Araouane

Araouane is a desert settlement north of Timbuktu, on the caravan route to the salt mines of Taoudenni. Wells made it a valuable stopping place for travellers and their camels crossing the Sahara. Caravans carried slabs of salt south towards the Niger and brought provisions back into the desert. The town’s position tied its inhabitants to a long-distance trade that depended on knowledge of wells, seasons and the difficult passage across the sand.