the fortress. The caravan routes that lead to the Fezzan, the Algerian Sahara and the southern Sahara converge in Ghat. The houses, made of dried mud or clay, have courtyards where family life takes place. - Libya - 1964

Ghat, oasis in Libya, seen from Kukemen, the former Turkish fortress. The caravan routes that lead to the Fezzan, the Algerian Sahara and the southern Sahara converge in Ghat. The houses, made of dried mud or clay, have courtyards where family life takes place. - Libya - 1964

The Tadrart Acacous Mountains are a desert landscape in Libya. The desert itself is characterised by mountains, rocks, sand and dunes. Rock monuments can be found, comparable to those in Arches National Park in the United States. In caves there are early historical engravings of elephants and water buffaloes dating from around 4000 BC. They are similar to those in the Algerian Tassili Mountains. The paintings document periods when the region was much wetter and thus offered a much more fertile landscape. - Libya - 1969

The finger - Mont Equilibre - in the Wadi Atoulla in the Tadrart Acacus in Libya. The desert itself is characterised by mountains, rocks, sand and dunes. Rock monuments can be found, comparable to those in Arches National Park in the United States. In caves there are early historical engravings of elephants and water buffaloes dating from around 4000 BC. They are similar to those in the Algerian Tassili Mountains. The paintings document periods when the region was much wetter and thus offered a much more fertile landscape. - Libya - 1969

In the Acacous Mountains, on the way to Teshouinat. In caves there are early historical engravings of elephants and water buffaloes from around 4000 BC. They are similar to those in the Algerian Tassili Mountains. The paintings document periods when the region was much wetter and thus offered a much more fertile landscape. - Libya - 1969

This landscape in the area of Teshuinat, in the Tadrart Acacous (Libya), shows us, a little to the left of centre, the entrance to the Uan Amil I cave. No more water, no more life, a heavy silence. And yet people lived and thought here. Game was abundant, the spring was near, herbs crowded the shores of the lakes ... And then nothing: the all too thorough victory of the desert. - Libya - 1969

View from a cave in Wadi Kessan in Tadrart Acacous. - Libya - 1969

Large sand dunes of Iguidi oua-n-Kasa in the east of Acacous. - Libya - 1969

A lonely tree in a small oued near Wadi Mathendous ... and in between, the empty desert of Fezzan in southern Libya. - 1969

The Wadi Mathendous has carved its bed into the rugged landscape of the Messak noir, in the Fezzan in southern Libya. Following the dead course of the former river, now blocked by boulders, one reaches the famous site of the elephant of In Galjeïen: It is located on the rock that closes off the farthest part of the horizon. - Libya - 1969

Wadi Mathendous. Habeter II - Bubalinic Era. This bovine with monumental horns was contemporary with the Neolithic and disappeared with it. This specimen is equipped with two tails. The scale of the pictured Bubalus is derived from the distance between the tips of its horns: 72 centimetres. Note the small, older (?) ostrich between the horns. - Libya - 1969

Wadi Mathendous. In Habeter III - On the edge of the Mathendous river valley, you will find this cliff with very beautiful naturalistic engravings from the Bubalin period depicting giraffes and an elephant. The fractures in the rock are sometimes recent. They then damage the figures. Sometimes they are old and the artist has taken them into account. Height of the giraffe from the hooves to the end of the horn: 2.25 m. - Libya - 1969

Maximilien Bruggmann and his team during the Blaka mission (1969) in Wadi Mathendous (Libya). From 1961 to 2003, Maximilien Bruggmann undertook 18 expeditions to the Sahara. He created two films, took several thousand photos and illustrated four large books. The Equipe Mission Blaka in front of the famous tail crocodile with a length of 2.25 m in the Wadi Mathendous: Philippe Roulet, Jean-Claude Bourgeon, Eva Bruggmann, Zoumri, Jean Garzoni, Maximilien Bruggmann - Libya - 1969

Our journey has taken us to the sandy deserts and to Djebel, through the gorges of Tassili and into the tall grass of the steppe. Everywhere we met people who were able to build their lives and even laugh and sing. But it is to the sand that our minds and, why not, our hearts are drawn. This single man leading his camel across the hot, soft sand represents the triumph of the will over the most hostile matter. Sure, at the end of the journey, palm trees await him again, similar to those here in the valley of Adjahl; but even these exist only thanks to the will of other people, if the sand is not ultimately to win the day. - Libya - 1964

Full moon over the fertile Adjal Valley interspersed with rich oases - Libya - 1969

The Edeyen or dune massif of Oubari with Lake Gabr' Aoun in the foreground, one of the seven lakes around which live the Daouda, people of dark complexion whose existence is one of the most miserable in the whole Sahara. Eight ridges of high, hard-to-walk dunes, some 50 kilometres, separate them from the fertile Adjal valley, which is dotted with rich oases. - Libya - 1964

In Fezzan, in the Edeyen of Oubari, a strange people lives near the lakes surrounded by high dunes. They are the Daouda. The word Daouda comes from "doud", which means worm in Arabic. In fact, the Daouda eat "worms", which they fish in the lakes fed by underground springs. Only the women are authorised to devote themselves to this task. Their net resembles the plankton net used by biologists. The worms - in reality crustaceans - are dried and then buried for several months before being eaten. - Libya - 1964

In Fezzan, in the Edeyen of Oubari, a strange people lives near the lakes surrounded by high dunes. They are the Daouda. The word Daouda comes from "doud", which means worm in Arabic. In fact, the Daouda eat "worms", which they fish in the lakes fed by underground springs. Occasionally, however, a goat is slaughtered and the meat hung out to dry. - Libya - 1964

A Daouda boy weaving a ribbon. - Edeyen of Oubari - Libya - 1964

Drinking water is fetched from the well by lever arm. - Gabr Aoun - Edeyen of Oubari - Libya - 1964

At the well of Oumm al-Aranib in Fezzan, a winch is used to lift the drinking water. - Libya - 1964

The Daouda of Gabr Aoun need their donkeys for food supplies, which they have to transport from far away over several dunes. - Libya - 1964

Tombs at Maqbara as Sahaba near Zawila in south-western Libya, about 150 km east of Murzouq, in the heart of the Fezzan region in the Libyan Sahara. Zawila was an important trading centre in the Middle Ages, its main business being the slave trade. It was also the capital of the Fezzan region during this period. In ancient times, the region around Zawila was part of the land of the Garamantes. - Libya - 1964

The inhabitants of the Zawila (Zouïla) oasis see themselves as descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The place is said to have been founded in 918 and soon became the administrative centre of the whole of Fezzan. - Libya - 1964

Mosque of Murzuk in the centre of Fezzan. Murzuk is 120 kilometres south of Sabha, and is an important transport hub towards the southern Sahara. Murzuk replaced Zawila as the centre of the Fezzan in the 12th century and was the most important place in this Saharan region until the 20th century. This importance was based on its function as a hub for trans-Saharan trade on the "Bornu Road" between Lake Chad and Tripoli. Thus, a large slave market was located here. - Libya - 1964

A basket trader at the Murzuk market sells her wares. - Libya - 1964

A girl at the Murzuk market. Its elegant posture comes from learning to carry heavy loads on its head at a very early age. - Libya - 1964

This little girl comes from Traghan near Murzuk. In the picture you can count 12 flies. - Libya - 1964

Date harvest in Murzuk in the Fezzan of Libya. Dates are rich in sugar and have a correspondingly high calorie content. This earned them the name "bread of the desert". Fibre, minerals such as potassium, calcium and magnesium, and B vitamins make them a healthy snack. The content of the amino acid tryptophan is particularly interesting. - Libya - 1964

