The Nomad's Path: Travels in the Sahel

by Alistair Carr

The Manga is one of Africa's most wild and remote regions: a hostile and unforgiving landscape inhabited by nomads. Situated in south-eastern Niger, in the shadow of the Old Salt Road, it has been mislaid by the modern world; no westerner had been seen there in living memory.
The Nomad's Path is a beautifully-rendered account of a journey across this inhospitable region at a time of Tuareg insurgency in 2004 and 2008. Carr sets out to explore the centuries-old link between the Barbary Coast and the Sahel along the Old Salt Road, while conjuring to life a lost wilderness and those who survive within it. At its heart is the story of a daring journey across the Sahel with the Tubu nomads. With tales of rebellion, lost civilisations, explorers - both intrepid and eccentric - and an epic seventeenth-century odyssey, Carr captures a sense of the intangible nature of the Sahel and delivers an evocative portrait of the Tubu - a people living on the tide-line of the Sahara and the edge of the world.

Genres: Africa, Travel

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Vicky Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humming Camels and the Sahel's Nomads

A travel story that began with the author's search for petroglyphic sites in the desert, wound its way through the Sahel and among the various tribes of the Sahara's shore, and ends with a view of a people and a nomadic way of life that is encapsulated in the 19th Century and earlier. Alistair Carr's travel adventure is exactly what you would expect from the book. He describes the people, the geography, the animals, the political situation: and does it all with often poetic prose that leaves you marveling at the people who voyage yearly across the ocean of sand as a way of life.

I feel like I learned much more than I intended. The book is filled with enough information to satisfy even the most inquisitive readers. The only thing I found myself searching for online was videos of these incredible nomads and the humming camels. Yes, it is definitely readable and was a great pleasure, so much so that I will be reading his other book soon about his trip to Mongolia. (When I get there on my journey that is...)

"‘The Tuareg,’ wrote Rennell Rodd, ‘are not a tribe, but a people.’ The Tuaregs, like the Tubu, do not have a country of their own. They were essentially disenfranchised when their territory was carved up by the European powers at the 1885 Berlin Conference."

There were the starlit nights...

"Comets blazed through the silken blackness, trailing wakes of powdery light, and satellites glided neatly across the glistening sky."

There were descriptions of the culture, such as the fact that children as young as eight can easily navigate the desert alone, finding their way by following the route from well to well. The unusually long lifespan of the desert was again mentioned here, like in other books I've read about the healthy lifestyle. One man was 120 years old, having lived since the time of the Berlin Conference that dated his people's disenfranchisement. The author discussed issues of slavery that exist today.

"...the trafficking of slaves, according to the UN, is worth an estimated $32 billion a year, and there are at least twelve million people currently in bondage around the world."
"In Niger alone, it has been reported that there are around forty thousand slaves."

The descriptions of the land were picturesque. He spoke of how the camels are left with their new born calf after giving birth, and the camel always catches up with the tribe, after the calf can walk. They just know the way.

"...even the sway of the camel was oceanic, like a pumice stone floating on the crest of gently lapping waves."

This was my stop in Niger on my Journey Around the World in 2019. I will now be moving in a loop to Libya, Sudan, Chad, and then down to Nigeria, before moving through the south of the continent. I enjoyed this book in the Kindle, and it is full of photos and maps that are very helpful. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in cultures, Niger, or the desert.

[Abdulrahman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not well versed in the travel literature, but I know this is such a wonderful read from the beautiful poetic expressive visual language that was being used in the book.
As diaries of travel in a worldly undiscovered territory, the writer wonderfully lays out the events and then ends the chapter with his wonderful observations at the end of days and small segments as if we also sit with him at the end of the day to write with him or let him tell us his observations.

This book is very personal, and it is very beautiful. I hope you see this review Alistair, and know you have wonderfully touched me with this book.. Thank you..

[Michael Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting experience but a bit dull in parts.

[Clare Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written in language which draws the reader into the author's experience on every level