On the Trail of
the Nomads: Exploring the Sub-Sahel
Region of West Africa
This marvelous travel program
sponsored by the Harvard Museum of Natural History was one of the best trips of
my life! It took place in 2002, from
February 8 through March 1, and was outfitted by Cheri Briggs of ExploreAfrica. Cheri and her organization are hands-down one
of the best groups to travel with; they have incredible connections and deep
knowledge of the continent, top-to-bottom.
The trip began with an overnight in
Paris, and then an early flight on Air France to Niamey, capital of Niger. One overnight in Niamey, and then a charter
flight of two hours to Agadez.
Day Two:
On the plane to Agadez, we found
ourselves sharing the space with Alex Campbell, the world’s foremost expert on
African rock art. (I’d met Alex
during a 1995 trip to Botswana, where our group on that trip explored cave rock
art on the border of Botswana and Namibia.)
On the tarmac of the Agadez airport,
we met our crew for the next 10 days.
The Agadez international airport is pretty “basic.”
Touring began immediately! Agadez, often called “the Gate of the Sudan”,
is inhabited mainly by the Kel Oui Tuareg and the Hausa which are the largest
ethnic group in Niger. The Hausa are of
black origin and renowned as farmers and artisans and many can be recognized by
the traditional cat claw facial scarification.
Looking out over the famous mud mosque in
Agadez: not much has changed since I was
in Agadez in 1974 on the overland-through-Africa Siafu trip. The mosque dates from the 15th
century, and has a unique minaret.
Agadez and its mosque were founded by the Tuaregs of the Air Mountains
and it quickly became the capital of the region. With the development of Islam in the Air, it
also became a hold city, known especially for its multitude of festivals,
primarily religious in nature.
These houses are excellent examples of
Hausa architecture. The warren of
houses, seen from the rooftop of one in the old quarter, are typical of the
Sahel.
One of the houses with a highly
decorated interior. This is the BAKERS HOUSE, which was featured in
Bertolucci’s film, “The Sheltering Sky,” based on an evocative novel by Paul
Bowles.
Life on the streets is hard. The poorest of the poor live in lean-to’s
against the wall of another house, and fetch water from the well in the middle
of the street.
The children here are beautiful (as
children worldwide tend to be), but few here are without some facial or other
imperfection caused by disease or insects.
This is a fast food restaurant, Agadez
style. The 55-gallon drum has been
turned into a bake-oven.
THE CAMEL MARKET IN AGADEZ.
This is a famous camel market in
Niger. There are lots of camels for
sale. Agadez was, for centuries, a
stopping point for caravans between Egypt and the Northern, Western, and
Southern oases.
Transportation: old (camels) and new
(carts with wheels)
Another local restaurant on the side
of the camel market – how do you want your leg of lamb cooked?
This souvenir seller has lots of gris-gris
and silver goods. Gris-gris, a kind of
talisman, are silver or leather forms, filled with a piece of scripture from
the Koran, made into necklaces that protect you from harm.
Day Three:
As we move out from Agadez, we see
many typical nomadic encampments.
Meet the Bingawa Wodaabe! The Wodaabe are a small subgroup of the
Fulani ethnic group. (see note at the end of the blog, ABOUT THE WODAABE)
The dancers start putting on their
make-up… in this culture, male beauty is prized over female beauty. Then, the beauty pageant can begin! We saw one of the traditional “Gerewol”
festivals.
Sadly, with kohl at a premium and hard
to procure, the inside of old batteries is used to outline eyes, lips… (see photo above)
The men begin their graceful dance,
rising and falling on their tiptoes.
The women look on, waiting to make
their selection of a partner for the night.
For more background on their culture, go to https://amuse.vice.com/en_us/article/neg5g8/wodaabe-wife-stealing-sex (Also see the backgrounder on the Wodaabe
provided by our trip experts, at the bottom of this blog.)
Day Four:
Now the longer journey begins!
We headed north into the heart of the
Air Mountains and into the heart of the rocky, rough domain of the Tuareg
people. (see the note at the end of this blog, ABOUT
THE TUAREGS)
Our first stop was a Dabos to view the
stunning and almost life size, recently discovered Neolithic rock engraving of
a giraqffe. Rock engravings and
paintings in this part of the Sahara date back as early as 8000-6000 BC. Some say that the giraffe indicates the
Sahara was once wet and green. (This
engraving is obviously pre-Islamic, because use of human forms is not allowed
in Islamic art.)
We pass a number of old Islamic
graves. Regardless of whether the graves
are Islamic (with headstone in the direction of Mecca and footstone opposite)
or pre-Islamic type of burial mounds, in many cases the nomads were buried
where they died, not necessarily in a graveyard.
