A hole-filled desert environment can be seen at the fringe of an oasis that is nearly buried by dunes and through which the occasional caravan still travels.
The salt pans of Kalala near Bilma in northeastern Niger were once an essential stop for traders with their swaying lines of camels.
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Salt digging, carried on from generation to generation, was a thriving business, involving a commodity so precious that it was bought and sold across the Sahara and beyond. Over centuries, hundreds of pits have been dug by hand and then filled with water to leach salt from the local rock.
Today, in this isolated desert region plagued by armed gangs and smugglers, the diggers struggle to survive.
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Standing in the black and ochre pits, Ibrahim Tagaji and a colleague were wrestling with a crowbar to harvest the bounty – a method of extraction that essentially remains unchanged over time.
A blisteringly hot day when temperatures reached 45C (113F) in the shade was coming to a close.
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Barefoot in brine swimming with crystals, the two men dug out salty chunks and pounded them into grains, which were then scooped out with a gourd.
They poured the salt into moulds made from date palms, forming slabs that were then ready for sale.
It is hard work, rewarded by an income that fluctuates according to whichever buyers happen to pass through town.
“When someone with money comes, you earn a lot,” Tagaji said between shovelfuls. “Otherwise, it’s a lot of work, and the money’s poor.”
The local economy offers few alternatives, and roughly half of Bilma’s population still works in the pits, according to local officials.
“As soon as you drop out of school, you have to work here,” said Omar Kosso, a veteran of the industry.
“Every family has its own salt pan. You are with your wife, your children, you come and work.”
Salt worker Omar Kosso says customers bargain hard with merchants, traders and traffickers. “We don’t have good customers,” he says, but the offers – mostly low – are difficult to refuse for the people in this poor region. [Souleymane Ag Anara/AFP]Caravans lead animals on a 45-day journey to Libya in Niger’s Djado area in the Sahara desert. The camel caravans still stop over in Bilma, where the vast majority of residents live in traditional houses with walls of salt and clay drawn from nearby quarries. [Souleymane Ag Anara/AFP]The mineral produced in the salt fields of Bilma is destined for animal consumption. [Souleymane Ag Anara/AFP]An individual called the “mai” is the traditional authority in Bilma. He determines who gets which area to dig for salt and sets the sale price. [Souleymane Ag Anara/AFP]A 200-year-old flag carries the family insignia of Kiari Abari, the descendant of a long line of sultans in Bilma. [Souleymane Ag Anara/AFP]As mai, Abari Chegou promotes the virtues of the locally produced salt. “Sea salt has to be iodized to avoid deficiencies,” he said. “Our salt is 90 percent iodized, so we can eat it directly without risking getting sick.” [Souleymane Ag Anara/AFP]Unfortunately for Bilma, the salt trade is drying up. “In the past, the caravans came – the Daza, the Hausa, the Tuareg,” Kiari Abari Chegou said, reeling off some ethnic groups in the region. “Now it’s not like before.” [Souleymane Ag Anara/AFP]Tuareg traders gradually gave up their nomadic way of life to settle down and farm the fertile foothills of the nearby Air Mountains in northern Niger. [Souleymane Ag Anara/AFP]The desert journey is as dangerous as it is tough. Traffickers and other criminals take advantage of the region’s porous borders. That means people travel armed and, when possible, in convoys under military escort to guard against attacks.
