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00:04Welcome to Algeria, lying on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
00:11It's the largest country in the continent, a land of rich history, ancient civilizations and spectacular scenery.
00:19Ranging from rugged mountains, lakes and forests, fertile valleys ripe with olive groves, tropical fruits and date palms.
00:30And in the south, Algeria boasts the largest desert in the world, the Sahara, home of the nomadic Tuareg.
00:39This is a proud nation with a diverse population, made up of Berber tribes and their unique customs and traditions.
00:50Born after a war with France in the early 60s, Algeria's rise, fueled by oil riches, has been a long
00:57and tempestuous one.
00:59It's a relatively new country, but that also makes it an undiscovered gem in the world of travel.
01:06In this series, we engage with guides and experts as we explore hidden Algeria.
01:19Algeria is located on the North African coast along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, in a region commonly known
01:26as the Maghreb, bordered by Morocco on the west, Mauritania and Mali on the southwest, Niger to the southeast and
01:33Tunisia and Libya to the east.
01:35It's divided by the mountains and flatlands that form the Atlas and the Ores mountain range.
01:41In the south, 70% of the land is dominated by the sweeping Sahara desert.
01:53The Sahara is the largest desert in the world.
01:56It's an ocean of sand and rocks as vast as the entire USA.
02:02Sand dunes cover a quarter of the desert, while the rest of the Sahara is made up of scrub, dirt
02:08and drar.
02:09The high mountains of southern Algeria, which form the Ahagar region.
02:16The Sahara is made up of two depressions divided by a rise called the Mazab.
02:22To the west is the great occidental erg that touches upon Mauritania.
02:27And to the east, there is the oriental erg, which sidles up to Libya.
02:36Our Saharan journey takes us 340 miles southerly from the cliff town of the Balcon de Gufi to the Mazab
02:44Valley,
02:45where we explore the Ibadi town of Gardaia and Beni Isguin.
02:49From Gardaia, we travel further south to the earth town of Timimun.
02:54Leaving Timimun, we drive down the Trans-Saharan Highway to Taman Reset and embark on a trek into the Ahagar
03:02Mountains.
03:03We will end our journey in Asakrem, a mountainous region known as the End of the World.
03:14In Algeria, the Sahara begins along the slopes of the Ores Mountains.
03:20Here is the Balcon of Gufi in the province of Casera.
03:25It's known as the Door of the Sahara because it's where the mountains meet the Great Sahara Desert.
03:34It's a terracotta landscape of canyons cut through by the winding El Abiod River,
03:39which often runs dry during the seasons.
03:45It isn't easy to maintain a stable agriculture in a region with an unpredictable climate.
03:51Local Gufi resident, Boussamir Hamid, knows more than most.
03:57He makes his living running a bed and breakfast for intrepid travellers making their way into the Sahara.
04:10We have lived here for generations that go back 300 to 400 years.
04:19Our ancestors created Zawahs here for learning the Qur'an.
04:29All of us originate from this land.
04:31We are in this region.
04:33We are in this region.
04:35We are in this region.
04:37Let's go.
04:37HIOO!
04:40Gofi is known for its balcony of buildings chiseled into the Tiganymen Gorge.
04:46This is an abandoned, ancient Berber settlement ravaged by climate change.
04:51Small cliff dwellings that show off the ingenious, architectural building techniques of Algeria's mountain Berbers.
05:01The Balcon is a corridor of crumbling houses carved into the canyon on one side and a maze
05:07of staircase level stone buildings bound up by date palm trunks on the other, which
05:13was settled a few hundred years later.
05:17The Balcon overlooks an oasis of palm groves, pomegranate trees and prickly pears fed by
05:24the trickling river.
05:25The settlement was abandoned by the turn of the 20th century when the rain stopped.
05:3715 years ago all of this land was green and lively filled with water.
05:43The only resource we have here is water and it's what is needed to support all the life
05:49here.
05:53Here, in this part of the Ores Mountains lived Kahina, who became known as the Queen of the
05:59Berbers.
06:00She courageously fought off the Arab invasion that accompanied the spread of Islam in the
06:057th century.
06:07She held out against the Arab army for five years until 703.
06:12Gufi.
06:13And her fight for freedom still echoes across the land.
06:19Rather than surrender to the enemy, she took her own life.
