The camel trek alternates between walking and riding. Traditionally, the camel herder walks several kilometers in the morning to allow the camels to warm up.

Afterward, you can take your place in the saddle or continue on foot, depending on the terrain and personal preference. The camel is easy to mount and direct. From the saddle, the panoramic view is both expansive and restful. Being a camel trekker on such a long journey means that each person—rider, cameleer, and camel—has time to discover one another, to bond, and to connect. Each trekker is assigned a camel for the duration of the journey. The Tuareg will be happy to teach you how to saddle and unsaddle your camel, hobble it, and more.

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ADVICE FOR A CAMEL TREKKER IN THE HOGGAR

1/ THE CAMEL

On the first day of the trek, each person is entrusted with a camel and its equipment.

• The camel: amis
• A saddle: tarik.
• Two or three saddle blankets: isetfar.
• A rein: tarant.
• A hobble: tefart.

2/ THE SADDLE

It consists of a seat with a cross at the front and a backrest at the rear. This saddle is placed in front of the camel's hump, secured by a strap under the animal's belly. When mounted, do not lean against the saddle's backrest. Keep your torso upright.

Since the camel lies down with its legs folded, always approach from the left side. Grasp the cross of the saddle at its base, close to the seat, with your left hand. Place your right hand on top of the backrest. Swing your right leg between the cross and the backrest. Once mounted, immediately place your feet on the camel's neck.

4/ BEHAVIOR TO ADOPT

Never grip the branches of the cross, as they are very fragile and break easily. Always place the middle of your foot on the camel's neck, not the toe, which tends to slip. The animal rises by first extending its hind legs. Avoid losing your balance by pressing firmly on the neck. Then the front legs straighten, though this poses fewer problems for the novice trekker!

For a camel used exclusively for riding, the rein is usually fixed to a metal ring that pierces the animal's right nostril and passes under the neck, always held to the left of the head. For a pack camel, and sometimes for riding camels as well, the rein is a slip knot around the animal's lower jaw and tongue. This rein is called an akala. To move forward, give gentle kicks on the neck with your foot placed furthest forward. To go right, pull the tarant lightly to the right. To go left, do the same to the left. To stop the animal, pull the rein firmly backward, but not violently. On descents, lift the camel's head by shortening the tarant and keeping it horizontal, pressing firmly on the neck with your feet. Stretch your front leg as far as possible and keep it rigid. This prevents the saddle from sliding forward. You can also hold onto the tuft of hair covering the hump. On ascents, by contrast, lean forward and let the rein slack so the camel can extend its neck with effort.

Guide the animal toward a spot free of rocks. Shorten the tarant, pull downward while pressing firmly on the neck multiple times, emitting the sound "che-che-che". The animal will kneel. Continue pressing firmly with your feet and keep some slack in the tarant. The camel finishes lying down by folding its hind legs. Always dismount on the left side by swinging your right leg over the saddle cross.

Afterward:

• Remove the equipment hanging from the saddle.
• Unfasten the saddle and place it carefully on the ground.
• Remove the saddle blankets.
• Hobble the animal at its front legs.
• Remove the tarant.

IMPORTANT TO KNOW BEFORE DEPARTURE

At the beginning and throughout the entire trek, the trekker should never mount or dismount from the camel alone. The Tuareg will always be there to help and advise you. Experience has shown us that many of you would like to mount and dismount from your camel without the help of the Tuareg, to direct it somewhat independently from the caravan, to make it trot, or even gallop. However, this is not possible, and you will understand why after these important clarifications. The Tuareg fear that you will fall and injure yourself. While they would certainly be concerned for your wellbeing, they also risk losing their livelihood. For safety reasons, they watch you closely and feel responsible for you. In case of serious injury, you should know that transporting a wounded person is often difficult and medical centers are remote and hard to reach. For the Tuareg, camels and saddles represent real capital. If you injured a camel or broke a saddle, it would be catastrophic. A good riding camel costs (in 2000) between 30,000 and 50,000 DA. Saddles from Niger are difficult to find and extremely expensive. One does not readily lend their car to someone who just passed their driving test... and certainly not to someone who cannot drive! You may feel you have a good rapport with your mount. Know that your camel can have unexpected reactions to, for example, an unfamiliar noise, an unknown object, a sudden movement nearby, another camel running, etc. In isolation, a camel often behaves differently than it does in a group. For instance, if left behind the caravan, it may rise very abruptly at the exact moment you mount it, whereas normally it does so gently. This is because it is eager to rejoin the others, and you may well find yourself on the ground! Falls are very often dangerous given the animal's height and the rocky terrain. Raised in herds, the camel does not like to stand out from others. Why run, turn right, turn left, slow down, or lag behind when the others follow the caravan? They are accustomed to staying together and moving at the ordinary gait, which is a walk. If you unnecessarily take it out of the caravan without purpose, it risks becoming agitated. Furthermore, in the eyes of the Tuareg, such play needlessly fatigues the animals, which already struggle to find food in sparse or arid pastures. In the work of Commander Cauvet, it is stated that galloping is reserved only for the Tuareg, not for Arab trekkers, and certainly not for Europeans. And it is true that few Europeans have managed to stay mounted on a camel at a gallop, an exercise that requires very long practice. Moreover, one should not make a camel run at any time: it is particularly bad if the animal has been at rest for a long time, has just drunk, or has just eaten barley. Furthermore, on a trek, saddles are not secured for racing but for ordinary walking.