-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
Evening winds stir the robes of a Tuareg striding across Algeria's Tassili-n-Ajjer.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
Their hands stained by the indigo dye in their new clothes, Tuareg women celebrate a birth. Tuareg females rarely cover their faces, while men traditionally wear turbans that conceal all but their eyes.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
Tuareg fighters survey a battle-scarred Tuareg school in northern Niger. In recent years Tuareg in Niger and Mali have rebelled, claiming their governments collect taxes but invest little in their impoverished regions.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
Soon after dawn, Tuareg rebels from the Movement of Nigeriens for Justice take up positions during a training exercise near their base in the Aïr Massif. The Tuareg have fought two rebellions against the Niger government, the most recent related to uranium mined on their traditional lands.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
The camel caravans that once linked Saharan trading hubs are rapidly disappearing as trucks take over. Tuareg en route to Timbuktu with salt slabs from Taodeni (above) worry about the tradition's future. "Our sons have no interest," they say.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
At the rainy season's end, nomadic Tuareg in northwestern Niger, their tents packed on their donkeys, move their fattened livestock toward the winter grazing area.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
A caravanner of mixed Tuareg and Arab descent leads his camels in Mali. His Tuareg uncles taught him which plants can cure—or kill—his animals and how to navigate by the color, texture, and taste of sand.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
Beating back thirsty donkeys, a Tuareg boy keeps order at a desert well.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
As the wet season fades, Moussa (foreground, above) faces hard months of finding enough grazing for his herds to survive until the rains return. "Water is life," he says, reciting a Tuareg proverb.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
Women cook the evening meal by their tent, made from straw mats. Their herds decimated by droughts, many nomadic Tuareg have moved to towns to work as blacksmiths, leather artisans, and tour guides.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
Tuareg women gather around bowls of macaroni for a child's naming ceremony. Older female relatives of the mother discuss three possible names, assigning each name to a straw. The mother then draws one of the straws, determining the child's name.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
Supporters rally for a Tuareg candidate in Agadez before Niger's 2009 elections. History casts a shadow on politics, as the Tuareg minority face resentment from ethnic groups they once enslaved.
-
Photograph by Brent Stirton
Tuareg rebels encounter one of their nomadic kinsmen. They give him tea and sugar and ask what he has seen. "To know what is happening here," the rebel leader says, "you must find a Tuareg. We are the eyes of this desert."
Buy NG Photos
Special Issues