06:25Gufi has always stood as an ancient symbol of Algerian resistance to foreign occupation.
06:31During the time of French rule, this area of the Ores became an essential refuge for the
06:36Algerian freedom fighters.
06:45We breach the equatorial Sahara traveling south into the Mazab, a rise that separates the two
06:52depressions of the Sahel.
06:53The Mazab is an oasis valley located 370 miles due south of Algiers.
07:01The Mazab is home to five outstanding towns that were first raised by the indigenous Berber
07:08Mozabites and then by the Abadi religious community in the 11th century.
07:23Civilization in the Mazab Valley goes back to the 8th century.
07:29The Mozabite Berbers began to settle on the land because the climate was proving too challenging
07:34for their traditional nomadic lifestyle.
07:40They were semi-nomadic, meaning they didn't have a stable agriculture.
07:45They were in constant movement around the Mazab.
07:49They were not leaving it.
07:51They didn't have palm groves.
07:53They didn't have cities.
07:54In the time, they were semi-nomadic here in the region.
07:57The region had less and less water sources which pushed them to settle.
08:03But more importantly, to focus on the problem of water in the region.
08:09Find sustainable sources and systems in order to supply water and to have a stable agriculture.
08:16This is the genesis of the Mazab.
08:23As soon as the tribes made this their home, seven cities grew up, five of which stand out.
08:30These are Gadaya, Beni Isguin, Bunura, Melika and El-Atev.
08:47The Mazab cities are walled citadels built on high ground and they all share a common architectural plan.
08:55They are characterized by a pyramid-shaped minaret acting as a watchtower.
09:01A four-fingered mosque, which was originally raised as a defensive fortress high up on the hill,
09:08because the mosque was considered the last form of defense.
09:15Around the mosque, houses are built in concentric circles.
09:19Each house is a cubic cell of similar dimensions.
09:23It illustrates the egalitarian society that evolved in the Mazab.
09:28It was one founded on the respect for the family structure.
09:35So each and every one of the seven cities of the Mazab is made of three distinct areas.
09:40The ksar is the place where people live.
09:43Here the first priority is the family lifestyle.
09:47So houses are the most common buildings here.
09:50And this started chronologically on the top as the mosque and then with the houses surrounding it.
09:56And then it grew up over time until reaching the size that it has today.
10:00Local heritage guide Kamal Ramadan lives in Gardaia.
10:04We have a traditional house that is built in the front.
10:09These are all the rocks that are built in this place to build this traditional house with construction materials,
10:17with rocks that are built in the middle of the old village of Gardaia.
10:22It is a building that exists for more than 10 centuries.
10:28We have also a trading area inside the ksar which is usually close to the entrance.
10:35And it is a limited area meaning that in the remaining space of the village,
10:40it is forbidden to open shops for instance.
10:42Among the traditional customs here, all this part is especially for the commerce,
10:47for the commercial activities and activities.
10:49In this village, it is only the mosque, the Quranic school,
10:52which also has more than 9000 houses to minimize the noise,
10:56and also to make the entire intimacy.
10:58That is why they have made this separation.
11:04Tourists come to the Mazab to buy its famous carpets,
11:08which are commonly sold in the market streets of Gardaia,
11:11and celebrated in the annual carpet festival,
11:14which takes place here every April.
11:19The Mazabite carpets are made of goat hair,
11:22and are decorated with geometric patterns and symbolic motifs
11:26peculiar to the region.
11:28Carpet seller Nejjar Hossin explains the significance of these carpet motifs.
11:34The carpet of Gardaia knows all the world,
11:38and now there are people who take the models or the motifs of here,
11:43for example, from Mazab.
11:44They draw from other pieds.
11:47There are the carpet hotline that we make on the floor,
11:50there are the carpet geometriques that we make on the wall,
11:54there are many symbols that are made,
11:57like the gandoras that are called the gandoras mozabite.
11:59There are the carpet that we make on the floor,
12:03like the room, the marriage.
12:04The carpet of Mazab is full of symbols.
12:08Each motif has an explanation.
12:10There are different models of tisage.
12:13The same symbols we find in this carpet.
12:16The three models of contact,
12:18the love, the business, the three models of marriage.
12:21The two keys,
12:23the key depends on the first contact,
12:27the love or the jalousy.
