This photo reportage focuses on the Tubu Teda and the Tibesti. The aim is to give contemporary impressions of a region of the Central Sahara and its inhabitants. The Central Sahara and people who inhabit it receive little attention nowadays, although its desert environments and the lives of their inhabitants could serve as examples of great interest in the context of climate change. The author of the reportage has been researching in the Central Sahara since 2014 and was a fellow of the Gerda Henkel Foundation from 2018 to 2020. His research project focused on the customary law of the Teda. Right at the beginning of this reportage, its author would like to thank the inhabitants of the visited regions and all Chadians and Nigerians for their great hospitality!
The emi Tousside in the north-western Tibesti. The Tibesti is a mountain range in the north of the Republic of Chad. Some of its foothills extend into what is now Libyan territory. 10,000 years ago, the South of the Tibesti was covered by the Paleo Chad lake. The massif can be roughly delimited to the north by the 24th degree of latitude; in the south it almost reaches the 19th degree of latitude. Some of its peaks – emi in the language of the Teda, its inhabitants – exceed 3,000 meters. The emi Koussi, at 3,415 meters, is even the highest mountain in the Central Sahara; the emi Tousside (right in the picture) reaches 3,265 meters.
Rest in the mountains south of Bardai. The Tibesti is characterized by volcanism, whose main phase was in the Neogene. Volcanic rocks dominate the landscape in many places, and at altitudes above 1,200 meters they are almost exclusively found. Below them are sandstones, which probably originate from the Silurian or Permo-Carboniferous. Precambrian metamorphic rock forms the geological basis of the mountain range. High plateaus lie around or above 2,000 meters and thus receive sufficient precipitation for steppe-like vegetation to develop.
The volcanic rock Tougoundjou near Zoui. In the valleys of the Tibesti there is often near-surface water and in some places there are also springs that carry water all year round. Over the centuries, oases have been formed here, where mainly date palm can be found.
Elephant-engravings at Gonoa. These engravings are possibly 9,000 or more years old, dating back to the “Humid Optimum”. They bear witness to the fact that the environmental and climatic conditions in the Tibesti and the Central Sahara were once quite different from what they are today. In a region that dried out over the millennia and became today’s Sahara, mountainous massifs such as the Tibesti provided refuge areas for people, animals and plants. It is possible that the Tibesti was even a center from which Neolithic elements spread to the present-day countries of Egypt, Sudan, and the Tenere east of the Air Mountains.
Young girls in Zouar. The Teda, a group of the Tubu, inhabit the Tibesti and adjacent areas. Tubu settle mainly in the north of the Republic of Chad, in the east and northeast of the Republic of Niger, in the southern parts of Libya and even in the Sudanese Darfur.
Through the Tenere. If one wants to visit the Tibesti and other places where the Teda live, then he embarks on a journey that leads hundreds of kilometers through the Sahara, away from paved roads and fortified tracks. Thus, after reaching Agadez in Niger, one travels another 650 kilometers northeast through the Tenere, to reach Dirkou, the main town of the Kawar oasis chain. The Kawar is already inhabited by Teda, but up to the Tibesti, still another 360 kilometers would have to be travelled towards the east.
Night passed at Agadem. For the Teda, travelling has become part of their everyday life, and hardly anyone feels as at home in the desert as they do. Europeans have described them as people who are always ready to set off, who have an excellent sense of orientation, and who get by with a minimum of luggage, water and food. In many places, as inhospitable as they may seem, one can take a break or spend the night.
Waymark south of Faya. If one comes from the Chadian capital N’Djamena, he has to follow first 1,000 kilometers in a north-easterly direction, crossing, among other places, the Djourab desert. Then Faya is reached, the capital of the Borku region. From there, again more than 500 kilometers towards north-west have to be travelled to reach Zouar in the Tibesti. Only in Libya, paved roads extend to the southern borders of the country. But here, since the fall of Gaddafi, civil war-like conditions have arisen, making it often difficult – or even impossible for foreigners – to travel through.
Car repair south of Bardai. Once the Tibesti is reached, the journey continues on unpaved roads: steep ascents to mountain passes, screes, or areas with powdery fech fech challenge the strongest all-terrain vehicle, like this Toyota Landcruiser on its journey from Bardai to the south. But even the most difficult route cannot completely distract the traveler from the uniqueness of the mountain landscapes: empty plains of weathered sandstone covered by dark desert varnish, plateaus colonized by flowering pioneer plants, or volcanic rocks as backgrounds of oases...
Tea break in fluvial terraces on the descend towards Bardai. Terms such as “time”, “distance”, “thirst”, “hunger” or even “comfort” are put into perspective in the Sahara and by those who travel through it. Nevertheless, travel is by no means lacking in pleasant moments. For there is a culture of mobility that knows how to adapt to external circumstances.