We are definitely now in Tuareg country.
These nomads have dwindled in terms of
their populations since 2002… a current look (2021) shows the following
numbers:
The Tuareg people
(also spelt Twareg or Touareg) are a large Berber ethnic
confederation. They principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching
from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Libya: 100,000 (nomadic, 1.5%
of its total population)
Mali: 950,000 (5% of its total
population)
Algeria: 150,000 (0.36% of its
total population)
Niger: 2,116,988 (8.7% of its
total population)
Our crew sets up for
lunch, near an overhang that provides some protection from the burning sun.
We keep driving north on
a very difficult and rocky track. We
make camp in a sandy river bed of the Oued Guissat just north of the Tuareg
village of Elmeki.
Day Five:
We stop in the Tuareg
village of Krip-Krip, home of well-known “forgerons” or Tuareg blacksmiths and
silversmiths. The Tuareg “forgerons” are
considered a separate caste and generally live apart from the rest of the
Tuareg. We see how the traditional
Tuareg silver “crosses” are made, using the lost-wax process.
On the road again, driving north, we see the famous “guelta” of Timia, a natural waterfall.
We camp in the sandy riverbed that encircles the oasis.
Day 6: The festival at TIMIA.
Usually several families would put their wealth together and sponsor such a festival in honor of marriages.
A drum is made from half a calabash turned upside down in a bowl of water. Tambourines are made of camel skin stretched over a wooded hoop. Both are played with the ubiquitous blue Chinese-made flip-flops!
Getting ready for the
camel-race part of the festival!
Both riders and camels
are all dressed up!
The dance! Rhythm is kept by clapping hands.
A restored fort, which
still remains from French colonial days, looks over Timia.
A walk around Timia
takes us past shops and other features. The wheels of commerce grind slowly in
this dusty village…but mechanization of sorts has arrived. Grinding millet without a mortar/pestle is a
real time saver.
The local bakery..
And the general store…
The department store....
“Bush toys” (~ where would the world be without found materials for art?)
We begin our difficult
rocky drive. We are headed east across the
Air Mountains toward the great Temere desert. There is other traffic on our route....mostly with four legs.
At the desert
bore-holes, you have to wait your turn
We camp at the Oued of
Zagado. What is a Oued? Definition: a wadi (a valley, gully, or stream-bed
that remains dry except during the rainy season)
Lots of room for
tents. And note the shower enclosure off
the side of a truck, made of large plastic tarps. Luxury in the desert!
Twilight over the Air Mountains.
Ah yes, part-of-lamb for
supper again. It was about now that I
decided a meatless diet would be preferred to the delectable meal of
dead-sheep-seasoned-by-the-sun-on-the-cook-pickup-every-day.
In the chilly morning,
two kids show up. Materialize,
actually. One of our kind kitchen
helpers gives them a little shovel of coals to keep warm.
Day Seven:
Today we head to Arakao.
We pass a Neolithic settlement; the boundaries are all that remain.
Our drive today means
negotiating the extraordinary dune-filled pass of Kogo.
We head south along the
border of the Air Mountains and the Tenere desert to a site know as “Arakao” or
The Crab’s Claw. This mountain in the
shape of a crabs claw has a multicolored 600 foot dune that overlooks the
Tenere Desert. We made camp on the
central dune of Arakao.
A special treat:
sand-bread. It’s a little gritty, but it
is easy to bake things in the hot sand with a shovel of charcoal on top.
Aghali wrote my name in the sand in Tamachek, the language of the Tuaregs.
Day Eight:
We drive through the
Oued Ifiniyane towards Terzizek.
Pottery shards inform us
that not-so-long-ago, this desert had water and supported settlements.
On the lookout of pirates
(apparently there are many in the Sahel…) from the vantage point of a high dune, our guards go with us
everywhere. And yes, they are armed.
Fierce, alert, daring,
friendly … this is my National Geographic quality photo!
We stop to look at the rock art at
Terzizek, which is considered one of Niger’s best repositories of ancient rock
engravings.
Vendors and children materialize.
Afterwards we depart for Chiriet; our drive takes us through Kogo Pass, then by
the dunes at Ilakane, and we continue following the ERG (dune chain) of
Izane. We make a stop at the Well of
Tchou-m-Adegdeg for supplies, and then on to the Adrar Chiriet which is a stunning
volcanic mountain surrounded by waves of dunes.
A luncheon stop at a
shady spot near Chiriet includes a lecture about the next events.
Photo of my “chauffeur”, driver of the 4x4 in which I travel, Aghali.
And our guard, who rides shotgun
(literally), Sidi. To while away the
long and hot drives, Sidi and I got into the habit of exchanging songs.
