Destination: Kumasi , Ghana

Delicately-etched wooden milk bowls like these can be found throughout Africa. We were told that these particular specimens come from the Tuareg tribe in Nigeria, who use them to collect goat’s milk. A Berber people, the Tuareg are a nomadic group that converted to Islam around the 16th century, though interestingly enough, it’s not Tuareg women who wear veils, but the Tuareg men. These distinctive veils, known as tagelmust, or cheche, are indigo blue and have given rise to the whimsical nickname “The Blue Men of the Sahara.”