Similar in many ways to field and ice hockey, but played barefoot and with palm wood sticks, the ancient game is called "mokhacha" in the local Hassani Arabic dialect
Locals play hockey during the 15th International Nomad Festival in Mhamid el-Ghizlane in Morocco's southern Sahara desert Photography Fadel Senna / AFP
In a Moroccan oasis town on the edge of the Sahara, nomads in turbans and tunics are thwacking a camel-wool ball across the desert in a traditional pastime: sand hockey.
Similar in many ways to field and ice hockey, but played barefoot and with palm wood sticks, the ancient game is called "mokhacha" in the local Hassani Arabic dialect.
"We play mokhacha in our spare time," said one participant, Hamadi Boudani, at the recent International Nomads Festival in the southern town of M'hamid El Ghizlane.
"Our ancestors were nomads and as soon as they pitched their camp somewhere they would first rest and then, to pass the time, they would start a game," he said.
"This game is part of Saharan tradition."