A herd of dromedaries at Al-Qatrun, an oasis in southern Libya, on the main route to Niger and Tchad. - Libya - 1969

The Edeyen of Murzuk is a Saharan sand desert (erg) in the southern Libyan province of Murzuk and has an almost circular shape with a diameter of about 250 km. For a long time, the dromedary was the most suitable means of crossing this barren region. - Libya - 1969

If the American Indians were renowned trackers, the Saharan nomads are not inferior to them in this difficult art. The track of a camel is almost like news, and any self-respecting Saharan can tell with unfailing accuracy the freshness of the track, the age, sex, load and degree of fatigue of the animal. - Libya - 1969

Dunes in the Edeyen of Murzuk, a Saharan sand desert (erg) in the southern Libyan province of Murzuk and has an almost circular shape with a diameter of about 250 km. - Libya - 1969

Dunes in the Eyden of Murzuk, a Saharan sand desert (erg) in the southern Libyan province of Murzuk and has an almost circular shape with a diameter of about 250 km. - Libya - 1969

There is no need for roads on the vast plains of the Edeyen of Murzuk. Every truck, every off-road vehicle leaves its own track in the sand. - Libya - 1969

This strange photograph is not a montage. It is a "public transport" in honour of the truck's manufacturer. On top of 15 tonnes of cargo, 53 passengers crammed themselves as best they could to make the hundreds of kilometres from Sebha, Libya, to Bilma, Niger. - Libya - 1964

In reality, the Sahara can be crossed like a sea. In the true sense of the word, it is "ocean sailing". The immense expanses of sand wrinkled by a perpetual wind, as well as the dreary plateaus strewn endlessly with burnt rocks, offer no landmarks safe enough to go from one oasis to another without the risk of getting lost. It is therefore with a compass and a map that one must advance. Moreover, in this almost perfect desert, where parsimonious wells deliver only a rare and not always drinkable water, a surprise awaits the traveller; in innumerable places, he sees, scattered on the ground, the testimonies of an intense lacustrine life: bones of hippopotamuses or crocodiles, bones of enormous fishes, shells of molluscs. And if it were necessary to confirm the reality of the facts, we would have to reflect on the significance of the gigantic diatomite deposits, such as those of the Chadian Djourab (8), formed by the microscopic siliceous skeletons of infinitesimally small people who lived in large lakes that were drying up two or three thousand years ago, but which were still in high water four or five thousand years earlier. - Chad - 1967

On the edge of the Tibesti, a group of Toubou women are busy building a nomad tent. This dwelling consists of an oval frame, while a network of palm branches and ribs supports an assembly of mats attached to each other by thorns. In the organisation of a camp, it is traditional that the house and furniture belong to the woman. - Chad - 1967

Somewhere in northern Tibesti, these tubu women are busy setting up camp. - Chad - 1967

Tubu camp in the Enneri Tao (central Tibesti). - Chad - 1967

Tubu camp. Among the objects essential to nomadic life is a traditional camel saddle. - Chad - 1967

Two tubu women having a chat while preparing the traditional dish in a wooden mortar. - Chad - 1967

Grandiose rock formation in the Zouar region of Tibesti. To compare the size, look at the two people. - Chad - 1967

Between the Enneri Tao and Bardaï, an old lava flow on the edge of the track underlines the geological origin of the Tibesti in a grandiose way and makes the progression difficult. - Chad - 1967

Bardaï in 1967. It remains the main town in Tibesti. - Chad - 1967

At noon, the main square of Bardaï is deserted by the population. - Chad - 1967

In the Bardaï palm grove, the mosque is characterised by its smooth and uncluttered architecture. Around the town, the impressive volcanic massifs make the Tibesti an impregnable citadel. - Chad - 1967

On the arrival of an important guest in Bardaï, the camel riders throw on their ceremonial garb. This is a tradition that is by no means dying out. The nomad guards are something like the mounted police of Tibesti. - Chad - 1967

Women's meeting in the Bardaï oasis. - Chad - 1967

Zouï oasis near Bardaï. In the enclosed courtyard of a Toubou house, an old woman is busy weaving baskets. The palm fibres woven into strips, put together, make baskets or sleeping mats. While the substructure of the houses is made of brick, the roof is made of large rushes, which can be found almost everywhere in the Sahara. - Chad - 1967

The young Tubu woman Cherie sorting grains. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Grain sprouts between the date palms. The sedentary leads a hard, miserable life, he is a slave to his land. For days he draws water from the bottom of the well and empties it into the seguias, the irrigation channels that run through the cultivated land. - Chad - 1967

This Tubu woman from the Bardaï oasis, Tibesti, pours the water from her “dellou” into a seguia, the gutter that irrigates the garden she maintains. The rope to which the “dellou” is attached is fixed to the end of a long wooden pendulum weighted with a stone at the other end, so as to form a pendulum. This is a long, tedious and arduous task which, with countless variations, is repeated in all the oases over the entire surface of the Sahara, between the Red Sea and the Atlantic. The only exception is the land of feggaguir (plural of foggara), long underground canals leading to the open air in the oasis; they were dug by man and sunk to the places where it was possible to drain a little water. There are 360 kilometres of canals in the oasis of Aoulef alone. But in all other cases, the “chadouf”, with its pendulum, is the typical hydraulic device of the oases. The most astute use a donkey, an ox or a camel to bring up the “dellou” full of water from the bottom of the well. - Chad - 1967

Young Toubou, in Zouï, near Bardaï. Considered as the greatest walkers of the Sahara, the Toubous have an extraordinary endurance. They are almost always on the move. A guerba filled with water and a few dates are enough for them to cross the desert and climb the rocks with agility. - Chad - 1967

A Toubou from the Tibesti. The origin of these nomads remains a mystery. According to certain traits, they could belong to the black race, according to others they are more Mediterranean or even Ethiopian in type. - Chad - 1967

Tubu caravanner on the Bardaï trail. - Chad - 1967

Mrs Leclerc with child. The tubu woman is beautiful, the facial features and fine physique suggest a Mediterranean rather than a negroid type. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Mrs Leclerc - The tubu woman is beautiful, the facial features and fine physique suggest a Mediterranean rather than a Negroid type. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

The young Tubu woman Cherie. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

When it is festival time in Bardaï, the women adorn themselves with their most beautiful finery and become brightly coloured dolls. The silver, sometimes gold, jewellery flares in the sun. The Toubou woman is beautiful, the facial features and fine physique suggest a Mediterranean rather than a Negroid type. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

The Tubu blacksmith of Bardaï, in the heart of the Tibesti, has an extremely important function, as he is also a musician and, as such, leads the dances during the festivals. The very slim type of this man is remarkable, as he could be seen on a buccaneer's boat in the Red Sea. The anthropology of the human groups currently living in the desert strip of North Africa confirms what human palaeontology already revealed in the Neolithic period; we always find three types: Mediterranean, black and mixed race. The passage of the first type undoubtedly took place at the level of the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez, but this delicate problem is far from being completely clarified. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

The festival at the forges of Bardaï is in full swing. To the sound of the drum, the women dance slowly in circles, and their arms are like snakes lambent against the sky. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

The wedding feast at the forges of Bardaï is in full swing. To the sound of the drum, the women dance slowly in circles, and their arms are like snakes lambent against the sky. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Foot bracelets. These silver jewels are the work of blacksmiths. Both feared and despised by the nomads and the sedentary people living in the desert, the blacksmith or malem belongs to a special caste. He masters fire and material, fashioning jewellery as well as weapons or the metal parts that make up the harness of camels. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

When it is festival time in Bardaï, the women adorn themselves with their most beautiful finery and become brightly coloured dolls. The silver, sometimes gold, jewellery flares in the sun. The Toubou woman is beautiful, the facial features and fine physique suggest a Mediterranean rather than a Negroid type. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

