Travel Photographs by Rosemary Sheel

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Our Sahara Expedition: 5000 kilometers through Mali and MauritaniaWe 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 toolsThe 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 TaodenniA 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 TaodenniWe 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 TaodenniA large caravan loaded and traveling south toward Tombouctou
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Portrait of a salt miner at Taodenni



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