12:28And this is the brooch,
12:31to guard the laine.
12:35The serpent,
12:36the scorpions,
12:38the petits oiseaux.
12:39Here,
12:41each thing has an imprint.
12:43Also the colors,
12:44each color presents something.
12:46The tapimzab,
12:48especially the gandoras mozabite,
12:51is black.
12:52The black is against my eyes,
12:55and the red is love,
12:56and the yellow.
12:57Each color presents something.
13:04It does.
13:10The cities of the Mazab,
13:12have a very structured layout.
13:14The different functions of each city,
13:16are kept quite separate.
13:19The second part of every city,
13:22is the palm grove.
13:23Which,
13:24unlike the village,
13:25which is on the top of the hill,
13:26the palm groves are created in the valley,
13:29closer to the water,
13:30and where the water distribution system,
13:33is developed and laid.
13:35It's very important to say,
13:37that those are man-made palm groves.
13:39They are not some kind of natural oasis,
13:41that appeared randomly in the desert.
13:43Those are the result of centuries of hard human work,
13:47and the equilibrium between nature,
13:49human needs, etc.
13:51The third part of every city,
13:53is the cemetery.
13:57It's usually in a lower area of the city,
14:00not on the top,
14:00and not, of course,
14:02in the cradle of the valley.
14:03So it's safe from the waters,
14:05the floods, etc.
14:06And it's an important part of the city,
14:09as its graveyard,
14:10as its memory,
14:11with all the religious imaginary,
14:12also linked to the cemetery.
14:17We differentiate the grave of a man,
14:19from the grave of a lady,
14:21by having two stones on the feet level,
14:24and one stone from the head level for women,
14:27and two stones from the head level,
14:30and one on the feet for the men.
14:35Religion is a governing force in the Mazab communities,
14:39and Islam's earliest converts,
14:42the Abadi, live here.
14:44Algeria's Abadis were refugees,
14:46who took flight from the country's Fatimid rulers
14:49in the 11th century,
14:50after the Rustamid dynasty declined.
14:54The Abadi are neither Shia nor Sunni Muslims,
14:58but like them,
14:59their faith demands a rigorous discipline.
15:02Abadism is a kind of very strict
15:05in the individual accountability.
15:08In Abadism,
15:08salvation is not deserved merely by being Muslim.
15:12Good actions need to be accompanied
15:15by the mere action of belief.
15:18And this,
15:19maybe together with the harsh environment
15:22and the challenges of everyday life,
15:24has created and encouraged
15:26a very, very strong work ethics in this community.
15:30In the Mazabit community,
15:32almost there is not such thing as jobless people,
15:35in the sense that people work,
15:37even if they have to work at,
15:39you know, intermediary jobs,
15:41or especially young men,
15:42work is a sacred thing.
15:45The Abadi can be identified
15:47by their gleaming white garb,
15:49especially the married women,
15:51who are draped from head to toe
15:53in a wool wrap called a hayek,
15:55with only one eye visible.
15:57Even after 900 years of association
16:00with the Mazabite culture,
16:02the Abadi have remained a closed community.
16:09One of the chief features of the Saharan Abadi
16:12are their four-fingered mosques.
16:15They flag-mark the seven cities.
16:18This one in Gadaya was built in the 15th century.
16:22The four fingers represent four of the pillars of Islam,
16:26and the mosque itself represents the fifth.
16:30The interior is a series of aisles separated by stone arcades
16:35that support the structure,
16:36and its white colour reflects the Abadi concept of serenity.
16:42The Bashir of Gadaya tells us more.
16:47The secret to maintaining a community here
16:50is dependent on the houses that are all built around the mosque.
16:55It's what keeps us united together as people
16:57and fosters our relationships with one another.
17:10But one mosque in neighbouring Ala Teuf
17:13inspired the famous architect Le Corbusier
17:16to design a chapel in far away Ronchon, France.
17:20It's an austere, rational building
17:22that sits half-submerged in the ground.
17:26The mosque's design expresses a unified vision of the community.
17:31Tour guide Brahim Haji shows us around.
17:35Here we are in the monument of Ami Brahim,
17:38a monument that is preserved or made for prayers.
17:43What we see behind me is the mihram,
17:46or the minaret,
17:47or the muezzin,
17:48or the person will call to prayer.
