A Mauritanian National Guardsman demonstrates a thermal image from a camera attached to a drone outside Oualata in April 2025. These desert cavalrymen, known as Méharistes, plod across the Sahara on camels. In recent years, they have regained a central role in the nation’s security strategy. Their patrols are crucial in a vast territory that shares 2,200 kilometers of a sparsely populated border with Mali, a nation for years plagued by terrorism and insurgency. The camels can move where even four-wheel-drive vehicles become immobilized. The guard had dwindled to about 50 people a few years ago due to a lack of resources. But since 2019, it has grown to about 150 men and a herd of 400 camels. They have helped the country defend its borders and serve as a key support system for isolated communities.
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