Aghali showed me how to wrap an indigo
sheesh.
Day Nine:
We got on the road to the Tuareg oasis of Iferouane. Our route took us through the dunes of Samarat, a landscape strewn with marble rocks, and finally the Oued Tadak.
In the village of Iferouane, a co-op
is trying to restore the ostrich to this part of Africa. They are now almost extinct in this
area.
Here are Touareg nobles in full
regalia!
In the local museum, a display of the
“crosses of the Air.” Each region has
its own distinct design.
Also at the museum, a jug used to carry millet on caravans. (I have an authentic one of these in my Africa collection)
Iferoune is getting ready for tourists
– a new hotel is being built. Aghali
takes me to explore Iferoune. His French
is almost as rudimentary as mine, but we manage to communicate. He would like to come and visit the USA.
This evening in Iferoune, the townspeople
put on a festival. Lots of music, and
dancing by men with swirling sword – all illuminated by the light from a
truck’s headlamps. We are honored
guests, who get to sit on the perimeter on chairs.
Day Ten:
Iferoune is a nice town --- but --- 2 of
the 3 planes in Niger were out of commission, and the 3rd was too
big for the airfield outside of town. So
instead of the 4 hour charter flight to Niamey, it was 16 hours of driving on rock roads back
over the pass and naturally, breakdowns!
You have to have an intrepid driver, and Aghali was such a one.
Day Eleven in
Niger:
On to Mali! From Niamey we
boarded a Royal Air Maroc to Bamako.
Early departure (what else…) and then the next adventure begins: our
tour offered an extension to Mali, and of course, I signed up! Click here to see the next part of the "On the Trail
of the Nomads" !
ABOUT THE
TUAREGS (Notes from the trip handout)
Throughout the Air Mountains, you travel among the proud
Tuareg nomads, the mysterious “Blue Men of the Sahara”. Tall and elegant in stature, walking or
riding their camels with a remarkable grace, faces veiled so that only their
eyes are revealed, robes flow, their appearance is both majestic and
romantic. Both men and women of the
noble Tuareg tribes are handsome, with fine features and elegant gestures. Caucasian and of Berber origin, the nomadic
Tuaregs were until recently a renowned warrior group, fighting fiercely between
tribes and living in part of the raiding or protection of camel caravans. Although Moslem, the men wear the
“Taguemoust”, a combination veil and turban that covers their faces, while the
women are unveiled. Self-respecting
Tuaregs still think it shockingly indecent for a man to let his face be seen by
anyone to whom he owes the least formal respect. Both men and women dress in robes and veils
of indigo, a dye that wears off on their skin, hence the appellation “the Blue
Men.”
The name “Tuareg”, meaning “the abandoned”, was given to
them by the Arabs who considered them infidels because of the early
unsuccessful attempts to convert them to Islam. The Tuaregs call themselves “Imohagh”,
“to be free”.
The language they speak, of
Berber origin, is “Tamahaq” and their written language is “tifanah”. (Encyclopedia Britannica has this to say: Tamashek is the language of the Tuareg, who often call
themselves the Kel Tamagheq, or Tamashek speakers. The language is also spoken
in Algeria and Mali and possesses its own writing, called tifinagh, which is in widespread use.)
Their legendary ancestress is Queen Tin Hinan, a Moroccan Berber,
whose supposed tomb, dating back to the 4th century, was recently
discovered in 1925. The Tuareg culture
is matrilineal. A child of Tuareg
parents inherits rank and privileges through the mother. Accordingly, his most important male relative
is not his father, but his maternal uncle.
Women are independent and treated with respect and deference. When a
woman marries, she retains full title to all her personal property including
livestock. Women, as guardians of the
Tuareg traditions and laws are responsible for passing on the knowledge of tifinah
(or tifinagh) , the written language.
The Tuareg social and political system is quite
complex. Major confederations are
divided politically into tribes which are subdivided into clans and the latter
into fractions. Clans consist of nobles,
vassals, holy men, artisans and blacksmiths, freed slaves, and sedentary
farmers. The noble clans are composed of
pure Caucasian Tuaregs, whose lineage goes back to the original ancestors. Among the vassal clans and other clans are
some hybrid groups. In Niger, one finds
black clans such as the Kel Oui and the Kel Gress, both of whom have mixed with
the black Hausa tribes, as well as the Bela or Bouzou in Niger and Mali, who
are freed Tuareg slaves of black Sudanese origin. These groups tend to be more sedentary than
nomadic.
By origin proud nomadic herders, the noble Tuareg have
always found it beneath them to farm the land, so they developed a feudal-type
system whereby slaves or freed men were made or paid to farm the gardens. Tuareg economy traditionally has been based
on herds of camels, sheep and goats;
garden rent from their vassal clans; foreign trade with salt being the
main staple; and raiding for both booty and slaves.