These blacksmiths' wives in Bardaï give a timeless image of the Sahara.... The fabrics they wear come mostly from the Fezzan and are brought by the trucks that supply the oases in the Tibesti. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

In Bardaï, the wife of a blacksmith takes part in the festival with her most beautiful ornaments and dances late into the night. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Galli, a young Toubou woman from Bardaï, is the soul of the parties that are improvised in the shade of the palm trees. She goes from house to house and gathers her friends to dance. The fabrics she wears come from the Fezzan with the camions that supply most of the Tibesti oases. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

On the night of Tibesti, a wedding is celebrated. The women dance in a circle; the blacksmith sings the love songs that the young girls take up; intoxicated with joy, he beats his drum. The men look on in admiration and try to establish future kinships. - Bardaï - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

It is the woman who is entrusted with the task of setting up the house. The house and the furniture belong to her. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

The interior of the Toubou «house».The dwelling consists of an oval skeleton in the shape of an upturned boat. A network of branches and palm ribs supports a blanket of mats stitched together with thorns. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

A young Tubu from the Tibesti. The origin of these nomads remains a mystery. According to certain traits, they could belong to the black race, according to others they are more Mediterranean or even Ethiopian in type. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Tea time ... a special moment for the Saharan nomads. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

The Enneri Alli between Soborum and Bardaï. "Enneri" means "river". Like a wadi, it is characterised by the fact that it is almost always dry. - Tibesti- Chad - 1967

A small caravan in the Enneri Bessama between Bardaï and Soborum. "Enneri" means something like "river". Like a wadi, it is characterised by the fact that it is almost always dry. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

View of the Enneri Bessama (Tibesti). Note the small figure: it serves as a scale for the landscape. "Enneri" means something like "river". Like a wadi, it is characterised by the fact that it is almost always dry. The road that connects Bardaï with Soboroum runs through the bed of the Enneri Bessama. The volcanic tuff seems to have been cut with a gigantic sword stroke; soft, very fine sand, which makes walking difficult, fills the bottom of the Enneri. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

View of the Enneri Bessama (Tibesti). Note the two men: they serve as a scale for the landscape. "Enneri" means something like "river". Like a wadi, it is characterised by the fact that it is almost always dry. The road that connects Bardaï with Soboroum runs through the bed of the Enneri Bessama. The volcanic tuff seems to have been cut with a gigantic sword stroke; soft, very fine sand, which makes walking difficult, fills the bottom of the Enneri. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Humans and animals feast on the delicious water at Guelta Mourzo. Note the steep rock face that prevents the sun's rays from entering, thus keeping evaporation to a minimum. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

About 60 km southeast of Bardaï is Soborom, the "spa" of Tibesti. The place is also called the underground workshop of the devils of Tibesti. -Chad - 1967

About sixty kilometres south-east of Bardaï, lies the Tibesti 'spa', Soborom, which is well known to the ethnic groups of the country who sometimes come from far and wide to immerse themselves in its volcanic pools of warm water. The sulphurous vapours rise from the earth's belly and give the earth its pale green colour. Soborom: the underground factory of the devils of Tibesti, an enchantment of colours, a wild and eventful nature. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

The Tubu, inhabitants of the Tibesti, the mighty mountain massif between Libya and Chad, are the only ones who receive free thermal cures here. In fact, the sulphur springs of Soboroum enjoy a very good reputation among them, because even the Saharan inhabitants are not spared rheumatism. However, where we would have installed showers and bathtubs, there is so far only the Dantesque landscape of a volcanic crater with its multi-coloured rocks, its fumaroles - sulphurously stinking gas eruptions - and its water and steam fountains. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

60 kilometres to the south-east of Bardaï, the hot springs of Soboroum smoke. The sulphurous vapours rise from the belly of the earth and the sulphur is deposited in a blue-green carpet. Soboroum is the thermal bath of Tibesti. It attracts the sick from far and wide, who plunge into the pools of running warm water. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Crystallised sulphur in the hot springs of Soboroum. Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Witnesses of the Second World War : near Zouar is the "Garage Leclerc", a rocky cleft where the wrecks of the Bedford vehicles of the Leclerc column are hidden, as if petrified by time that has stopped in this endless desert.- Zouar - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Witnesses of the Second World War : At the airfield of Zouar, one finds this French plane - Zouar - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

In the vicinity of Zouar, as evening falls on the Enneri Zouarké, the Tibesti develops in all its grandeur and wild beauty punctuated by ancient volcanoes. - Zouar - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Wind vortex in the Enneri Bardague. In the background the siluette of Pic Toussidé - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Landscape in the Enneri Bardague. In the background the siluette of Ehi Mousue - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Characteristic Tibesti landscape in the surroundings of Zouar, a military post. In the background, the silhouette of Pic Botoum stands out against the sky. - Chad - 1967

Behind this fissured lava field rises the majestic, 2416 m high Pic Botoum - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Nomadic Tubu herders on their way to Bardaï. While the men go on foot, pushing their donkeys and goats in front of them, the camels, heavily loaded, close the march. In the distance, the spiky triangle of the Botoum peak (2416 m altitude) rises up. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Caravan of Tubu nomads on the track leading to Bardaï. The men walk, the camels trotting behind the donkeys and the goats, carrying heavy loads. In the background, the rugged triangle of Pic Botoum. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Tubu woman. Early in the morning she has left her camp to go to Zouar, hoping to sell some lean goats there or to exchange them for tea, sugar or millet. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

One of Marshal Leclerc's Tubu guides, inspector of troops in North Africa, who distinguished himself in Chad and Libya during the Second World War. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

120 kilometres from Zouar, near the Enneri (Wadi) Maro, things are very busy. For the water, so indispensable for life, comes up fresh and cool from the bottom of the well here. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Tubu woman. The Tubu are pastoral nomads who mainly keep goats and sheep, and they also breed camels. Donkeys are also kept as work and pack animals. In contrast to the Tuareg, who are neighbours in the west, the Tubu have an egalitarian form of society; the position of women is stronger than in most other Islamic ethnic groups. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Toubou girl near Sherda (Tibesti). She offers eggs as a welcome. Hospitality in the desert is a sacred duty, a great honour; no nomad escapes it. It is usually expressed in a gourd of camel milk or a handful of dried dates. - Sherda - Zouar - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Detail of a sand dune in the Borkou area, west of Faya-Largeau - Chad - 1967

North African Thorn-tailed Dragon(Uromastyx acanthinura) - Zouar - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

In Abada, between Zouar and Faya in Chad, there is a curious, very ancient necropolis where the gender of the buried dead is expressed by the shape of the flat stone stelae, about 1.30 metres high. Those intended for men are rounded at the top, while those for women have a slight cleft in the centre of the crown. The survival of this custom is attested in several countries, but here it is very old, certainly pre-Islamic ... This emphasis on sexual dimorphism is undoubtedly related to magic, for it is now very rarely found among developed peoples. - Zouar - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

Neolithic ceramic pot from the valley Barh El Gazal near the village Kouba Olanga in the region Borkou - Chad - 1967

It's market day in Faya Largeau, Chad - 1967

One of the most magnificent sights in the Sahara: the large «Natron Hole» in Tibesti (Chad). This former crater has a diameter of 6 kilometres and a depth of 600 metres. The Toubou, nomads of the Tibesti, extract the sodium bicarbonate there, which is intended for the camels, and load it onto the donkeys, the only animals that can walk the very narrow and very steep path. – Tibesti - Chad - 1967