17:50And just next to the mihram,
17:53the mihram for destination of the Mecca.
17:56The imam is there,
17:57so the people are behind,
17:58to do prayer.
17:59And if we go slightly behind,
18:03to see behind this muret,
18:04you have the tomb of the sage,
18:07or the imam,
18:08Ami Brahim always.
18:10Here, on my left,
18:11what you see is where the imam will sit
18:13for preaching,
18:15or to read the Quran.
18:16This part that you see here,
18:19is a compartment for men.
18:23Now,
18:23to my right now,
18:24is the compartment for women.
18:27Usually, there is an isolation between the two compartments.
18:31Here,
18:32what you see at the entrance,
18:34people leave the shoes outside
18:36to pass or penetrate into the basement.
18:40So, there will be the tapis on the floor.
18:42And what we see here,
18:44at my right,
18:45is the opening for the Quran.
18:50And what you see here,
18:52this entrance or this opening,
18:54is the first compartment of the women.
18:55And you have the second one,
18:58which is above,
18:59here,
19:00at my right.
19:01And here,
19:03here,
19:03is the entrance of the women.
19:05This building,
19:08view its architecture,
19:10it has inspired a lot of contemporary architects.
19:14Here,
19:15what you see,
19:16for example,
19:16these openings,
19:17here,
19:17these openings,
19:20so that they can capture the light.
19:23And so,
19:24the pillars,
19:25that you see,
19:26so,
19:26different positions,
19:27different,
19:28it gives a sense of intimacy,
19:31so,
19:31a sort of a bridge
19:33between the exterior and the interior.
19:37somewhere in this area,
19:39you don't have a view on the exterior.
19:42Automatically,
19:42it would be the opposite,
19:43from the exterior to the interior.
19:46The city,
19:47Brahim Mosque,
19:48was built in the 12th century,
19:50and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
19:53It's an austere, rational building,
19:56that,
19:56as shown,
19:57expresses a unified vision of community.
20:00No wonder,
20:01it's been an inspiration for contemporary architects.
20:15The Mazab's main economy is the production of dates.
20:19They are picked from some 60,000 palm trees in the valley.
20:23Harvest time is in August,
20:25but the work goes on all year round,
20:28including pollination and pruning.
20:30These tasks are always carried out by one individual.
20:40The worker begins by calling to his neighbours,
20:43warning them that he's about to climb to the top of the tree,
20:47where he can potentially catch sight of them.
20:50Privacy is paramount in the Mazab communes.
21:00He is in the region of dates.
21:04So,
21:04he starts to weigh a little heavy on the palmier.
21:08So,
21:08he will try to share the weight of the dates
21:12on the palmier branches,
21:14and what is not well formed
21:16as a date or date regime,
21:18he will automatically cut it,
21:20as you can see.
21:23The crown is often very wide,
21:25and its tips are covered in long, sharp needles,
21:28which makes the task in hand pretty tricky,
21:31especially when you consider that a farm worker
21:34may have to prune more than a hundred palms.
21:39Palm trees make good builder materials in the sparse desert environment.
21:44These discarded branches will no doubt be put to good use elsewhere.
21:51If the people here have learned to survive the harsh environment,
21:55it's because they learned that they shouldn't impose themselves upon nature,
21:58that rather they understand nature and live with this fragile equilibrium
22:05between resources and the needs.
22:08It goes for everything,
22:09water, wood, anything else.
22:11All the resources were considered with very much care.
22:15So,
22:15that's what explains the meticulous, ingenious system.
22:21One of these ingenious creations was a system of irrigation developed in the Mzab,
22:27called the Fuguera.
22:29Brahim Haji tells us more.
22:33Here, we are in the middleware of the valley of Mzab.
22:37The crue, which will come just from me,
22:40is automatically captured through these 18 ouvertures,
22:44which are 18,
22:46and this system has been created there about 900 years ago.
22:49Here, with these prises of water,
22:51these channels will drain the water
22:53towards the oasis of Gardaya, just behind.
22:56So, the water will pass into the oasis of Gardaya,
23:00in different countries,
23:02and later, we will have a system of distribution
23:04which is unique,
23:06which has been created about 900 years ago.
23:08A system, as I said, unique, loyal,
23:12and a certain democracy of society.