Tuareg festivities are very colorful. Most impressive is the “Tinde” and “Ilougane”,
in which the women sit in a tight circle singing, clapping and playing the
tinde drum. This drum is put together
with a tall wooden mortar and long poles and set up in a kind of see-saw. The men then arrive riding on their best
camels, each dressed in their holiday finery to begin the Hougane (camel dance). Pairs of riders prance back and forth showing
off themselves and their camels, who actually prance to the beat of the
drum. Then the men begin to ride around
the women in increasingly faster and tighter circles without touching them,
until one reaches down and snatches the head shawl of one of the women and
rides off with the other men in hot pursuit.
The winner is the one who succeeds in returning the shawl to its proper
owner.
There are seven major confederations of Tuaregs in the
Sahara, located in massifs in Algeria, Niger, Nigeria and Mali and along the
Niger Delta. The ones we met on this
trip are the Kel Air Tuaregs of the Air Mountains and the Ioulimmiden from the
area west of Agadez.
Tuareg proverb: “Let your slaves guard your herds. Let your sword guard your honor.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About
the Wodaabe
(notes
provided on the trip guide distributed by the Harvard Museum of Natural
History)
The Wodaabe,
or “people of the taboo” as they call themselves, are a subgroup of the Peul, a
race of indeterminate origin, neither Causasian or Negroid, living through the
steppes of the Sahel, from as far west as Mali to Kenya in the east. Totally nomadic, they possess little more
than a few calabashes, some mats, their jewelry and amulets, and their herds of
cattle. They do not use tents and
disdain those who do, such as the Tuareg.
Their shelters, when needed, are usually made of little more than
branches covered with dried leaves, or a few reed mats. Also, and unlike the Tuareg, they have no
tribal hierarchy. They have a chief, the
Ardo, who gives only advice. For the
Wodaabe nomads there is nothing more important in life than “to walk in front
of one’s cattle.” The Wodaabe cattle are
a long-horned bybrid of zebu or brahma bull.
Each cow has a name and each Wodaabe baby is given the name of one of
the animals in the herd to share. The
herd and its size is not seen as a definition of capital worth, but simply as a
way of life. The Wodaabe live from their
cattle who provide them with milk, butter and cheese. It is only for festivals that they will
sacrifice a cow for meat. When they need
to trade for millet with sedentary tribes, they will use one of their castrated
cattle, the symbol for them of sterility, and whom they have created for this
purpose. If they need additional cattle
to trade, they will use sterile or malformed animals or those whose spots or
coloration indicate (to the Wodaabe) that they are evil. A Wodaabe will never reveal the size of his
herd, separating it if necessary, as this is a fact that no one should ever
know.
Corporeal
beauty for the Wodaabe is equally important.
Of a lean and sinewy stature, their daily clothing is kept to a minimum
for otherwise their beauty is camouflaged!
As they have always kept to themselves, shunning other ethnic groups,
they have remained a very pure race, maintaining their particular physical type
throughout the centuries. A “true”
Wodaabe male will have a thin and narrow body, a straight nose, a high forehead
(if not, he will shave his forehead to make it seem so…), large eyes, and very
white teeth. A “true” Wodaabe female
will have an arched back, elongated breasts, a hairdo knotted in chignons in the
front, a body of angles rather than curves, harmonious gestures and a mobile
visage.
This “beauty
cult” culminates each year in the “Gerewol” beauty contest, at the time when
all the nomadic herders of the region, both Wodaabe and Tuareg, bring their herds
to the salinated pastured between In Gall and Tegguiddan Tessoum. The most handsome young Wodaabe men
participate, making up for their months of asceticism in the bush with the most
extravagant of facial make-up and costumes, using a variety of colors and
designs, all of which are carefully administered to highlight those cherished
elements of beauty: thin noses and lips,
white eyeballs, white teeth and sinewy bodies.
Once ready, the men take hands, form a circle and begin a chant or song
based interminably on one note, while dancing in a kind of vertical swaying
movement. The young girls then line up
to choose the most handsome.
Equally
interesting is the social custom that allows that if an unmarried girl does not
like any of the 5 suitors chosen for her by the parents, but finds one at the
Gerewol to her liking, she has the right to choose him. Similarly, if a married woman finds a man at
the Gerewol more to her liking that her present husband, she too may leave with
the new man, for a few months or forever.
You must remember, if somehow this seems a bit frivolous, that these
festivals represent the yearly reunion of a people who live throughout the year
in a very isolated manner, without social contact and interchange with the rest
of their group.
