Sunday, May 25, 2014

Niger: Camel-Riding Blue Man Of The Sahara


I photographed this Tuareg man of the noble Kel Rela tribe near the Sahara’s well of In Abbangarit in Niger. Though he was holding a leather whip, he rarely used it.

Tribesmen in Arabia and other parts of the Sahara saddle their camels over or behind the humps, legs dangling on each sides, which leaves them little control over the animals other than through whips.


The Tuareg saddle their camels in front of the humps. This allows them to rest naked feet on their camels’ necks. To make camels kneel down they only need to apply repeated downward pressure on the camels’ necks. To accelerate the pace of camels into a gallop they only need to apply repeated forward pressure to the camels’ necks. Such control helps the Tuareg to be the world’s best camel riders.

All the photographs of this blog are copyrighted.
No usage permitted without prior authorization.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment