Niger - Meet a camión from Bilma in the Ténéré Desert

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.

At the Djanet oasis in the Tassili n'Ajjer (Algeria): Fadi is playing the imzad. This single-stringed bowed instrument is made out of a calabash and horse hair, accompanied by the singing of men, who tell of war, love and nomadic life without end...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Tuareg woman grinds the grain on a stone mill - Camp Idriss - Dider - Tassili n'Ajjer. - Algeria - 1966

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

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 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

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

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 the middle of the Tassili, you can suddenly come across a nomadic mosque. - 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 Jabbaren, Targui Hosseini kneels in deep prayer. - Algeria - 1966

Portrait of a Touareg of the Kel Idjera-Ajeroven tribe. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

On the way through the Wadi Taligit, which leads from Djanet to the high plateau of the Tassili. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

On the way in the Wadi Taligit, which leads from Djanet to the high plateau of the Tassili. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

High plateau of the Tassili - Two Touareg playing checkers. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

Tin-Aboteka - Here too you will find shelters with magnificent rock art. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

In the Séfar region - three Touaregs are on the road with their fully packed donkeys. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

Tin-Kani is an archaeological site in the Tassili N'Ajjer region in southeastern Algeria, home to impressive geological formations as well as numerous rock paintings. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

A Targui leads his dromedaries through the labyrinth of Tin-Kani. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

The Ti-Sfad area is located southeast of the famous Sefar site on the Tassili-n-Ajjer plateau. It is an impressive landscape with stone forests and standing rocks. The visitor will find here a labyrinth of deep passages (Ti-Sfad means "The Passages" in the Tamahaq dialect) into which the sunlight never penetrates at any time of the day. Undoubtedly one of the most magnificent landscapes of the Tassili National Park. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

In the Tin-Messeous area, there are many stone forests with shelters where rock paintings can be found. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

After the descent from the Edjefané pass, south-east of Djanet. A Targui prepares his meal. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

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