23:14And the extra of all this water
23:16that will irrigate the oasis of Gardaya
23:17will continue even further,
23:20just next to the village,
23:21to go to a distance very far.
23:25So, just next to the side,
23:26we have a tour,
23:27which is just at the top of the hill,
23:29near this system of water,
23:31which will automatically communicate
23:33with the building that is next,
23:35where we can find,
23:36or there will be a group
23:38that will supervise the crue in general,
23:40and the perfect operation of this system.
23:51So, here, we are in a ruelle,
23:53just next to the exit,
23:55or at the exit,
23:56or at the exit,
23:57So, the water will pass
23:59through,
24:00or at this point,
24:02all at the bottom of this ruelle.
24:04We have the water
24:05that are just in the bottom
24:06or below the walls.
24:07So, the height,
24:09sometimes,
24:10at the beginning of the water,
24:11is from 15,
24:12sometimes,
24:13up to 60 cm.
24:15And what you see here,
24:17as I told you,
24:18are water samples.
24:20So, these samples are measured
24:22according to the surface
24:23and the quantity of palm trees
24:24in the oasis.
24:26And that is,
24:27with this method,
24:28which is the data tree.
24:29So, here we go to that.
24:35If you want to see more innovations
24:37inspired by the challenges
24:38of the Saharan environment,
24:40you can travel 380 miles deeper
24:43into the desert
24:44and explore the curious red sand town
24:47of Timimun.
24:48It's located in the province of Adra.
24:56It's a typical Saharan market town,
24:58selling local produce
25:00and essential goods.
25:01But in the 16th century,
25:04Timimun's lively stores sold slaves.
25:07Timimun was at the crux
25:09of the caravan route
25:10and housed the largest slave market
25:13in Algeria.
25:15Descendants of these slaves
25:17make up a dominant population
25:18in this town.
25:26Like Gadaya,
25:28it is the Saharan architecture
25:30which catches the eye.
25:32Red earth structures,
25:33influenced by the harsh climate
25:35and man's need for survival.
25:40Kaptair is the centre
25:41for the preservation
25:42of Algeria's earth buildings.
25:44It was set up
25:45by the Ministry of Culture
25:46to promote the country's
25:47architectural heritage.
25:53It shares a complex understanding
25:55of Berber building techniques
25:57and imparts this ancient knowledge
25:59to students who come here
26:00from all over the country.
26:03Today, we had the chance
26:04to come to the captains
26:05to really discover
26:08and to realize
26:09the ancestral techniques
26:10that have allowed
26:12our ancestors to build
26:14these wonderful
26:17wonderful architectural works
26:19and artistic
26:20which are perfectly adapted
26:23to our culture
26:24and to our climate.
26:25It is our duty
26:26to preserve
26:27all this heritage,
26:30all this culture
26:31and this diversity.
26:35Possibly the greatest achievement
26:37of Berber construction
26:38are the Khazars,
26:40built by the ruling Berbers
26:41of that time,
26:43the Zanatta.
26:44The Khazars
26:45is a Berber castle.
26:47A few still remain intact
26:49around Timimun's
26:50Sebka Salt Lake.
26:52Timimun's Khazars
26:53are very popular
26:54with tourists.
26:55It's a short
26:5625-minute drive
26:57from the town.
27:00We've arrived
27:02at Khazars de Gazer.
27:04Its original plan
27:05was defensive.
27:06A watchtower
27:08raised to keep an eye
27:09over the Khazbar below.
27:11Perfectly located
27:12where one can see
27:13the enemy's approach
27:14for miles and miles.
27:16The Khazars
27:17was also the home
27:18of a 10th century lord
27:20who opened his doors
27:21to the community
27:22in times of peace
27:23and stability.
27:28Ten families lived here,
27:30and you can still make
27:31out the remains
27:32of a few dwellings,
27:33a granary,
27:34and a prayer room.
27:39The materials used
27:41were sand,
27:42stone,
27:43and a reddish clay
27:44called tuba.
27:45And if you look at the
27:48construction,
27:48there are
27:49stones,
27:50like this.
27:51It's like the
27:52and the thickness of the
27:54walls
27:55over 30 cm.
27:57This is an obstacle
27:59for the heat
27:59and the cold
28:02too.
28:02So,
28:03all the people
28:04can feel good.
28:06Yasmin Calquis,
28:08the director of CapTair,
28:10explains.
