Six days and 230 kilometers to cover the Sahara desert between immense sand dunes and land strewn with large stones, suffering from the heat, but also from sandstorms: this is the journey of the hundreds of participants in the Marathon des Sables but also from a camel driver officiating as a "broom wagon" to become a legendary character in the race.

Like every legend, everyone knows him but no one knows anything about him.

Small size, very dull complexion and weathered skin, this nomad says he is 53 years old.

He walks with his stick, two of his five dromedaries and another camel driver, taller, younger and much less popular.

But who is he?

Where does he live ?

"I live in the desert, still in the desert, I was born in the desert, I live in tents, and I move with my animals when they are looking for food," he told AFP.

A man of the desert, he still has a house near Zagora, in southern Morocco, where his wife and two children live, about 300 kilometers from the province of Errachidia, where the race is played. we with Bashir, a member of the organization and who takes care of him.

Naji's dromedaries escort a late Marathon des Sables competitor en route to Jebel Mraïer, March 31, 2022 JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK AFP / Archives

Selfies

On foot, linking Zagora to Errachidia takes two and a half days.

A journey that he will repeat once the race is over after having completed the stages.

On the bivouac, he lends himself to the game of the multitude of selfies with the competitors.

But he always settles far from the runners.

Popularity is heavy in the long run.

Once the stage started, his two dromedaries equipped with a GPS chip like the runners and held by a rope, he follows in the footsteps of the last of the race, climbing the sand dunes with impressive agility when certain participants start to four legs to climb.

With his mobile phone in his pocket - an old Nokia - he roams the Sahara to the rhythm of his dromedaries, animals that have their own character.

A dromedary from the Marathon des Sables escort in position while the competitors prepare their departure, March 26, 2022 Timgaline JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK AFP / Archives

"The dromedary is nice if you're nice to him. If you've done something wrong, I swear, he follows you. If he doesn't hurt you this year, it will be next year!", he said raising his hand and waving his index finger.

The camel driver and his one-humped camelids will also have their medal.

© 2022 AFP