Photo Gallery

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 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 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

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