Pictures from the camps

I am off for Tindouf tomorrow night and will send word as soon as I am settled in Smara camp. In the meantime, here are some pictures as promised. The first photo shows the main road into Smara camp and several residents walking along it. Quite unlike Jeremy's field site in the middle of the abundant Amazon, here we see a pristine, paved road in the middle of sand. It is striking driving into the camps on it, surrounded by what feels like nothing. In fact, the desert is not nothing at all. It is land that people know well. The women in white are wearing mulafa, long clothes wrapped around the body and head to keep out the sun and sand. Men frequently tie cloth around their heads for the same reason. It is the beginning of the cooler season in the Sahara: the high temperatures still top 90 degrees, but it can dip down into the 50s and even below at night.