The Sahara—and indeed all of Africa—is known for its rock paintings. Many of these paintings are actually carved reliefs. It is therefore more accurate to refer to them as rock art. This rock art is often five to ten thousand years old and has withstood erosion from the sun, wind, sand, and sometimes rain fairly well. The new threat comes from humans. Terrorists use the images as targets, tourists wet the drawings so they show up better in photos. And the local population colors in the drawings to bring the magic “stored” within them back to life.
I realized that one evening, when I opened a 1999 issue of National Geographic Magazine. There I saw a photo that I had taken in the Aïr Mountains in 1986 (below). The only difference was that this one had been colorized.
For those interested in this art form, I have compiled a special collection of all the photographs I took on this subject during my 1986 trip. And if you’d like to learn more, please visit the website of the Trust for African Rock Art, a foundation dedicated to documenting and protecting this art form.