Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Hoggar-Gebirge.Tassili-du-Hoggar. Felsen in der Wüste. Full moon rise just after sunset in Tahagart, an area of beautifully eroded rock seven hours drive SE of Tamanrasset, in the Tassili du Hoggar. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara .Kamel auf Transporter. Pick-up. Camel being transported west from Djanet in the back of a pickup. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Oase, Bewässerung durch elektrische Pumpen. Aerial view of Adjder oasis, some 100 km NW of Timimoun, north of Charouine. The gardens are surrounded by barriers of palm fronds to stop sand blowing in from the NE, and the water comes from hand dug wells that reach water some 15 meters below ground. Traditionally the water was raised by hand and beast, but now it is done with electric pumps. The local farmers told me that the water level is dropping by about one meter/year, and that the village was about 500 years old. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Einwohner dösen in der Hitze. Late afternoon/early evening in front of the movie theater of Djanet, which is now used primarily for government meetings and presentations. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Felsen, Felsformation .Aerial view of rock pinnacles and sand dunes about 20 km west of Djanet. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Hoggar-Gebirge.Tassili-du-Hoggar. Felsen in der Wüste. Inakashaker (named after a kind of locally-found bush in Tuareg language), an area of beautifully eroded rock five hours drive SE of Tamanrasset, in the Tassili du Hoggar. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Gärten und Häuser nahe des UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe Ghardaia. heilige der Mozabiten in der nördlichen algerischen Zentral-Sahara im M'zab-Tal. Aerial view of orchards and gardens upstream from Ghardaia, an oasis in the M'Zab region of the Algerian Sahara that has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The older buildings in the ancient city were constructed using only local stone, plaster, and wood from palm trees. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Araber in einem Zelt bei einer Teezeremonie. Datteln und arabische Süssigkeiten. Männer Treff. Dates and sweet tea being served to visitors in Bamhar village, some 40 km south of Adrar. The town is supplied with irrigation water by an ancient and well-maintained network of "foggara" or subterranean aqueducts. The young people are not interested in the hard work of maintaining the foggara, so the work rests with this group of old men seen here. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Qanat, Wasserförderung, Wassersystem. unterirdische Wasserleitungen .Aerial view of foggara (underground aqueduct) system, with gardens protected by windbreaks in Sahel village, near Akabli. The foggara here are very old, but are still providing enough water in spite of the fact that they have had no maintenance for thirty years. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe Beni Isguen. heilige der Mozabiten in der nördlichen algerischen Zentral-Sahara im M'zab-Tal. Aerial view of Beni Isguen, the most conservative and exquisitly preserved of the ancient hill towns in Ghardaia, a World Heritage Site. Laid out like an mosaic, the residents carefully maintain their antique homes, which often feature a walled roof-top area for laundry and outdoor sleeping on hot Saharan nights. These roof-top sanctuaries are often painted in turquoise and other pastel colors. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara .Jugendliche Treffpunkt am Abend. Young men hang out in the market square of old Ghardaia just after sunset on Thursday evening, socializng and playing iwth their mobile telephones. The town was designated a World Heritage Site for it's fine and well-maintianed stone and plaster architecture. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Islam, in Richtung Mekka betende Männer. Celebration of the Islamic holy day of Eid al Adha, when pilgrims to Mecca salughter a sheep. The entire male population of El Baraka village (just outside of In Salah) prays together just after sunrise before retreating to their homes to slaughter a sheep and have a family feast. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. an der Grenze zu Libyen. Eisen, Eisenhaltiger Sand .Aerial view of Tin Merzouga, a remote part of the Algerian Sahara near the borders of Libya and Niger. The area is remarkable for the deep orange color of its sand dunes, which are colored by oxidation of iron minerals in the sand. Generally the more orange the sand, the older it is, as it has taken many millenia of exposure to water and sun to oxidize it to this degree. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara .Wärme, eine alte Frau wärmt sich in dem roten Wüstensand auf. natürlischer Wärmespeicher. Daily life in the late morning in Sahel village, Akabli oasis Seen here is Mokta Bin Malek, a 74 year old woman, warming herself on a cold windy morning on the sands that threaten to innundate the front door of her home. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Versandung Wüstensand, Abandoned village near Lizereg, NE of El Oued, which shows the now disused practice of building homes with a series of domes and walls made with sand roses, or salt encursted sand crystals that are mortared together. This style of building has disappeared over the past 25 years as the region adopted concrete and rebar as building materials, but nearby El Oued is still known by the name is was given over a hundred years ago by traveler Isabelle Eberhardt who called it the city of a thousand domes. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Datteln werden geernted. Harvesting dates from a palmerie in Umm Dabah oasis, some 26 km west of El Oued. This is one of the few palmeries that still functions in the traditional way, as it has not been affected by waste water pollution that has damaged other oases in the Souf region of El Oued. Seen here are Fadhaisa Hamed (in yellow jacket) and Abeidi Rachid (cutting date clusters and wearing jeans). This kind of excavated palmerie is known as a "Ghout" (pronounced "Rhout") and the palms were planted at the bottom so that their roots could reach the shallow ground water. The dates being harvested here are "Deglebt Noor" variety, and are sold both domestically and exported to Europe, Mali, and Niger. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe Beni Isguen. heilige der Mozabiten in der nördlichen algerischen Zentral-Sahara im M'zab-Tal. Aerial view of Beni Isguen, the most conservative and exquisitly preserved of the ancient hill towns in Ghardaia, a World Heritage Site. Laid out like an mosaic, the residents carefully maintain their antique homes, which often feature a walled roof-top area for laundry and outdoor sleeping on hot Saharan nights. These roof-top sanctuaries are often painted in turquoise and other pastel colors. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara .an der Grenze zu Libyen. Eisen, Eisenhaltiger Sand. Aerial view of Tin Merzouga, a remote part of the Algerian Sahara near the borders of Libya and Niger. The area is remarkable for the deep orange color of its sand dunes, which are colored by oxidation of iron minerals in the sand. Generally the more orange the sand, the older it is, as it has taken many millenia of exposure to water and sun to oxidize it to this degree. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Dürre. Cracked clay and red sand mingle in a dry stream bed of Tin Merzouga a year after a rare rainfall. The plants continue to flower here in the cool winter weather, and are food for jerboas and other small mammals. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Qanat, Wasserförderung, Wassersystem. unterirdische Wasserleitungen. Aerial view of foggara (underground aqueduct) system, with gardens protected by windbreaks in Sahel village, near Akabli. The foggara here are very old, but are still providing enough water in spite of the fact that they have had no maintenance for thirty years. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Dattelpalmen Plantage. Date palms (in excavated palmeries) near the village of Oued Tork in Umm Dabah osais, some 25 km west of El Oued. This area has maintained traditional Ghout (large sand pit) agriculture methods and has not been affected by waste water pollution that has damaged other oases in the Souf region of El Oued. With the ghout system the palms are planted at the bottom of a large excavated pit so that their roots could reach the shallow ground water. The dates grown here are prized "Deglebt Noor" variety, and are sold both domestically and exported to Europe, Mali, and Niger. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Esel, Eselkarren auf der Strasse. Farmer on his way to the fields in the morning to check on his date palms. In the background is an old Citroen uses to haul havested dates from the palmerie, some 25 km west of El Oued. This area has maintained traditional Ghout (large sand pit) agriculture methods and has not been affected by rising ground water problems like in El Oued. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. afrkianisches Dorf in der Wüste mit Palmen. Aerial view of Ain Hamou and adjacent villages where gardens are in hollows between the dunes that are capped with rows of palm fronds to keep the sand from burying the plants. Water was traditionally brought up from hand dug wells with ropes and pulleys, but now electric pumps do the work. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Hoggar-Gebirge.Tassili-du-Hoggar. Felsen in der Wüste. Rhinozeros im Felsen. Nashorn. Hard bedrock incised thousands of years ago with the outline of a rhinoceros and other animals which inhabited the area in wetter times. This remote portion of the Central Sahara. Hoggar-Gebirge.Tassili-du-Hoggar. Felsen in der Wüste. s Inakashaker (named after a kind of locally-found bush in Tuareg language), an area of beautifully eroded rock five hours drive SE of Tamanrasset, in the Tassili du Hoggar. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Fels, Felsgravur " Die weinende Kuh " .Pre-histoirc rock engraving known locally as the "Vache que Pleur" or "the cow that cries" some 25 km south of Djanet. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Hoggar-Gebirge.Tassili-du-Hoggar. Felsen in der Wüste. Käfer krabbelt im Sand. Wüstensand. Seemingly sterile by day, the cool evening hours see the emergence of life like this small beetle in Inakashaker (named after a kind of locally-found bush in Tuareg language), an area of beautifully eroded rock five hours drive SE of Tamanrasset, in the Tassili du Hoggar. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Vulkan Gebirge. Aerial view of the volcanic peaks of the Hoggar, just east of Asakrem. The massif of the twin peaks seen here is known as "Tezouaï" and is one of the highest points in the Hoggar, higher than the Hermitage du Pére Charles Foucauld at 2780m on Asekrem. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara .Oase, Bewässerung durch elektrische Pumpen. Aerial view of Ain Hamou and adjacent villages where gardens are in hollows between the dunes that are capped with rows of palm fronds to keep the sand from burying the plants. Water was traditionally brought up from hand dug wells with ropes and pulleys, but now electric pumps do the work. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara .Felsen, Felsformation. Aerial view of rock pinnacles and sand dunes about 10 km west of Djanet. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Hitze. alte Klimaanlage am Haus. Radiator. Cheikh Azedine Abessi, 79 years old and Grand Cheikh of El Oued oasis. reading a religious text in the doorway of his library in Z'Goum village, a small oasis north of El Oued,. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Qanat, Wasserförderung, Wassersystem. unterirdische Wasserleitungen .Part of the foggara water distribution system in Oulad Said village. The village is supplied by five major lines of foggara with some 360 branches totalling 80 km. Here the water from three foggara go six different ways, and down stream they are further divided. Channels for water are measured by finger holes in the barrier stones, which are being checked and cleaned by Baza Mohammed, 51 y.o. resident of Oulad Said. The water supplied by the foggara is decreasing because new wells with pumps are lowering the water table up-hill from the water sources of the foggara, and the young people don't want to take on the job of maintaining them, which is difficult an dangerous work. Algeria's population is four times what it was at independence, and there is only so much water to be tapped in the Sahara without deplebting the supply. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. präislamische Grabanlagen. prä-islamische Gräber. Aerial view of pre-Islamic graves in the Erg D'Admer, south of Djanet. This area is adjacent to Iharane, a isolated set of small black mountains in the sea of buff-colored dunes. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. heiliges Grab, Grabstätte. Tomb of the holy man Shuhada (Morabo Wulay Shuhada) in Metili Chaamaba Oasis, som 40km south of Ghardaia. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Ksour, Siedlungen der Berber im Maghreb .qasr alte Burg. Ruine. Aerial view of an abandoned ksar (fortified village) lost in the dunes of the Grand Erg Occidental just north of Timimoun. Every old village in the area has a ksar, but most are crumbling ruins. This one is unusual in that it is virtually intact, is curcular and made of stone, not mud brick. The fields that must have once supported the people of the ksar are long since buried in the sands, but the walls of the ksar are strong enough to resist the erosion of blowing sand and tall enough that the sand does not get inside. We were told that this is Ksar Dra'a, and that it was once occupied by a Jewish sect, and that most of Algeria was Jewish, long before the conversion to Islam. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Versandung. Sand. Wüstensand. A 20 meter tall sand dune is is slowly burying Badrian village (some 40 km north of Timimoun), and there is little that the villagers can do to stop it, so they are rebuilding a new village on the up-wind side. In the afternoon children use the north end of dune as their playground. On the south end of the dune elebtrical lines are only 1.5 meters above the sand. Here Abdarahman Daoudi, an electrical engineer with the state power company, inspects the live wires which are dangerously close to the encroaching sand. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. präislamische Grabanlagen. prä-islamische Gräber. Aerial view of pre-Islamic graves in the Erg D'Admer. south of Djanet. This area is adjacent to Iharane, a isolated set of small black mountains in the sea of buff-colored dunes. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Hoggar-Gebirge.Tassili-du-Hoggar. Felsen in der Wüste. Wind-eroded pinnacle of stone near Inakashaker (named after a kind of locally-found bush in Tuareg language), an area of beautifully eroded rock five hours drive SE of Tamanrasset, in the Tassili du Hoggar. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. afrkianisches Dorf in der Wüste mit Palmen .Views across the river from the ancient and now abandoned old city of Taghit, which has become a popular tourist destination for those living in Bechar, the provincial capital, less than an hour away. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Qanat, Wasserförderung, Wassersystem. unterirdische Wasserleitungen .Aerial view of new government-organized agricultural plots near Ighzer, an ancient city near TImimoun. This agricultural scheme is supplied with water from drilled and pumped wells, that take water upstream from the sources of traditional wells and foggara aqueducts.Declining water supply from traditional foggara aqueducts is slowly starving the old gardens nearby from their water. The water supplied by the foggara is decreasing because new wells with pumps are lowering the water table up hill from the water sources of the foggara, and the young people don't want to take on the job of maintaining them, which is difficult an dangerous work. Algeria's population is four times what it was at independence, and there is only so much water to be tapped in the Sahara without deplebting the supply. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. zwei junge Frauen mit Kopftuch. moderne Jugendliche. The fashionable meets the traditional on the back streets of the walled city of Ghardaia. The M'zabite women native to the oasis are light skined and always covered from head to foot in white cloth, with only a small eye-hole to peep out of. These women appear to be transplants from another part of Algeria, but I didn't have a chance to speak with them as I was taking photos surrepticiously. Photography is forbidden inside the ancient city of Ghardaia, and these photos were taken from my chest, without looking through the camera. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Hoggar-Gebirge.Tassili-du-Hoggar. Felsen in der Wüste. Inakashaker (named after a kind of locally-found bush in Tuareg language), an area of beautifully eroded rock five hours drive SE of Tamanrasset, in the Tassili du Hoggar. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. präislamische Grabanlagen. prä-islamische Gräber. Aerial view of pre-Islamic graves in the Erg D'Admer, south of Djanet. This area is adjacent to Iharane, a isolated set of small black mountains in the sea of buff-colored dunes. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara .UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe Ghardaia. heilige der Mozabiten in der nördlichen algerischen Zentral-Sahara im M'zab-Tal. Aerial view of a cemetery in old Ghardaia, the largest of the ancient hill towns in the M'Zab region, and a World Heritage Site. As the population of Ghardaia has expanded rapidly, the cemetery is now surrounded by residential buildings and there is little place for new burials. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Qanat, Wasserförderung, Wassersystem. unterirdische Wasserleitungen .Aerial view of foggara (underground aqueduct) system, with gardens protected by windbreaks in Sahel village, near Akabli. The foggara here are very old, but are still providing enough water in spite of the fact that they have had no maintenance for thirty years. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. an der Grenze zu Libyen. Eisen, Eisenhaltiger Sand. Aerial view of Tin Merzouga, a remote part of the Sahara in SE Algeria near the border with Libya and Niger. The sand here is an unusually deep color of orange to the high oxidation levels of its iron minerals, indicating it is some of the oldest sand in the Sahara. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Luftaufnahme - Doppeltes Honorar!

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Strassenszene. Late morning street life in Timimoun oasis, in the days leading up to a football match playoff between Algeria and Egypt for a berth in the World Cup. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Höhle, Höhlenmalerei. Pre-historic rock art inside "Mouflon Cave" in Wadi El Beridj, in Tadrat area of SE Algeria. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

Afrika, Algerien, algerische Sahara. Hoggar-Gebirge.Tassili-du-Hoggar. Felsen in der Wüste. El Ghousour ("the castle" in Tuareg language), an area of beautifully eroded rock five hours drive SE of Tamanrasset, in the Tassili du Hoggar. 2010, © 2011. . George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus

George Steinmetz / Agentur Focus