The Taw-valley in the northwest of Zouar. As a refuge area in the Sahara, the Tibesti with its mountain valleys offered natural resources to the populations living there, such as the fruits of Hyphaene-palms, wild cereals and small pastures for goats and a few camels. Due to the limited resources, emigration has occurred repeatedly. Today, Teda also settle amongst others in the regions of Borku, Ennedi and Kanem of the Republic of Chad, in the Kawar, Djado and Manga, as well as in the Termit Mountains of the Republic of Niger, and in the Libyan Fezzan and Kufra Oases.
Teda at Dirkou. The Teda are a very egalitarian society. A special feature is their distinctive legal system. Conflicts are still resolved according to traditional jurisdiction, in which mediators decide on guilt and determine compensation payments to the victim or his family…
At the mosque of Zoui. Mediators can be chiefs and elders, but also younger people the community considers as impartial and well versed in their own culture and history. The cohesion and stability of the Teda society is based on this traditional legal system.
Mother with children in the Termit steppe. The frequent absence of men due to travelling has led to the fact that Teda women can be very autonomous. Nomadic women sometimes stay for months alone with the children and the animals in their camp, far away in the steppe.
Young nomad near the Termit-mountains. Getting used to travelling takes place early in the life of a Teda, and a childhood spent outdoors sharpens the senses for the steppe and the desert landscapes. Already small children of nomads know travelling long distances alone, even where the destination is out of sight, for example between camp sites, sometimes miles apart, or in search of a lost camel.
Dates-palms at Gouro. An important source of income in the oases was the date palm, as here in Gouro. Dates are a foodstuff that hardly spoils, even in heat and on long journeys. In every place, there is a multitude of local date varieties, which are very well adapted to the respective environmental conditions.
Reception house in Goubon. In the oases, the culture of the date palm has influenced people’s lives in almost all its aspects. Thus, the trunks of the palm tree provide beams for the construction of houses, its leaves are used to make paravents, and the central ribs of the leaves provide material for roofing. Here, travelers are guests of a Goubon resident and are welcomed in his reception house.
Watering animals at a well in the Manga. Especially on the pastures of the alluvial fans outside the Tibesti, as well as in the whole northern Sahel, one can encounter large camel herds. Camels wear the brands of the clans and families to which their owners belong on their thighs, flanks, neck or under the eye.
Rock painting of a camel with rider from North Borku. After the drying up of the Sahara, the camel became a motif of rock art. This “camel period” could have begun about 2,000 years ago. Because of its ability to cover long distances without drinking, the camel became the privileged means of transport for the people of the Sahara. Today, however, the importance of the camel as a mount is declining more and more, because it is being replaced by vehicles suitable for the desert, such as the Toyota Hilux pick-up.
On the market of Bardai. In the past, caravan trade used to play an important role. Today, goods are transported on vehicles. Gold extracted by small-scale mining in the Tibesti since 2013 has led to a boom in trade activities. A large proportion of the goods come via Libya. The product range of this trader includes onions, mattresses, cookies, candies, canned goods, guava juice, powdered milk, mats, tea, cement, sugar, la-vache-qui-rit-cheese and prayer rugs. As in this case, many Teda traders prefer to sell directly from their vehicle and then set off on a new trading journey rather than set up a shop.
Mountain flora at about 2,500 meters altitude. What are the challenges that Teda will have to face in the future? Climate and environmental change, which may particularly affect the sensitive ecosystem of the desert, are certainly at the forefront. In addition, there is the sustainable use of resources.
Children on a dune at Gouro. The education of members of young and future generations represents also an important task of the Teda-society in the present and the future. Not least, the infrastructural networking within the Central Sahara and with neighboring regions may also be a future challenge…
Travelers pass a road sign south of Zouar. However, for centuries or more, the Teda have been able to cope with the challenge of infrastructural networking through their adaptation to travel. Traveling itself is of particular importance: anwu čuttû ereski kusuduōn ngali huna gěnna haranii says a proverb – if you travel with someone, you will get to know all his qualities.
All photos by Tilman Musch between 2014 and 2020. All rights reserved.
Further reading
Chapelle, Jean. 1982 (1958). Nomades noirs du Sahara. Les Toubous. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Cline, Walter. 1950. The Teda of Tibesti, Borku, and Kawar in the Eastern Sahara. Menasha, (Wisconsin): George Banta.
Gabriel, Baldur. 1973. Von der Routenaufnahme zum Weltraumphoto. Die Erforschung des Tibesti-Gebirges in der Zentralen Sahara. Berlin: Kiepert.
Weddeye, Goukouni. 2019. Combattant, une vie pour le Tchad. Paris: Espaces & Signes.
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Kommentar
We are taken on a trip into a land so far away and inaccessible that we have never seen its beauty before.
We can hardly imagine how life in the Tibesti is organized by the people living there.
It is a fantastic journey in which we participate, due to the research trips of the author.
My thanks go to the Lisa Gerda Henkel Stiftung for making this report possible and to the author for sharing his pictures and insights with us.