Travel Photographs by Rosemary Sheel

Our Sahara Expedition: 5000 kilometers through Mali and Mauritania

We depended on our guides and mechanics and guards to keep us safe. Often, a car would break down or get stuck in the deep sand.

The flat stretches between long dunes are called 'gassi'. You can get trapped in one of these.

The mountain at the entrance to Taodenni, the infamous salt mine. Once used by the French as a penal colony, nowadays men from the town of Timbuktu stake a claim and mine salt for what is considered good money in the desert. $12.00 per day.

Men help each other extract the slabs of salt using primitive tools

The end of Ramadan calls for a celebration in Tichit, Mauritania. The whole village came out to dance.

The dancers swept their long gandouras back and forth as they bowed and danced.

Some old armoured vehicles left by the French Foreign Legion at Taodenni.

This axe is the only tool the men use in mining salt in Taodenni

A man shapes the slabs of salt so that they are easy to load on the camels and also so that the camel can carry as much as possible. Usually the camel carries 4 slabs. Each weighs 60 lbs.

Portrait of a salt miner at Taodenni

We visited some Moorish women in their tent. They speak an Arabic dialect similar to the dialect spoken in Morocco. It is called Hassaniye.

Man leading camels loaded with goods to trade for salt.

Loading a young camel is not easy. Here the camel is being held by the head to keep him from bucking while he is loaded.

A salt miner in Taodenni. The white patch on his head is from the salt.

A salt pit at Taodenni. In front you can see the slabs of salt lined up to be sold or traded to the camel caravan owners.

Some teen-aged miners in Taodenni

A large caravan loaded and traveling south toward Tombouctou

Tea drinking is a favorite pastime among men and women in West Africa.

Early morning and the men of the caravan are hurrying to load the camels and start the day's journey.

More teamwork at Taodenni.

Portrait of young men who mine salt at Taodenni

Portrait of a Touareg who is a caravan leader.

The ruins of the French Foreign Legion Fort at Taodenni

A man from the caravan. They are very thin, but very strong and able to run ahead of the caravan or to go back and find a camel then catch up to the never stopping caravan.