The Sahara: a dream-like far away landscape of Lawrence of Arabia and Wilfred Thesiger The
English Patient and Star Wars and home to nomadic communities whose ways of life stretch back
millennia. Today it's a teeth-janglingly dangerous destination where the threat of jihadists
lurks just over the horizon. Following in the footsteps of 16th century traveller Leo Africanus
Nicholas Jubber went on a turbulent adventure to the forgotten places of North Africa and the
legendary Timbuktu.Once the seat of African civilization and home to the richest man who ever
lived this mythic city is now scarred by terrorist occupation and is so remote its own
inhabitants hail you with the greeting 'Welcome to the middle of nowhere'.From the cattle
markets of the Atlas across the Western Sahara and up the Niger river Nicholas joins the
camps of the Tuareg Fulani Berbers and other communities to learn about their craft their
values and their place in the world.The Timbuktu School for Nomads is a unique look at a
resilient city and how the nomads pit ancient ways of life against the challenges of the 21st
century.