The Saharan atmosphere is so strange, so out of keeping with the one that has shaped our minds, that it is not difficult to forget what we know about geography when we come into contact with it. In reality, we are only in front of another aspect of the planet and it is in the presence of a dormant volcano, and not a dead one like the one shown here, that we find our sense of the Universal. The "Natron hole" is, as its name suggests, a salt reserve in a country where salt is scarce. The Tubu who exploit it reserve it for their animals. - Chad - 1967

A disturbing vision of a mountain in the Yeï Lulu Loga region (Niger), when the south wind blows. At first it is a light breeze, then the force of the wind increases and becomes frighteningly strong. Then the shapes of things become blurred, the profile of the mountains evokes some lunar landscape. The dust mixed with the sand rises to an altitude of 3000 metres. - Chad - 1967

Neolithic arrowheads found near Berliet marker 12 near the mountains of Yeï Lulu Loga on the border with Chad - Eastern Niger - Chad - 1967

On the edge of the Ténéré desert, towards the Tibesti, the relief of the Sahara winds in the strange shapes of stone sculptures. - Chad - 1967

The dunes of Tarka, with their strange rock formations, are located on the edge of the Tibesti River in Chad, near the border with Niger. - Tibesti - Chad - 1967

At the entrance to Enneri Blaka, a dry wadi in the Djado plateau in north-eastern Niger. It is located in the northern extension of the Kaouar Valley, which is known for its salt flats and oases such as Bilma. In its surroundings are numerous rock paintings and prehistoric relics, as well as a rock formation known as the "submarine". The Enneri Blaka ends in the large sand desert of Ténéré. About 50 km to the southwest is the well-known oasis of Chirfa. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1975

In the Enneri Blaka on the way to the submarine. - Niger - 1968

The "submarine" in the Enneri Blaka owes its name to the shape it resembles. In reality, the Enneri is a wadi, a river. In the picture you can see the four Landrovers of the 18th journey, which was led by Maximilien Bruggmann. On this trip, 3 new sites were documented. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1975

You might think you were seeing the mighty conning tower of a submarine emerging from an ocean of sand. In reality, the Enneri Blaka is a wadi, a river. But instead of water, today there is only sand. - Niger - 1975

Tracks in the sand on the way to the submarine. Two Land Rovers were involved in the 1968/1969 expedition "Mission Blaka". Seven prehistoric sites were discovered. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

The "submarine" at Enneri Blaka owes its name to the shape it resembles. Wouldn't you think you were seeing the mighty conning tower of a submarine emerging from an ocean of sand? In reality, the Enneri is a wadi, a river, but here, in the barren bed in the middle of which the strange rock rises, nothing has flowed for a very long time, and the "submarine" is fossilised forever. Seldom has a region been more severely beaten with barrenness than that in which the Blaka lies. For not the smallest shrub grows there, and the camel riders who have visited it speak of it as a hell without water and without the slightest hope of life . . . And yet shepherds once grazed their flocks here. In the camp, their peaceful life took place without clashes, and local artists decorated the walls of the abris and the smooth rock surfaces with beautiful engravings and fine paintings. The fact that one also finds depictions of hippos suggests that a lake existed nearby ... But so far there is no irrefutable evidence, such as a vertebra of a large fish found in the sand, for the correctness of this assumption. In the large abri of the "submarine", one has discovered the outstanding depiction of a hind in white and ochre, which bears an astonishing resemblance to works from the wall art of South Africa. Convergence or influence? It is impossible to answer this question with the current state of our knowledge. - Niger - 1968

Biche-Robert - Site 1 - Enneri Blaka. Ancient painting in the rock shelter of the "Submarine". Apart from the beauty of the work, it is worth noting the presence of this distinctly southern herbivore in a place where it is no longer found. Length: 0.25 m. – Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

Evening mood over the Enneri Blaka. View from the base camp at the submarine. - Niger - 1968

The sky in this landscape is the sky of which the poet dreams. The multicoloured palette of this still life is of incredible richness. The rock emerges from a sea of sand and although lost in the northeast of Niger, the austere beauty of the Enneri Blaka is one of those that one does not forget. - Niger - 1968

Virgin sand - view from the base camp at the submarine. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1975

View from the base camp at the submarine. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1975

"Le gran cirque" - A section of the Enneri Blaka resembles a large circle in which there are large rock formations, like islands in the sea. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

There is no more water flowing in the Wadi Enneri Blaka. Instead, the steady wind has shaped the sand into waves. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1969

The Sahara is a desert in the true sense of the word only for those who have never seen it. The slightest rain, the poorest humidity and the smallest water hole already allow for a vegetation that never ceases to amaze the traveller. And how much life then develops around the freshly sprouted plant .... Even the wind compels the weak stems of the "gazelle grass" to mark its all too constant direction, using them instead of a compass. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1975

Sand dunes and rocks in Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

Sand dunes and rocks in Enneri Blaka - Site 1 - Niger - 1968

Two line-engraved rhinoceroses. From right horn to left tail: 0.84 m. - Site 1 in the "Submarine" rock shelter. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

Sand dunes and rocks in Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

View from the site 4th - Giraffes in a stiff, decadent style were carved into the rock. The largest giraffe measures 1.05 m in height. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1967

Enneri Blaka is located in the flat Djado massif in the north-eastern part of the Republic of Niger. In 1956, the Meharists Lamothe and Moreau had discovered various rock engravings on a large, remote rock in the Enneri Blaka and reported them. When the Berliet-Ténéré mission passed by in 1960, some members made an inventory of this interesting site. They named the unusual-looking rock "Le sous-marin" (The Submarine) and called it Blaka Site 1. They discovered two other interesting sites nearby. During the T4 mission of 1966/67, we visited the three sites discovered by the Berliet mission to take film and photographs. About 1700 m north of the "submarine" we found a new station, which we called Site 4. It was a very large, hammered elephant. We could not continue our search in this area because we had too little fuel and too little time to get to the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad. An idea was born: We should return and search the Enneri Blaka thoroughly, where we would most likely discover more new sites. In 1968/69, during the Blaka mission, another 7 stations were found and documented (See plan). Our last mission to explore Enneri Blaka took place in 1975. 3 new stations were found. By this time, a total of 14 sites had been documented.

View from the site 4th - Giraffes in a stiff, decadent style were carved into the rock. The largest giraffe measures 1.05 m in height. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

Sun-dried shrub found at site 4 - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

At "site 5 " in the Enneri Blaka area, discovered in 1968 by the Blaka expedition (led by Maximilien Bruggmann), we have preserved intact an abri, a rock niche under which Neolithic people had lived around 5000 BC. In the foreground you can see a rubbing stone left in the middle of a rubbing ground into the rock bench itself. On the other side of the valley, another reef, dry, burnt, barren. But one can easily imagine that green banks lined the river at the time when people lived in the Blaka. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

On the opposite side of the valley is site 7. It is found in the left third, to the right of the stone illuminated by the sun. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

The "West Island" in the big ring. Site 8 is located in a shelter of these rocks. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

Another view of the "West Island" in the big ring. Here the site 8 is in a shelter of these rocks. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

Sand dunes with waves and rocks in Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

The large abri with paintings at site 10 of Enneri Blaka in the Republic of Niger is another example of the localities that attracted Neolithic people. Very good details of the paintings decorating these abris can be found in images SAR-117, SAR-119 and SAR-121 of the chapter "Rock Art in the Sahara". - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

We have already shown the exterior view of the rock niche from site 10 in Enneri Blaka in the previous picture. Here is the view from the inside. Note at the top left the edge of the large painting with the cattle facing the motionless and barren desert. The cave opens towards the southeast, and from there you can see the other bank of the Enneri. This remarkable site is one of a succession of eight sites, all discovered by the Blaka expedition led by Maximilien Bruggmann in 1968. - Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

Pre-Islamic tomb in the north of Enneri Blaka. Note the Landrover of the 1975 expedition.

