The Adrar's last nomadic shepherds | SLICE

[Applause] [Music] madras nomadic shepherds crossed the desert tirelessly in search of pastures the goats and dromedaries they breed for meat and milk are their only currency [Music] yuba is the father of this family the youngest child is 17 year old deida go slowly dead uh the animals have heavy loads you need to find an easy path for the dromedaries to tread which way should i go go to the other side of the dune the kids can stay behind we'll come back for them once we've set up camp don't get separated from us wait for your father to tell you which way to go okay in the desert we use the mountains or the shape of the dunes to find our bearings or i only know where the good pastures are and the water in places because my father has given me a map generation to another i really want to take part and see if i can win it [Music] um [Music] [Music] that was a long day zaha aren't you tired when we get to a camp first we unload the dromedaries then we find some ground for them to graze on and tie them up next we light a fire put up the tent and start preparing dinner careful father don't approach the dromedary from behind he'll kick you either is up quite tight otherwise they might wander off too far we've chosen a campsite where the sand is soft enough to hammer in our pegs also one which is nicely sheltered from the window come on do you think deda can win the camel race there will be a lot of competition you know but dada is an excellent camel driver he has a good chance of winning why not do some divining in the sand to find out there's no harm in trying and it's going to overtake is going to come second listen to me my dada is going to come first number one no one can beat him my son is the best camel driver no mother deda is going to come second not first we'll see about that we'll see you've spoiled dead rotten you won't even let him ride his dromedaries is that what you think i'm telling you he could wrestle a dromedary to the ground causing a dromedary to drop to the ground by pulling its tail is a way for young nomads like dead are to prove their strength and courage it's a rite of passage to adulthood that looks a bit like a desert rodeo and the women come and assist [Music] that's it catch it and hold on tight well done son that's enough i'm going to tie it up again but dada go on the dar you can do it i'm not moving may i'll grant you a long life everyone is waiting this is a test for you no i touch it [Music] [Applause] he's had me running in all directions i must have run 20 kilometers once the chores have been done and the evening meal is over it's time for stories and poems poetry sparring matches are one of the oldest nomad traditions it's a form of mental gymnastics that yuba and his children indulge in whenever they get the chance praise be to allah who presents my eyes with the stunning beauty of my country ishiev turjit and anwarka i haven't forgotten the greenness of your pastures in autumn or the sweet scent of the fresh grass that the beast grays on around our scattered encampments there is no more beautiful sight than the sky set ablaze on the mountaintops [Music] oh the journey to my parents i've stayed in atar too long i will walk for days weeks evenings to be sure of seeing them again my soul is heavy but i press on the end of the night here is tamur where my parents await my return popular poetry occupies a big place in our traditions this is said to be the country of four million poets the nomadic lifestyle is disappearing in mauritania everyone dreams of moving to the big cities young people are waiting for just one thing to save up enough money to buy a car so that they can go and shut themselves behind four walls that's what i see and what i feel personally i like this life and as long as my parents are alive i will stay with them but if one day they are no longer here i don't know what god will have in store for me i want to stay in the desert until the day i die the best moments in life are spent here beside a log [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] all these names recited by the nomads in their poetry correspond to places it's a list of oases that they memorize like a map leading to the one treasure to be found in the desert water tungard is one of the biggest palm grove oases on the adra plateau first we'll give the animals a drink and replenish our water supplies and expected fill up the water bottles fill up the water skins we need to fill everything up the next well is a long way away did you hear fill everything up yes carrying water is never a burden in the desert because if you run out you suffer go to the village to sell a sheep i need money to buy provisions [Music] with its stone houses interspersed here and there with a few traditional tents tungard village has witnessed the gradual settling of moorish people yuba and his family have themselves become semi-nomadic they follow the reigns for several months a year and settle in the summer near to oases such as this one so as to be close to the wells as well as being a place to replenish supplies oases are also trading posts for nomads and today yuba has gone in search of an old acquaintance da veda the chief of tunga where have you traveled from miles away a village called buabul we've just arrived and i need to buy some food in exchange i'm selling this sheep i'll give you 14 000 for it that's out of the question how much will you sell it for me then are you kidding me tell me how much then you're no longer my friend all right i get it there [Applause] is also a farmer he owns several hectares of land in the neighboring palm grove in the shade of the date palms da and his men have planted barley and carrots it's an island of green in the middle of the sand [Music] what i like most in the world is watching the rain fall from the sky that's the most happiness i can have in life because it's rain water that causes the ground water to and that swell supply allows us to water our plants and keeps the oasis alive [Music] [Music] is no it's fine the palm grove used to extend much further on the other side but since the desert has advanced it's grown much smaller the desert is continually advancing it's smothering the palm trees and the palm grove is dying removed h i am not the only guardian of this oasis all the people who work here take up their shovel or their pickaxe to help protect the palm grove this is the legacy of my ancestors i don't intend to abandon it it's the only home i have by preserving this palm grove darveda and the villagers of tungard are also protecting a watering hole that is indispensable to the survival of nomads on the adra plateau one such tradition is the camel race this custom like everything to do with nomadism is gradually becoming obsolete except in tungard where darvidar has managed to assemble a group of local camel drivers today there are nine camel drivers on the starting line dida is the youngest but also the lightest his big brother has also decided to take part [Music] dida and his brother are well placed they help one another and zigzag in and out to close the gap on their competitors [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] me the course is about two kilometers long by the halfway mark deadah has already taken a comfortable lead [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all is well father all is well [Music] [Applause] [Music] something wrong no everything's fine [Music] a lion reminds me of the good old days one of my friends [Music] which has been dormant camel race used to be a very important event and then people would come from all over the sahara to take part in [Music] he represents me and he respects me he came to the desert to keep me company in my final years i pray to allah to grant me enough time on this earth to be able to pass all my knowledge onto him [Music] passing on traditions while there's still time the race against time is the same all over mauritania [Music] you

Channel: SLICE

Views: 112,473

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, shortdoc, shortdocs, slice, slicedocs, today in africa, free documentary, full documentary, mauritania, last nomads, camel race, adrar desert

Id: wYLwRAEWpK0

Length: 19min 59sec (1199 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 06 2022