28:12These architectures were not the product of an architect.
28:16They were the product of generations and generations and generations of builders
28:23who had, around the time, for centuries, even for millennia,
28:29tried to find solutions to live in the places they lived
28:35and who, from generation to generation,
28:37delivered the solutions they had found to future generations
28:41which, themselves, increased their own experiences
28:47and that the architectures that I discovered today
28:51were the product of all this accumulation of experience,
28:56the product of what we call tradition.
28:59These castles were usually located on the crossroads
29:03of the ancient Arab caravan route.
29:06The lord of the castle would offer a place of rest to the weary traveller
29:10and then tax him for his sins, like some toll-keeper on the Saharan highway.
29:15But the castle's role expanded over time, becoming a commune for the people
29:20and, as you can see, it still watches over the Casbah at night, like a faithful shepherd.
29:41A lack of rainfall means that the nomads who roam the desert plains rely on subsistence for survival.
29:49These Berber farmers from Timimoun in Western Algeria are making their traditional sand bread.
29:57A semolina dough is vigorously kneaded into a disc shape for around 20 minutes
30:02and then baked underneath the hot sand and the ashes of a small fire.
30:12This is taguela bread and it's been the Berber staple for over a thousand years.
30:18The method of making it hasn't changed.
30:25It's served with tea.
30:42If you explore the desert around Timimoun, you may also come across gleaming, cone-shaped domes.
30:49They're known as kubas. A kuba is the burial site of Algeria's holy men, the Marabout,
30:57and they proliferate the desert landscape.
31:00The Marabouts were Sufis and right up until the fight for Algerian independence in 1956,
31:06they held positions of authority in all village life.
31:10They arbitrated land disputes between clans and they united the people in times of war.
31:15They are held in great esteem as these monuments to their memories show.
31:34The most impressive thing is the silence.
31:38And it's not a big silence.
31:40There is silence and you're surrounded by the sounds of the wind, the water here,
31:46which is quite unusual to have water in the desert.
31:50And this experience, you cannot find it anywhere.
31:53So you have to feel what the tourists feel when you come to the desert in the Sahara of Algeria.
32:02Algeria's eminent tourist destinations are the two national parks found on the southern shores of the Sahara,
32:10Tassili-Niger and the Ahogar.
32:12It's a two-hour, 1,200-mile flight from Algiers to the park's chief airports of Jeannette and Taman Reset.
32:33The Tassili-Niger, otherwise known as the Plateau of Rivers, is home to some of the most ethereal desert landscapes
32:42on Earth.
32:44Giant dunes, like the one at Tin Mazurga, appear to be unique rock formations of compressed sandstone.
33:01It's as remote as one can experience in the Sahara, but not so remote as to be uninhabited.
33:08Early men once lived here, hunter-gatherers, living on wild cats, ancient buffaloes, gazelles, lions, hippopotamuses, even fish.
33:19For this was once a lush, forested and lake-filled landscape of flora and fauna just 12,000 years ago.
33:28The spectacular cave paintings, etchings and rock art are a testament to the civilizations that lived here.
33:37There are over 15,000 cave paintings on the rocks of the Tassili-Niger, but far more exist, most eroded
33:46by time and the weather.
33:48These paintings from Sephar and Tadrat Rouge especially tell us a lot about ancient African societies and the gods that
33:57they worshipped.
34:18Less remote is Taman Reset, located a six-hour drive away by car.
34:23Taman Reset is the most southerly oasis in the Algerian Sahara.
34:29In the middle of this oasis stands a sprawling town, which the locals like to call Tam.
34:40Tam started life as an old foreign legion garrison called Fort La Perrine, but it has since become something of
34:48a frontier town,
34:48a place where people come to work rather than to live, as the pay is higher in the desert than
34:54in the townships of southern Algiers.
34:58Jewelry-making, metallurgy and leather crafts produced and sold here at the Artisan Centre are the skill sets of the
35:05indigenous people, the Tuareg Berbers.
35:07The Tuareg in Arabic means abandoned by God, but they prefer to call themselves Im-ul-Haag, the free people.
35:17The Tuareg, very much like the Abadi, practice their own brand of Islam, called Maliki.
35:23It derives from the teaching of a visiting prophet from the 16th century, called Muhammad al-Mughili.