As here in Enneri Blaka, Niger, the sand is constantly abrading the sandstone against which it is violently hurled by the wind. Swollen by the material it has loosened, it enriches the dunes of the great erg. Over time, however, the sand from which the dunes are formed begins to solidify and become sandstone again! This is an unexpected form of self-regeneration.

Landscape between the Enneri Blaka and the Djado - Niger - 1968

The sun sets over the Ténéré; the plateau of Djado becomes a nocturnal geometry. - Niger - 1966

An old Tubu with weapon and bridle for his dromedary in a camp on the way to Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1968

At the small oasis of Chirfa, which lies on the road from Bilma to Djanet in Algeria or on the historic Bornu Road. It is a starting point for exploring the Djado plateau with the ruined city of the same name. To the east is the Enneri Blaka, a valley incision of the plateau. - Niger - 1968

In the small oasis of Chirfa, there are respectable remains of a fort from the French colonial period. - Niger - 1968

The former settlement of Djado is an oasis town in the north-east of the Ténéré Desert, which is part of the Sahara, on the south-western edge of the Djado plateau. It is the north-easternmost municipality of Niger. The settlements in the municipal area are the three villages of Chirfa, Séguédine and Yaba. Almost all around the rocky hill of Djado, which ends in steep cliffs to the west, there are pools fed by underground springs, ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Heading south from Djado, you reach the Kaouar valley. To the west, the gravel desert of the Ténéré leads to the Aïr Mountains. - Niger - 1975

Djado, standing on a peak in front of the threatening immensity of the Ténéré. The "Mont-Saint-Michel of the Sands"... This is one of the strangest sites in Niger. If you look at the walls of this medieval fortress, surrounded by rotting water, you will realise that salt is the main material. The Tibbous still come to camp on the site at the time of the date harvest, but the town itself is abandoned to the spirits, and nothing is more moving than the journey through these deserted streets in which the walls of this ancient metropolis are crumbling, one by one. Archaeologically, the site deserves serious excavation and work, but it is located in an area with very difficult access. Moreover, its former occupants were victims of its geographical situation, at the limit of the plain and the mountain, at a time when the latter was the safest refuge against the permanent threat of looters. – Niger - 1968

Almost all around the rocky hill of Djado, which ends in steep cliffs to the west, there are pools fed by underground springs, ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Heading south from Djado, you reach the Kaouar valley. To the west, the gravel desert of the Ténéré leads to the Aïr Mountains. - Niger - 1968

View from the ruins of the old Ksar onto the wide plain of the Ténéré - Niger - 1968

Almost all around the rocky hill of Djado, which ends in steep cliffs to the west, there are pools fed by underground springs, ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Heading south from Djado, you reach the Kaouar valley. To the west, the gravel desert of the Ténéré leads to the Aïr Mountains. - Niger - 1968

Two Kanuri women with child in the Maman Delaï camp near Chirfa in Djado - Niger - 1968

Tubu women dressed in splendid robes in front of their tent in the Maman Delaï camp near Chirfa in Djado - Niger - 1968

Young Tubu woman in the Maman Delaï camp near Chirfa in Djado - Niger - 1968

The former chief of the Chirfa district, photographed in the Maman Delaï camp near Chirfa in Djado - Niger - 1966

In Chirfa in eastern Niger, Indi Kouarodo shows us a different pattern of African beauty. The rich ornamentation of her garment comes from nearby Libya. - Djado - Niger - 1968

Young Kanouri woman in the village of Anney in the Kaouar valley - Niger - 1968

Near the ruins of the residential castle or "Ksar" Djaba, we reach the overwhelming rocky landscape of Orida. Large witness mountains rise everywhere from the light sand. The rock pinnacles and towers, up to 400 metres high, rising steeply from the sand, make a grandiose impression. - Djado - Niger - 1975

Near the ruins of the residential castle or "Ksar" Djaba, we reach the overwhelming rocky landscape of Orida. Large witness mountains rise everywhere from the light sand. The rock pinnacles and towers, up to 400 metres high, rising steeply from the sand, make a grandiose impression. - Djado - Niger - 1968

Near the ruins of the residential castle or "Ksar" Djaba, we reach the overwhelming rocky landscape of Orida. Large witness mountains rise everywhere from the light sand. The rock pinnacles and towers, up to 400 metres high, rising steeply from the sand, make a grandiose impression. - Djado - Niger - 1975

The Kaouar valley runs in a north-south direction and is about 160 kilometres long. The oasis villages of Séguédine (salt production), Anney, Dirkou and Bilma (salt production) are located in the Kaouar valley, which is cut up to 100 metres deep. In the northern extension of the Kaouar valley is Enneri Blaka, known for its prehistoric rock paintings. - In the background of the picture, the Pic Zoumri near Séguédine. - Kaouar - Niger - 1968

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

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

Séguédine, the old salt town. It used to be called Sogodem and derived its wealth from the salt mines. Today it is a slowly dying oasis on the edge of the Ténéré. A few sedentary people, the Kanouri, lead a destitute existence here. – 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 – 1966

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

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

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

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. - Kaouar - Ténéré - Niger - 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

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

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

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

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

The Azalaï or salt caravan is the event of the year for the nomads. It always follows the same route because of the rarity of water points. The drivers believe that the trik el-meleh has existed since time immemorial ... In the past, the big caravans included up to 3000 camels. In our days, they number 500 to 1000. The stages stretch over almost 40 kilometres per day, and the load of an animal rarely weighs more than 80 to 100 kilograms. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

And the caravan moves on, untouched, it seems, by fatigue, thirst and sandy winds. Never does the leader lose his way, of which he knows every dune, every bend. But sometimes, consumed by his too great efforts, a camel falls as if struck by lightning. It will not rise again. Often, not only must the animal be abandoned, but also its burden left behind if no replacement camels follow the convoy. And all along the track, white skeletons, slowly buried by the sand, mark the harsh ordeal of the peaceful "desert ships". - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The Arbre du Ténéré from a distance! This tree was an umbrella thorn acacia (Acacia tortilis) that was considered the most isolated tree on earth - supposedly the only one within a radius of 400 kilometres, other data mention 150 km. It was probably the last surviving tree of a group of trees that grew up when the desert was less dry than at present. The tree stood alone for several decades. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

During the winter of 1938/39, a shaft was dug near the "Arbre du Ténéré", it turned out that the tree had reached the water table at a depth of 33 to 36 metres. In 1939, the officer Michel Lesourd, stationed in French West Africa, wrote about the solitary tree: "One must have seen the tree to believe its existence. What is its secret? How can it still remain undeserted, despite the multitude of dromedaries near it? How come no camel eats its leaves and buds? Why don't the many Tuareg salt caravans cut its branches and use them as firewood for making tea? The only answer is that this tree is taboo and so respected by caravans." - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The acacia was knocked down in 1973 by an - allegedly drunken - truck driver. The then lieutenant and later state president Ali Saibou brought the remains of the Arbre du Ténéré in a military van to Niamey to the Niger National Museum on 8 November 1973, where they have been exhibited in their own pavilion since 1977. A tree-like structure made of metal pipes was erected at the site of the acacia, and chrome-plated hubcaps were later attached to its "branches" as reflectors for the night drivers. In 1998, Katsuyuki Shinohara erected the metal sculpture "Lighthouse of the Desert", with glass elements as optical and wind harps as acoustic orientation signs. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

