View of a Manasir Bedouin encampment in the Al Khatam sands near Al Ain. Six men and children relax around a fire in front of a large tent erected in an expanse of sand dotted with scattered bushes. Four Manasir sit in a circle around the fire while a fifth Manasir man stands up next to the tent. An Arab man, a falconer in Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's hunting party, stands to the right of the group. He wears a cartridge belt with leather suspenders over his thobe (long shirt) and an embroidered ghutra (headscarf). The tent behind the group is clad in striped woven blankets and large palm mats. Cloths and a large platter rest on a large dry bush in to the left of the tent. In the distance beyond bushes grow across a vast plain of rolling sands, bordered along the far horizon by a line of low dunes. This image was taken between December 20, 1948, and January 27, 1949, during which time Wilfred Thesiger stayed with Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in Al Ain and joined him on a number of hunting excursions.
Due to the nature of these images, prints will reproduce any signs of age, wear or damage that occurred before they were archived by the Pitt Rivers Museum.