Camel traders and herders sit in a tea hut in a camel market in El Obeid, Sudan on February 16, 2006. Yussuf Gamaa, 2nd from L, is a camel herder from Darfur. About 150,000 camels cross over from Sudan into Egypt every year, the majority as cattle as an inexpensive source of protein. Today the camel is both the caravan and the cargo. Camels from this market will travel the Forty Days Road or Darb el-Arbein a 1,200 mile desert trail into Egypt and the oldest trade route in the Sahara. Desert nomads like Yussuf depend on the profitable camel trade for their livelihood.

color image horizontal africa sudan day full length front view indoors sudanese ethnicity four people four mid adult men sitting joking laughing camp nomad smile tea thatch visit geocultcollection