At the Arbre du Ténéré there are two wells, one with bad water, possibly from a carcass that fell into it. The salt caravans use this place as a night camp. The nomads' campsite near the well is called Ad Azzaouagger. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The " Arbre du Ténéré " is actually the sign of a lost waterhole in a desolate desert! Or was, because this legendary tree has disappeared! It was the expected signal for all the nomads passing through, who knew that at its foot there were two wells whose water, although not very inviting, was essential for camels. For those who have understood what the desert is, this souvenir photo is not only very beautiful but also deeply moving. It conveys a religious thought that makes the numerous sun signs depicted in the Sahara's rock art easier to understand. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The well by the tree of Ténéré. The mediocre water is found at a depth of 36 metres and is brought up by hand by the Tuareg or Toubou men of the caravans. A few metres further on is a second well, but unusable: a camel has fallen in. – Ténéré – Niger - 1966

The adaptation to dry climates enables dromedaries to live in desert areas. They have the ability to go for long periods without water because they can store a lot of water in their bodies. The dorsal hump contains fat stores that the animal can burn to gain energy when food is scarce. Although the dromedary does not store water in its hump, it does store it in its stomach as needed. The kidneys reabsorb much of the fluid by concentrating the urine heavily. Most of the fluid is also removed from the faeces before excretion. In ten minutes, the dromedary can regain its body weight lost through sweating by absorbing water. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

A Kanouri from a Bilma caravan. He is taking advantage of a stop at the tree of Ténéré to pound millet. On the left, the clay vessel in which he will cook his midday meal. – Ténéré – Niger - 1966

Once at the well, water must be drawn, but it is so deep down that a wooden winding roller made on the spot is needed. The hole of the pulley is drilled with the help of an iron rod made red-hot in a camel dung fire. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The caravan has made life possible for people in the desert thanks to the camel. In the inhuman aridity of the Ténéré, it is always surprising to find an azalaï, a salt caravan. The blocks of salt it loads have the strange shape of an automobile piston, the rod of which is a little thick ... Each block is wrapped in a mat of palm leaves, because the camels have to be unloaded every evening and reloaded every morning. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The Azalaï or salt caravan is the event of the year for the nomads. It always follows the same route because of the rarity of water points. The drivers believe that the trik el-meleh has existed since time immemorial ... In the past, the big caravans included up to 3000 camels. In our days, they number 500 to 1000. The stages stretch over almost 40 kilometres per day, and the load of an animal rarely weighs more than 80 to 100 kilograms. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The Azalaï or salt caravan is the event of the year for the nomads. It always follows the same route because of the rarity of water points. The drivers believe that the trik el-meleh has existed since time immemorial ... In the past, the big caravans included up to 3000 camels. In our days, they number 500 to 1000. The stages stretch over almost 40 kilometres per day, and the load of an animal rarely weighs more than 80 to 100 kilograms. Paradoxically, the caravan leader walks the entire distance. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The salt caravan moves on. The 600 km distance between Bilma and Agadez is covered in 16 to 20 days. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

And the caravan moves on, untouched, it seems, by fatigue, thirst and sandy winds. Never does the leader lose his way, of which he knows every dune, every bend. But sometimes, consumed by his too great efforts, a camel falls as if struck by lightning. It will not rise again. Often, not only must the animal be abandoned, but also its burden left behind if no replacement camels follow the train. And all along the track, white skeletons, slowly buried by the sand, mark the harsh ordeal of the peaceful "desert ships". - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The salt caravan moves on. The 600 km distance between Bilma and Agadez is covered in 16 to 20 days. - Ténéré - Niger - 1966

The Azalaï, the salt caravan, in the Ténéré sandstorm. It carries Bilma's salt with it; 600 kilometres and three weeks of travel separate Bilma from Agadez. From Agadez, the salt continues towards Tahoua, Tanout and In-Gall, where it is exchanged for the products of the south. – Ténéré – Niger - 1966

Tufts of grass in the desert in the southern Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Achegour is a regionally important water point on the northern Aïr-Bilma route between the Arbre du Ténéré and Dirkou in the Kaouar valley in northern Niger. The well is located in the middle of a sandy depression of the Falaise mountain range of Achegouar in the Ténéré desert. The water level is about 2-3 m deep. The water is slightly salty, but drinkable. Camels, however, drink the water only reluctantly. There are several acacias and tamarisk trees at the well of Achegour. - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Balise number 1 of the Berliet expedition in the area of today's Djanet airport. The Berliet-Ténéré mission of 1959-1960 was a two-phase expedition across the Sahara organised by the truck manufacturer Berliet. It began in November 1959 and led from Djanet in Algeria via the Ténéré tree and the Termit massif to Lake Chad and Fort-Lamy (today N'Djaména in Chad) through the Sahara. The return route was via Bilma and the Djado Plateau back to Djanet. - Algeria - 1975

Balise 19 of Mission Berliet can be found in the north of Niger, on the Gara Toubeau hill in the Agadez region. Its coordinates are 21°38'9" N 9°57'4" E. - Niger - 1975

Point 5 is located in the Oued Toubeau Tafassasset, south of Balise 19 of the Berliet mission. - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Balise 17 of Mission Berliet is located in the north of Niger, south of Adrar Bous in the Agadez region. The coordinates are 20°14'3" N 8°57'6" E. - Niger - 1975

Landscape photo from the Adrar Bous area - West Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Témet is a dry valley in the Agadez region. It runs from Mont Gréboun in the high mountains of Aïr to the Ténéré desert to the east. In rainy years, a lake can form in the desert. But the extreme temperatures soon cause it to dry up. - Témet - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Témet is a dry valley in the Agadez region. It runs from Mont Gréboun (1944 m) in the high mountains of Aïr to the Ténéré desert to the east. In Témet are the highest sand dunes of the Ténéré, which can reach a height of 300 metres. - Témet - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Témet is a dry valley in the Agadez region. The only water source in the valley, which often dries up in the dry season, is located in the upper part at Mont Gréboun. In rainy years, a diverse flora with a Mediterranean flavour can develop. - Témet - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

At sunset, the shadow of a rare stone points north-east. - Niger - Ténéré - 1975

Erosion form from the Adrar Bous area - West Ténéré - Niger - 1975

The "Rocher Toubeau" is a rock in the middle of the desert in the north of Niger, near the border with Algeria. A lone bird has perched on it to rest. - North Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Dead tree in the dry valley of Témet in the Agadez region. - Témet - Ténéré - Niger - 1975

Camel breeding is the occupation of the noble. In reality, they are dromedaries in the Sahara, but they have been called camels for centuries. Up to the age of three or four, the camel stays in the pasture. Then it starts to be trained. Between six and eight years, it is put to work. Male animals are usually used for the large caravans. – Niger - 1966

Camel market in In-Gall in Aïr (Republic of Niger). As in all marketplaces in Africa, people haggle extensively. The Tuareg are very vain. They often wear bracelets made of stone, e.g. serpentine, slate or limestone, above their elbows. The man in the white gandura on the left has a braid hanging from the litham on either side of his head, a custom typical of the Aïr. – Niger - 1966

Each tribe has its own special mark that it burns on the animals to be able to recognise them if they get lost. – Niger - 1966

Agadez in Niger is an important town, overlooked by a strange mosque 30 metres high. The houses are built of brown mud bricks. Agadez is the administrative capital of the Aïr mountain region. – Niger - 1968

«Modern» Tuareg woman in the streets of Agadez. The coloured umbrella protects from the sun and gives great dignity. – Niger - 1966

The interior of a house in Agadez (Niger). The women are admirably skilled in leather handicrafts, which they decorate with geometric patterns. These leather pieces are assembled into a tasufra, a sack that is hung on the camel's saddle and filled with clothes and various utensils when moving around. – Niger - 1966

