Photographs of the mysterious Islamic tribe where women embrace freedom......

The Tuareg have maintained their way of life for centuries, crossing from one side of the world's largest desert....................
Yet beneath the traditional way of life lies a progressive society where women's rights have been embraced.

 

 

For centuries the nomadic Tuareg tribe have crossed the Sahara desert, sometimes being led by the blind who used their heightened sense of smell and taste to pick a safe path across the ever-shifting sands.
 

Their men became known as the 'blue men of the Sahara' because the dye from their distinctive indigo scarves rub off onto their faces giving them a mysterious air. The Tuareg evoke images of a long forgotten and romantic age.
But behind the ancient way of life is a culture so progressive it would even make some people in liberal western cultures blush. Women are allowed to have multiple sexual partners outside of marriage, keep all their property on divorce and are so revered by their sons-in-law that the young men wouldn't dare eat in the same room.

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 These two children were pictured in December 1967. Tuareg children traditionally stay with their mothers after a divorce................

    

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 Much of the tribe, said to descend from one queen called Tin Hinan who lived in the fourth century, has now converted to Islam

Families trace their line through the women and not the men, with women owning the tents and animals 
Pre-nups and divorce are everyday - with parents throwing their recently separated daughters 'divorce parties'
But the rise of extremist Islam in the region could put all this under threat as a more conservative lifestyle prevails.........

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The Tuareg have travelled across the Sahara for more than 1,000 years, the camels leading the way to fresh pastures

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Mysterious: A Tuareg man in a traditional indigo veil, which is likely to leave his face with a blue mark across his skin

Source: Dailymail