35:30It means that their customs vary somewhat from other Muslims.
35:39Taman Reset has always been at the heart of ancient Saharan trading routes.
35:44Camel caravans have long crossed this vast desert stretching through what is now Mali, Niger, Libya and Algeria.
35:55The captains of these camel caravans are Tuareg nomads, being at home in this desert wilderness.
36:16Tuareg men and their dress denotes their faith.
36:19Men from the age of 25 wear a wrapped veil, called a tagalmust, and they are sometimes called the blue
36:26men of the Sahara.
36:28Men always cover their mouths, noses and foreheads in the presence of foreigners and in-laws.
36:37Local guide Zahra Koja explains some of the Tuareg's traditions.
36:43Dans la communauté Tuareg, dans la société Tuareg, pour ce qui est des hommes, lorsque le garçon doit passer de
36:52l'adolescence à l'âge adulte,
36:54il porte le voile lors d'une cérémonie qui lui est organisée par sa communauté.
36:59Cela lui permettra justement, quand il devient adulte, de faire comme ses aînés.
37:04Il se couvre la moitié de la face et donc il ne laisse que ses yeux apparaître seulement.
37:16C'est tout simplement par rapport au code du comportement de la société Tuareg.
37:21Ils ont quand même un code qu'ils doivent respecter.
37:25Et ce code-là, on l'appelle échec.
37:28Et c'est échec et comprend toutes les règles que doivent suivre les hommes en particulier.
37:52En effet, les deux sexes portent le voile, mais ils sont différents.
38:00C'est une question de pratique surtout.
38:02Les femmes, en général, restent dans le campement.
38:06Même si elles s'éloignent un petit peu pour faire transhumer leurs chèvres, leurs troupeaux,
38:12elles sont surtout dans...
38:13Donc elles reviennent toujours au campement.
38:15Et elles ne sont pas obligées de se couvrir la face.
38:20Et puis la tradition est restée.
38:24La société Tuareg est matrilineale.
38:27Les femmes ne se trouvent pas un veille sur leurs faces, même si elles sont musulmans.
38:32Elles semblent qu'ils ont gardé un grand nombre de liberté et d'autorité.
38:37Les matters d'inheritance passent sur eux, et elles ne se couvrent pas.
38:41C'est une situation unique dans l'Islamique Algérie.
38:46On l'appelle système matrilinéaire.
38:50Parce que le pouvoir du commandement est utérin.
38:56C'est la mère qui le transmet, mais ce n'est pas elle qui commande.
39:03Voilà, c'est ça, c'est par rapport à la lignée.
39:06Dans la société Tuareg, la femme est considérée comme le pilier de la communauté.
39:11À petit niveau, ou à un niveau inférieur, il y a la cellule familiale.
39:16Et dans cette cellule familiale, quand il y a mariage, c'est la femme qui apporte sa tante, sa maison.
39:25Et parce que même le mobilier, c'est elle qui le ramène avec elle.
39:31En fait, l'homme est toujours en voyage, et elle reste dans le campement.
39:36Donc quand il y a séparation, c'est l'homme qui part, mais c'est elle qui reste.
39:56In music, it is the women who compose songs.
39:59They play a calabash instrument called the imzad.
40:05An imzad is a half-scooped-out calabash, or gourd, with a single string.
40:11It's a Tuareg instrument that is becoming obsolete.
40:15The Tuareg songs live on.
40:17The songs that lament the past and celebrate the feats of their heroes of yore.
40:23Women also play the instrument during courtship meetings, well into the night.
40:28This is their instrument. Men are forbidden to play, or they will be cursed.
40:35Jinns and spirits play a pivotal role in their lives.
40:39And the imzad is an instrument which is also deemed to have the power of driving away evil spirits and
40:44alleviating pain.
41:00Taman Reset became an important outpost for the French Foreign Legion after their conquest of Algeria.
41:08In the 19th century, the legionnaires stationed here were formed into mounted camel-born divisions to patrol the Sahara while
41:16doing battle with the Tuareg.
41:20The French Foreign Legion was founded by King Louis-Philippe way back in 1831 as a military unit to support
41:27the conquest of Algeria.
41:30And the country remained the key territory for the legion, right up until the Algerian War in the 1960s.