The blacksmith, the malem, is the master of fire. He makes the silver jewellery, the weapons, the camel harnesses. Here the malem is putting the finishing touches to a woman's bracelet. The blacksmiths form a caste of their own. They are despised and at the same time feared by sedentary and nomadic people. – Niger - 1966

Tuareg girl from In Abangarit, northwest of Agadez - Niger - 1966

This flooded moonscape is the Taggui-da-n'Tessoum saltworks in Niger ... Lye stagnates in every hole, which yields the valuable salt through evaporation. The European who visits the place for the first time, however, cannot help but notice the pestilential stench of the greenish waters standing in the sun, and he will also notice that certain insects seem to adapt to the salt content. Be that as it may, the workers employed in this industry have legs covered with ulcers caused by the brine in which they wade up to their knees. There are different qualities of salt, and it comes in several forms, from lumps to patties to ingots. Chemically, it is rarely very pure. As a vital substance for humans and animals, salt remains one of the products that justify the last caravans. It serves as highly valued barter money. – Niger – 1966

Salt mines of Tegguiddan-Tessoum in the northwest of Agadez, Niger. Salt mixed with earth is extracted from the surrounding salt pans and dissolved in water, in this type of salt pans. Once the water has evaporated, the salt is collected by the women in wide gourds. – Niger – 1966

Tegguiddan-Tessoum. Salt extraction is gruelling work under the Saharan sun. – Niger – 1966

Salt mines of Tegguiddan-Tessoum in the northwest of Agadez, Niger. Salt mixed with earth is extracted from the surrounding salt pans and dissolved in water, in this type of salt pans. Once the water has evaporated, the salt is collected by the women in wide gourds. – Niger – 1966

At El Beyed, Mauritania, although no palaeontological documents are available, a very important Acheulean deposit, characterised mainly by bifaces and choppers, outcrops on the present ground. The position of the geological layers in which the industries are found gives a first chronological approach. But, of course, it is not known to which human type they belong. No serious excavations have yet been carried out in this region, which is becoming increasingly rich.

That man populated even the most desolate places in the Sahara is amply attested by the countless worked implements he left there. But the quern-stone for grinding grain, seen here together with the handstone, and elsewhere the ceramic containers still filled with grain seem to have been suddenly abandoned, as if a brutal upheaval had forced the people to flee. Perhaps there was a sudden lack of water ... Historically, it is possible that this happened and those affected all died of thirst. (Erg d' Admer, Algerian Sahara). - Algeria - 1975

This prehistoric millstone was found in the north of Erg Bréard. It is located east of the Aïr Mountains in the Ténéré. - Niger - 1975

Stone mill found near site 11 in Enneri Blaka - Niger - 1975

These pottery sherds come from the Adrar Bous area - West Ténéré - Niger - 1975

At Terarart, south of Djanet, you will not only find the highly stylised but carefully executed Weeping Cattle on a group of rocks, which are among the most beautiful Saharan rock art has left behind. If you are lucky, you will also find Neolithic stone axes in the sand.

Probably the most common evidence of the Neolithic in the Sahara are arrowheads. - The polished axe must have been the primary weapon or implement of Neolithic man. Thousands of them have been found, and the beauty of its shape and the fine grain of the minerals chosen are a source of admiration. – Site 1 - Enneri Blaka - Niger – 1975

These prehistoric pottery shards and bones come from the Adrar Bous area - West Ténéré - Niger - 1975

These very old tools come from Oldoway (Kenya). They were embedded in a volcanic tuff at the base of the famous bowl to which L. S. B. Leakey has attached his name. Their value comes from their stratigraphic position which allows them to be dated. Although identical tools exist in various places in the Sahara, they have not yet been dated. Moreover, the acidic nature of the soil rarely allowed a human skeleton to be preserved. However, the French scientist Y. Coppens discovered the first very ancient remains in Chad, which suggest that this gap is due more to the absence of serious excavations than to the absolute lack of documents that alone allow us to reconstruct humanity's past: stone tools and the bone remains of the men who made them. As far as we know, the oldest known tool is between 2 160 000 and 2 120 000 years old.

No traveller who has crossed the Sahara returns from there without bringing back a set of "arrowheads". It is safe to assume that millions of these fine and beautiful objects have been taken away, and that one of the best chances to learn about the ancient palethnology of hunting and warfare has thus been lost for good. The only hope we have to counteract this looting is the excavations that specialists are continuing at some, unfortunately too rare, sites in the Sahara. There are many different forms of arrowheads - their actual name is "arrowhead fittings" - depending on the purpose the user intended to achieve. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

Probably the most common evidence of the Neolithic in the Sahara are arrowheads. There are numerous forms, depending on the target the user was aiming at. Broadly speaking, three main varieties can be distinguished: triangular, pedunculated and those with a transversal edge, the latter being prototypes of the medieval bolts. Although certain points could have been used for fishing, it is clear that the vast majority were intended for hunting and probably also for war. And experience showed the users very early on that the weight and shape of the stone attachment with which the tip of the arrow shaft was equipped had to be calculated with reference to the target to be reached. That is why there is such an astonishing variety of forms, but they can easily be classified according to type and family. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

The bearer of the two-sided industry - essentially the pithecanthropus - is followed by the Neanderthal. If this one still produces two-sided devices, it is only in very small numbers and, compared to similar devices of its predecessors, greatly reduced in size. No Neanderthal skeleton has been found in the Sahara, nor any industry that could be attributed to him with any certainty. Nevertheless, there is a curious stock of implements, spread over the whole desert, which can be compared with the European Moustérien, and in addition there is a greater or lesser number of stemmed objects, noteworthy for the peculiarity of being made from off-cuts, the chipped surface of which is very rarely retouched. Only the stem is reworked on its entire surface. Although these "handle tools" often have a tip and the other implements show quite familiar forms, we still know nothing about the use of this Atérien, which owes its name to a well in the south of the province of Constantine in Algeria, in whose surroundings it has been discovered in abundance (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

The Neolithic people are our direct predecessors, and their appearance is noticeable through a true industrial revolution. It is no exaggeration to say that we are their heirs in the technical field, for they brought us agriculture, animal husbandry, the village, pottery, weaving, stoneworking, etc. In the latter they achieved a mastery that the specialists of the stone tools have never achieved. In the latter they have achieved a mastery that astonishes the specialists in stone tools. The majority of small tools continue to be based on fine blades made of a wide variety of minerals, which a skilful retouching brings into the desired shape. For this purpose, one prepares the selected lump of stone by making a platform against which one subsequently directs the blows that release the blades. Instead of a hammer, one uses a stick of hardwood or a piece of a long and strong bone. Some skilful retouching around the edges and on the surface of the object gives it the desired shape. One can almost say that the whole Sahara is covered with this beautiful tool, for which petrified wood is just as suitable as flint, hematite or jasper. In addition to the blades and lamellae from which knives, needles, scrapers, drills and hundreds of other tools were made, there were also polished stone utensils, and the Sahara as a whole was rich in stone polishing masters. There are not only stone rings, which were bracelets - provided the light range allows the arm to pass through them -, club heads or weight stones of burial sticks, but also pots, hoes, chisels and arrowheads, whose fine polish still amazes us today (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

