"He knew how to make the salt caravan to Bilma ... threats of al Qaeda and drug smuggling in the Sahara, they needed to enlist the Tuareg. "The desert has no secrets from the Tuareg," he said ...

Today, the Sahara is decidedly arid ... Traders, often with camel caravans in tow, braved the harsh desert terrain to move goods across vast expanses, binding disparate cultures together.

the Earth's slow orbital 'wobble' transformed today's Sahara desert to a land covered with vegetation and lakes. Aa Aa Aa As he crossed by caravan from Tripoli to Timbuktu in the mid 1800s ...