Photo Gallery

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

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

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

87 - View of Enneri Blaka. - As we reached the edge of the cliffs with a view of Enneri, we had the impression that a command post of a submarine was emerging from the sand. The name has remained... and the illusion is striking (see the photo by Maximilien Bruggmann illustrating the beginning of the Djado chapter). The site itself was discovered in 1956 by the Méharist officers Lamothe and Moreau. In 1959, the Berliet-Ténéré mission added sites 2 and 3. The Bruggmann mission completed the inventory in 1967 with the discovery of site 4. Then, at the end of 1968, during the research of the Blaka mission, also led by Maximilien Bruggmann, other very interesting sites were found, which were assigned the numbers 5 to 11. On the west face of the "submarine," there is a remarkable giraffe engraving from the old layer (Neolithic or Bubaline), captured in motion. Height of this giraffe: 0.70 meters. Site 1.

At the foot of the ‘Sous-Marin’ of the Berliet Mission, the ‘Mission Blaka’ set up its base camp under a rock shelter, protected by a dune. Between the end of November and mid-December 1968, the expedition discovered 7 new stations with rock art.

88 - Enneri Blaka. Site 1. - Oryx engraved in line. Bubal period. From the nostrils to the base of the tail: 0.23 m.

89 - Enneri Blaka. Site 1. - Elephant engraved in line. Bubal period. From the trunk to the base of the tail: 0.53 m.

90 - Enneri Blaka. Site 1. - Two rhinoceroses engraved in line with a V-shaped cross-section. From the horn on the right to the tail on the left: 0.84 m.

91 - Enneri Blaka. Site 1. - Deer. Ancient painting in the rock shelter "Sous-marin". In addition to the beauty of the work, it is worth noting the presence of this clearly southern herbivore in a place where it no longer occurs. Length: 0.25 m.

92 - Enneri Blaka. Site 1. - Mural depicting a procession of figures painted in red ochre, ranging from 0.10 to 0.20 m in height. The heads, resembling an inverted U or a canine snout, recall those already seen in the Air. One cannot help but think of a ritual dance.

93 - Enneri Blaka. Site 1. - Very beautiful cow from the bovine period. Bicolored, like the Deer-Robert from photo 91. The udders are clearly outlined. Although this piece is on the right, it is on the same line as the previous frieze, making it difficult to associate them in the same style. From the snout to the base of the tail: 0.295 m.

94 - Enneri Blaka. Site 1. - Bubal period. Leaping Dorcas gazelles. Beautiful, deeply engraved drawing on a horizontal slab, to the north of the "Sous-marin". The animal in the center of the photo measures 0.26 m in length.

95 - Enneri Blaka. Site 1. - Rhinoceros from the so-called Bubal period. The document is overlaid with a more recent puncture. From the snout to the end of the tail: 0.36 m.