"The trucks—big green flatbed diesels—are loaded to preposterous heights. Boxy steel shipping containers provide the sturdy foundation for huge burlap sacks containing prayer mats, sandals, blankets…and woven plastic bags labeled 'China Rice/Product of Libya.' Then—often 15 to 20 feet (4 to 6 meters) off the ground—rides an upper layer of passengers draped in robes and packed together as tight as the rice in the white sacks they sit upon."

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