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Niger "Nomads of Tidene" Jay Dunn 29 images Created 27 Mar 2008

West Africa, Niger, 2007. -- For centuries, nomadic Tuareg and Fulani herdsmen have made the Tidene Valley in Niger one of their homes. Living in low domed structures indistinguishable from nearby natural materials, these resilient and welcoming people face the daily hardship of life in an inhospitable desert with grace and equanimity. Thorn bushes, brush and heavy knotted branches tightly encircle their open cooking areas, while raised sleeping platforms under arched hide covers protect all from the elements. Made from well-worn gnarled wooden parts, these are homes designed to be moved within a day should circumstances prove unendurable.

Two or three big stockades for goats keep the vulnerable herd close at night, while donkeys, camels and cattle stay within sight of camp, dependent on their resourceful hosts for water. Insufficient rains have become a fact of life in Niger. Though the Tidene Valley has been a hospitable location, the nomads are clearly prepared to move on if necessary. -- More at www.jaydunn.org --
Humanitarian Issues & Cultural Tradition Worldwide
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  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. The whole family participates in watering the herd. The Tuareg care for donkeys, goats, camel and zebu.
    Niger.JDUNN.16.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Donkeys are used at this well for pulling power to raise water. Watering a herd can take four to five hours every day.
    Niger.JDUNN.17.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Grandmother maintains a strict order for the animals to drink. Everyone in the family will have a role in the watering..
    Niger.JDUNN.18.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Lowering the buckets into this Tuareg well  is done by hand, as they are raised when full by donkeys.
    Niger.JDUNN.19.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Containers of every sort are used to collect and transport water. Tuareg from twenty miles around must share this single well.
    Niger.JDUNN.20.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Goats will drink first in the heirarchy of animals the Tuareg will water from their well.
    Niger.JDUNN.21.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Commonly used as fences, these useful but deadly thorn bushes are omnipresent in the Sahel and Sahara environments.
    Niger.JDUNN.22.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. This Tuareg woman has spent four hours at the well already, and there is still  a lot of work to be done.
    Niger.JDUNN.23.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. For the youngest Tuareg children, there is little to do all day. The governnment has not engaged the community with meaningful education programs.
    Niger.JDUNN.24.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. The underside of a Tuareg nomad shelter. Beds are raised off the ground, and the entire structure can be made ready to move in one day.
    Niger.JDUNN.25.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. For this young Tuareg girl, there are few opportunities to change her lifestyle or receive meaningful education from the government.
    Niger.JDUNN.26.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Already a mother at 19, a Tuareg woman cares for her child in the cool of early morning.
    Niger.JDUNN.27.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. In a Tuareg settlement, young and old share their lives in public.  Rissa Ixa's family lives in a group of three camps.
    Niger.JDUNN.28.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. In the soft light of early morning, a Tuareg boy waits for his sister to finish milking.
    Niger.JDUNN.29.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. A nomad herder will have a spare meal like this one, and will carry little on a day's work.
    Niger.JDUNN.01.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Rissa Ixa at home after a long day's drive in from Agadez, three hours away and an hour from the nearest road
    Niger.JDUNN.02.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Tuareg nomads load up donkeys in preparation for transporting grain to a faraway settlement.
    Niger.JDUNN.03.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. A Tuareg will wear a turban up to four meters long in order to protect him against the Sahara's harsh conditions.
    Niger.JDUNN.04.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Parts of Niger left to Tuareg hands by the government are simply barren, untenable for farming or grazing.
    Niger.JDUNN.05.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Rissa Ixa consults with his neighbors. A four-wheel drive is a necessity in the Tidene Valley, which is more than an hour from the nearest road.
    Niger.JDUNN.06.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Handmade stockades keep goats and donkeys close by at night. The survival of every animal is crucial to the nomads.
    Niger.JDUNN.07.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Goat milk is an essential part of the Tuareg nomad's diet. The children are responsible for the morning's chores.
    Niger.JDUNN.08.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. At twilight, a Tuareg nomad's camp is barely distinguishable from the natural materials from which it is made.
    Niger.JDUNN.09.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Rissa Ixa's wife and a neighbor's little girl relax in the early morning at their camp. She has many duties which will take up most of the day.
    Niger.JDUNN.10.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Heishi Ali enjoys the morning cool around 6 AM at Rissa Ixa's camp. March temperatures regularly break 40 centigrade.
    Niger.JDUNN.11.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. The herd is happy to be let out in the morning for grazing. Each will return to the stockade by nightfall.
    Niger.JDUNN.12.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Hornbill tracks in the desert outside Rissa Ixa's camp. These great birds subsist on the fruit borne by Tidene's sparse trees.
    Niger.JDUNN.13.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Under the hard sun of mid-morning, the harsh conditions in which the Tuareg live becomes clear.
    Niger.JDUNN.14.nomads.jpg
  • Niger, Agadez, Tidene, 2007. Tuareg know by a young age how hard they will have to work to survive.
    Niger.JDUNN.15.nomads.jpg