No traveller who has crossed the Sahara returns from there without bringing back a set of "arrowheads". It is safe to assume that millions of these fine and beautiful objects have been taken away, and that one of the best chances to learn about the ancient palethnology of hunting and warfare has thus been lost for good. The only hope we have to counteract this looting is the excavations that specialists are continuing at some, unfortunately too rare, sites in the Sahara. There are many different forms of arrowheads - their actual name is "arrowhead fittings" - depending on the purpose the user intended to achieve. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The Neolithic people are our direct predecessors, and their appearance is noticeable through a true industrial revolution. It is no exaggeration to say that we are their heirs in the technical field, for they brought us agriculture, animal husbandry, the village, pottery, weaving, stoneworking, etc. In the latter they achieved a mastery that the specialists of the stone tools have never achieved. In the latter they have achieved a mastery that astonishes the specialists in stone tools. The majority of small tools continue to be based on fine blades made of a wide variety of minerals, which a skilful retouching brings into the desired shape. For this purpose, one prepares the selected lump of stone by making a platform against which one subsequently directs the blows that release the blades. Instead of a hammer, one uses a stick of hardwood or a piece of a long and strong bone. Some skilful retouching around the edges and on the surface of the object gives it the desired shape. One can almost say that the whole Sahara is covered with this beautiful tool, for which petrified wood is just as suitable as flint, hematite or jasper. In addition to the blades and lamellae from which knives, needles, scrapers, drills and hundreds of other tools were made, there were also polished stone utensils, and the Sahara as a whole was rich in stone polishing masters. There are not only stone rings, which were bracelets - provided the light range allows the arm to pass through them -, club heads or weight stones of burial sticks, but also pots, hoes, chisels and arrowheads, whose fine polish still amazes us today (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

The polished axe must have been the primary weapon or implement of Neolithic man. Thousands of them have been found, and the beauty of its shape and the fine grain of the minerals chosen are a source of admiration. Numerous ethnographic comparisons allow us to assume that it was shafted in wood, the shaft hole having been drilled with the help of fire. A vegetable resin, like glue, may have secured the fastening (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

In addition to the smaller implements made of stone or bone, much heavier tools continued to be used, or were used anew, such as enormous stone axes and also two-handed implements, such as the one shown in the picture, which comes from Guinea, a wonderful implement made of transparent quartzite with finely retouched edges. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal.)

Among the polished axes, the "grooved axes" (French haches à gorge) occupy a special place both because of their beauty and because of the technical mastery to which they bear witness. These two pieces (collection M. Bruggmann) come from the Ténéré, where they are relatively common. The closest find site is the Wadi Beth in Morocco - several hundred kilometres away.

The polished axe must have been the primary weapon or implement of Neolithic man. Thousands of them have been found, and the beauty of its shape and the fine grain of the minerals chosen are a source of admiration. Numerous ethnographic comparisons allow us to assume that it was shafted in wood, the shaft hole having been drilled with the help of fire. A vegetable resin, like glue, may have secured the fastening (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The Neolithic skull shown here, discovered in the northwest of Mautetania, does not differ in any way from that of a modern human being. On an anthropological level, the study of Neolithic skeletons is rather disappointing, because they can only be divided into three groups: Black, White and Mixed. The mystery of their origin remains, and nothing makes it understandable why Homo sapiens seized world domination within a rather short time. The available scientific data allow us to assume that the Neolithic people began to occupy the Sahara between 7000 and 6ooo BC; but these figures are only preliminary, and it is quite possible that they are a little underestimated (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

This beautiful pottery from Niger is characteristic of Neolithic ceramic art. The beautiful decoration obtained with the help of a comb attests to a sure taste and a lively originality. The extraordinary importance of the discovery of the arts of fire must be emphasised. Previously, man prepared his food in a summary way, but once he had a fireproof container, he had a strong influence on himself by enriching his food more and more. The invention of ceramics marks a turning point in human history. Until then, it was the biotope that conditioned man; but from the moment he transformed what he drew from this biotope, he modified it more and more profoundly. (IFAN collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The pottery is little known, but the beautiful piece from Ehi Mounto (Niger), 25 centimetres high, proves that the craft had reached an unusually high degree of perfection, at least in some places, far from being in decline. The black, very homogeneous clay had made it possible to produce a pottery in which the wall thickness did not exceed 3 millimetres at half height! (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The Neolithic people are our direct predecessors, and their appearance is noticeable through a true industrial revolution. It is no exaggeration to say that we are their heirs in the technical field, for they brought us agriculture, animal husbandry, the village, pottery, weaving, stoneworking, etc. In the latter they achieved a mastery that the specialists of the stone tools have never achieved. In the latter they have achieved a mastery that astonishes the specialists in stone tools. The majority of small tools continue to be based on fine blades made of a wide variety of minerals, which a skilful retouching brings into the desired shape. For this purpose, one prepares the selected lump of stone by making a platform against which one subsequently directs the blows that release the blades. Instead of a hammer, one uses a stick of hardwood or a piece of a long and strong bone. Some skilful retouching around the edges and on the surface of the object gives it the desired shape. One can almost say that the whole Sahara is covered with this beautiful tool, for which petrified wood is just as suitable as flint, hematite or jasper. In addition to the blades and lamellae from which knives, needles, scrapers, drills and hundreds of other tools were made, there were also polished stone utensils, and the Sahara as a whole was rich in stone polishing masters. There are not only stone rings, which were bracelets - provided the light range allows the arm to pass through them -, club heads or weight stones of burial sticks, but also pots, hoes, chisels and arrowheads, whose fine polish still amazes us today (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

In addition to the blades and lamellae from which knives, needles, scrapers, drills and hundreds of other tools were made, there were also polished stone utensils, and the Sahara as a whole was rich in stone polishing masters. There are not only stone rings, which were bracelets - provided the light range allows the arm to pass through them -, club heads or weight stones of burial sticks, but also pots, hoes, chisels and arrowheads, whose fine polish still amazes us today (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) – 1969

Jewellery is a feature of the Neolithic in the Sahara, for the older industries had been entirely focused on utility value. Lip pegs of various shapes and sizes may be joined by buttons for the ears and beads that could be sling stones. An astonishing variety of pendants of an obviously magical character complete the magnificent ensemble, which testifies to a high sense of art. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal.) – 1969

Bone also interested the Neolithic craftsmen. Fishermen in particular turned to this material to make harpoons and fishhooks; but there is also a wide arsenal of needles, drills, rods for smoothing, pottery gauges and even hoes made of bone and sometimes even ivory. The utensils for fishing, which are so common at some sites, clearly show the place that fishing held in the Neolithic period. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal.) – 1969

The Sahara was not always a desert. Periods of drought and humidity have alternated over time. For example, some Oldowan sites have been described in the Massif des Richât east of Ouadane. They were located on the banks of palaeolakes, such as El Beyedh or Guelb Er Richât. The most important sites are Wadi Akerdeil and Aftassa-Amzeili southeast of Zouerate. - These stone spheres come from El Beyedh in Mauritania. The large sphere has a diameter of 13 cm, the small one of 5.5 cm. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The tumulus represents the simplest type of the great series of Saharan funerary monuments, known as "Libyco-Berber" or, better still, "pre-Islamic". From this period onwards, there was a change in the choice of materials used to make jewellery, the first glass paste beads, imported marine shells, cones and cypresses in particular, and carnelian for the manufacture of beads made according to a new technique, as the hole is straighter and the polishing perfect. The necklace in the centre is from this period, while the other two, above and to the left, show the persistence of the glass paste beads, which are often coloured blue, until the present day. (IFAN Collection, Dakar, Senegal) - 1969

The art of adornment, so developed today, appears in the Saharan Neolithic with a sudden and unexpected brilliance. Early explorers of South Africa reported the curious way in which ostrich egg beads were made. Test fragments were punctured, threaded onto a thong which, at the end of the operation, was knotted at both ends. The resulting coarse roll was then walked for a long time on all sides inside a narrow groove cut in a soft stone. At the end of the operation, the beads were perfectly circular. But their main purpose was to be used as... money! The majority of ancient ornaments are reused nowadays; however, plastic has recently been added to the rich material of the beautiful coloured stones (IFAN collections, Dakar). - 1969

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