The Tenere region was not always a desert.
During the prehistoric Carboniferous period it was a sea floor and later a tropical forest.
Dinosaur roamed the region and it was once the hunting ground of a crocodile-like reptile nicknamed the SuperCroc.
Tenere was inhabited by modern humans as long ago as the Paleolithic period some 60,000 years ago.
They hunted wild animals and left evidence of their presence in the form of stone tools.
But gradually, climate change reduced the area to a desert as the trees perished.
The Tenere region became inhospitable with little vegetation and an average annual rainfall of only 2.5 cm.
Water ended up being scarce even underground.
What is its secret?
How can it still be living in spite of the multitudes of camels which trample at its sides.
How at each azalai does not a lost camel eat its leaves and thorns?
The only answer is that the tree is taboo and considered as such by the caravaniers.
There is a kind of superstition, a tribal order which is always respected.
Each year the azalai gather round the Tree before facing the crossing of the Tenere.
It has since been replaced by a simple metal sculpture representing the tree.
