Sign up for free

Newsletters

Once a month
get new photos
and expert tips.

Photography
Main Photo Galleries Wallpapers Photo of the Day Photographers Photo Tips Buy Prints

Mother Camel and Baby, Sahara, Chad, 1999

A young dromedary camel peeks underneath its mother as she casually drinks in the Guelta Archeï, a steep canyon in the Chadian Sahara. But camels beware. These isolated waters hold a zoological surprise: Algae, fertilized by camel droppings, are eaten by fish that are preyed upon by a group of crocodiles.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Journey to the Heart of the Sahara," March 1999, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by George Steinmetz