[meteorite-list] Meteorite Hunters - hidalgos of other kind
From: Svend Buhl <svendbuhl_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:29:59 2004 Message-ID: <200309240902.h8O92DQ22098_at_mailgate5.cinetic.de> <html><base href=3D"https://freemail.web.de/"/><style>p {margin: 0px}</style= ><BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff><BASE href=3Dhttps://freemail.web.de/><STYLE>p {margi= n: 0px}</STYLE><BASE href=3Dhttps://freemail.web.de/><STYLE>p {margin: 0px}<= /STYLE><BASE href=3Dhttps://freemail.web.de/><STYLE>p {margin: 0px}</STYLE><= BASE href=3Dhttps://freemail.web.de/><STYLE>p {margin: 0px}</STYLE><BASE hre= f=3Dhttps://freemail.web.de/><STYLE>p {margin: 0px}</STYLE><P> </P><P>D= avid and list,</P><P> </P><P>I remember the picture you are refering = to, here is the link. <A href=3D"http://www.agadez.de/Reisebericht.html">htt= p://www.agadez.de/Reisebericht.html</A></P><P> </P><P>Concerning the = people on the trucks they are in no way meteorite hunters. I have seen thi= s kind of transport myself few times in the Agadez area / Republic of= Niger and further east in Bilma. I had the opportunity to talk with = the middlesmen who are organizing this modern slave trade - mostly Touareg= or Haussa tribesmen. </P><P> </P><P>The transports with vintage Magi= rus or Mercedes trucks start in the South of the Republic of Nig= er or in the Burkina Faso- Ghana border area and end in Libya. The hu= man truckload usually consists of poor people from Mali, Tschad, Sudan and= sometimes Nigeria heading for a better future in the "rich" northafrican = countries, esspecially Libya. They had to work hard, sometimes for ye= ars to pay for the passage. Their far goal is to reach Europe via Italy or= Spain but only a handful make it every year. Some of these refugees = run out of money on their way and end up in Agadez or Arlit in prostitutio= n or the conterbande business. Those who reach Libya are stacked into huge= Ghettos and kept as cheep labourers in the south with no chance to contin= ue to Tripolis.</P><P> </P><P>The 1500 mile trip through the fearsome= T=E9n=E9re up to Sebha in Libya costs an enormous number of victims every yea= r. Water is only carried along a few gallons per person and from time to t= ime a breakdown causes the worn out trucks to fall out of t= he collumn or stop in the desert. If the problem cant be fixed and no othe= r vehicle passes by within days the partys of up to 300 people (on one tru= ck!) are doomed. Cases of cannibalism are reported from such incidents in = 1998 and 2001 with details beyond imagination. Because the trips are illeg= al the Niger-Libya or Niger-Algeria borders are crossed in the desert far = off the beaten tracks. Reconaissance patrols of the Algerian and Niger-Arm= y sometimes bury mumified corpses - passengers who lost grip and fell off = the trucks during night.</P><P> </P><P>The main route of the conterba= nde is running through the wadi of Taffassasset, east of the Tassili Ahogg= ar (the strewfield of the Tafassasset CR-chondrite) but believe me, these = people do have other things in mind than collect meteorites. </P><P> = </P><P>To sum it up: not every group of nomads in the desert is a fun= ny bunch of meteorite hunters chasing their piece of the meteorite cake. <= /P><P> </P><P>regards</P><P> </P><P>Svend</P><P> </P><P><A = href=3D"http://www.niger.meteorite.recon.de/">http://www.niger.meteorite.rec= on.de/</A></P><P><A href=3D"mailto:info_at_niger-meteorite-recon.de">info@niger= -meteorite-recon.de</A></P><P> </P><P>"David Gregory" <dgregory072= 4_at_rogers.com> schrieb am 24.09.03 04:20:43:<BR></P><TABLE id=3Dalt style=3D= "PADDING-LEFT: 10px; MARGIN-LEFT: 20px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><TBOD= Y><TR><TD><DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Dear List</FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT fa= ce=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV><DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2> &nbs= p; Can anyone help me find the picture of the greatly overload= ed truck with the Moroccan meteorite hunters covering every square foot of= it. Im giving a talk on meteorites and it represents the enthusiasm and d= esire of the locals to get on board and look for those black rocks that us= westerner want. Many thanks for your consideration. Best regards David Gr= egory</FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR><BR><BR></body></html> =5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F= =5F=5F=5F=5F<br>Die Besten ihrer Klasse! WEB.DE FreeMail (1,7) und WEB.DE Club (1,= 9) -<br>bei der Stiftung Warentest - ein Doppelsieg! <A HREF=3D"http://f.web= .de/=3Fmc=3D021184"><B>http://f.web.de/=3Fmc=3D021184</B></A> Received on Wed 24 Sep 2003 05:02:13 AM PDT |
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