41:37France even used the Sahara as a test site for its nuclear weapons, detonating several bombs here over a period
41:45of several years during the 1960s.
41:57France moves ahead toward its goal of equal rank with Britain, Russia and America in the Great Powers Nuclear Club.
42:09The Foreign Legion was primarily used to protect and expand the French colonial empire during the 19th century.
42:16In the Sahara, it helped to expand French territorial interests.
42:24Over a period of 130 years, hundreds of thousands of legionnaires were stationed and fought here, playing a crucial role
42:32in pacifying the country.
42:37The stone dwelling in Taman Reset was headquarters for one of them, Charles de Foucault.
42:44Foucault came here as a young foreign legionnaire in the late 19th century, but after finding a religious calling, he
42:52spent the rest of his life promoting the Christian faith.
42:56Traveling far and wide among the Tuareg in the desert, he called himself the little brother of all mankind, which
43:04entailed a life of suffering based on the life of Jesus.
43:07Zara Koji takes up the story.
43:19Zara Koji takes up the story.
43:32Zara Koji takes up the story.
43:37Zara Koji takes up the world and tries to agree with each other, he was saved by the Tuareg and
43:43so that they helped us.
43:43So, it's why they helped us to trust others.
43:45But at a certain moment, he was very sick and saved by the Tuaregs.
43:52It was saved by the Tuaregs.
43:54He understood that he could not only give but also receive.
43:59And that's why he ended up calling himself the universal brother, the brother of everyone.
44:37It's a bumpy drive along a moonscape of granite and basalt rock.
44:52The Ahagar mountain plateau rises 3,000 feet above sea level.
44:57It's made of volcanic plugs and rocky pinnacles called tassiles, which thrust out of the earth.
45:07You cross into Atacor, a volcanic valley of the Ahagar mountain plateau.
45:16The nomadic Tuareg first inhabited this part of Taman Reset province.
45:21Here there's scarce rainfall, but sufficient water for camels and goats to graze on.
45:27Most Tuaregs have abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and pursued jobs in the town, be it industry or as tourist guides.
45:38This family, however, remains attached to its traditional ways and it's a strenuous challenge.
45:50We make a living from our animals, drinking their milk and sometimes selling something in town in Taman Reset.
45:59We follow the animals as they move around to find fresh pasture, depending on rainfall.
46:07We want to stay with our animals and be free.
46:16I don't want to live in town because you need a diploma then.
46:20I like living the way I do.
46:24I don't have to stress about paying bills because we don't use electricity.
46:28I like living the way I do.
46:37Getting to Asakrem in a 4x4 will take you to a dry riverbed.
46:42Water is scarce, but there are water sources even in this scorching desert.
46:51The desert in Atta Cor receives only about 15 millimeters of rainfall a year.
46:57It's among the driest places on earth.
47:00However, there are life-giving guelters, small lakes which provide water holes for wandering nomads and animals.
47:11A local Tuareg guide tells us more.
47:17Is life hard here? No.
47:21It's not difficult for us people who know and understand these deserts.
47:25We know where and how to find the water wells.
47:29As for strangers, they wouldn't be able to find it.
47:33They'll walk the entire desert and die from dehydration before they find a well.
47:41Guelters form when a river dries up and leaves a pocket of water.
47:47Or the oasis is fed by a spring where you find trickling waterfalls, deep green pools and smooth flood-washed
47:54granite.
48:03If you want to find water, you need to look for a mountain, and you'll usually find some at the
48:08bottom of one, because the water will stream down from the top.
48:25And so, it's onward, to the place the French legionnaire, now called Father de Foucault, made his home, the end
48:34of the world, Assa Creme.
48:37It's perched high on the summit overlooking the spectacular Ahogar Mountains.
48:43A lonely French, or should we say Catholic, outpost, exposed to the elements, somewhere fit only for a hermit.
48:53It's here that Father Charles de Foucault found his life.
48:57And it was here when it was ended, at the hands of Tuareg bandits some eleven years after.
49:05His cassock remains hanging in the shack that he built.
49:08In his time here, Charles de Foucault had compiled a Tuareg dictionary and acquired a sound knowledge about their culture
49:16and heritage.
49:17His search for God and meaning ended here, as does our Algerian Odyssey.
49:26The Prince.
49:54The prophecy.
50:07Transcription by CastingWords
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