Tassili n'Ajjer National Park Things to Do

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Though tea has only been introduced among the Tuaregs at the beginning of the 20th century, it is now a main part of the Tuareg's tradition and a well known ceremony. Ali, our cook, heat his kettles. The ones for tea are the green ones (always made in China). The kettle is loaded with green tea, mint leaves and some sugar.

Second photo. When it has been brought to the boil, he pours it from high in the other kettle which will go back on the embers for a while. Sorry, he preferred to be in the shade than under the sun! This pouring (and followings) aerates the tea, which oxidizes the tannins and makes it less bitter and tastier.

Third photo. He then pours it in a large glass, and back into the kettle, several times. When the tea is ready, he pours it into small glasses (sorry, no photo) called alkassane in Tamashek. This is the first tea. The second tea will be prepared immediately after the first. No tea is added but some more mint and some sugar. The third tea will be made in the same way.

The Tuareg tradition says:
"Le premier thé est amer comme la vie, le second est fort comme l'amour et le dernier est doux comme la mort". (The first tea is bitter as life, the second is strong as love and the third is sweet as death).

It is sometimes given a bit differently."Le premier thé est amer comme la mort, le second est fort comme la vie et le dernier est doux comme l'amour ". (The first tea is bitter as death, the second is strong as life and the third is sweet as love). Thanks to Glenn (VT Bwana_Brown) for correcting an unfaithful translation.

It is impolite to decline tea but women can begin with the second and children only with the third. Once you have accepted to drink one, you MUST drink the followings. Doing otherwise would be very rude.

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There are plenty of plants in the Sahara. They are often thorny and always adapted to drought but can have delicate flowers. Because of overgrazing, they are not always easy to identify.

This is the case with Antinea's lavander (Lavandula Antinea), named after the legendary queen of the Touregs.

The second photo shows Artemisia herba-alba, a odoriferous plant close to wormwood. I tried to make a liquor with it, which was quite tasty.

The third plant is a thorny Asteracae but I have not precisely identified it.

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As much as we are walking, as much the landscape changes. Here, we are walking on a narrow lane winding among scattered stones that obviously have been detached by erosion from the rocky mountains that stand on our left.

However, the landscape is not completely mineral. In the foreground, you can see a branch of a small tree, Laperrine's olive tree (Olea Laperrini) is often, just as on the photo, overgrazed by animals and not growing fully. It is named after Laperrine a French military explorator of the Sahara (1860-1920) that discovered it. He died in Intabarakkat (Hoggar) in a plane crash.

Croix d'Agadès (Agadez cross) is standing in front of the Tuareg's camel saddle but it is also a jewel, most often as a silver pendant. It actually has nothing to do with a cross but has been named that way by Europeans. It can have different shapes but the overall design is given on the picture.

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Pierre, our French guide had his own camel, a beautiful, tall animal and of course his own saddle. For a Tuareg, the saddle is very important. The most beautiful saddles are made by Tuaregs from Niger. They can be very expensive, depending of their décor. Typical prices can range from 300 to 1000 euros but it can be even more.

Let us enlarge the photo (second photo) to see better the equipment of a meharist. The typical Niger saddle (not Nigerian : it saddles are from Niger and not from Nigeria) is made of an oval board that makes the seat. An other board makes the back. A cross shaped (the Agadez cross) device makes the front. Everything is sheathed with thin leather, here white one. Both the front and the back are topped by a brass point.
At the rear of the saddle hangs a "guerba", a goat skin made waterproof, that will keep water cool. In the front, "gongon", a China made pot to drink, collect water, etc. Something that you always need to have with you!

Caution, important! When you see this type of saddle, you feel that you are going to lean comfortably on the back and grasp firmly the front. This wrong! You will be warned by the camelers! This is only to make it beautiful but this is very fragile and you must not touch, neither the front nor the back. We will se later how you ride a camel, Tuareg style.

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At night, camels are let free but fettered. Like that, they can graze around but will not go too far. Actually, not too far can mean several kilometers and very early in the morning (still at night), each cameleer had collected his animals. They were now staying quiet, around the bivouac, while the cameleers began to load them.

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The first photo shows our first bivouac, at Oued Tadjouit Ouit, in the plain, at elevation 1,200m, before climbing on the plateau. It was taken after sun dawn. You can see that only the mountains are still lit. Each of us chose where he wanted to drop his 2.5 cm thick mattress and unroll his sleeping bag.

The second photo shows the bivouac when it began to be lit by the sun, next morning. At this time everybody should be up and should have eaten breakfast: bread with jam, coffee or tea with powdered milk.

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In the desert, there are always oleanders growing around every "guelta" (water holes) or along every "oued" (dry river bed). It is highly toxic and local camels do not feed on it. Camels coming from the south do not know that as there are no oleanders growing south to the Sahara. One of the camels from the merchants from Mali had eaten oleander and was dying. Pierre, our French guide and Ali, our cook, rushed to kill it before it was dead and collected the best parts. The next day, we had an excellent stew of camel for dinner. The cameleers cut thin strips of flesh that they let dry all day long on some camels, in order to keep it longer.