Migrants headed to Libya are stuffed into the back of a pickup truck as they begin the first day of their five day journey across the Sahara to Libya.
A camel rests under a tree in the desert north of Agadez, Niger. Temperatures in the Sahara easily rise to 45 C during the day and plummet to the low 20s at night.
The lights of trucks carrying migrants to Libya dot the desert horizon in northern Niger. Over 100 trucks leave the town of Agadez every Monday evening, each pickup carrying 20-25 migrants all with hopes of reaching Europe.
Truckloads of migrants destined for Libya stop at a final desert outpost three hours north of Agadez, Niger.
Dust covers the face of a young migrant headed to Libya.
The barefeet of migrants hang from the back of a pickup truck carrying them to Libya.
A migrant holds onto the back of a pickup as it comes to a stop.
Migrants change money to Libyan Dinars. Each migrant pays 150,000 West African CFA Francs (roughly $250) for their journey north from Agadez, Niger to Sabha, Libya.
A young boy rests against the stick used to keep him from falling from the back of the pickup as it tears across the Sahara. Any passenger who falls unseen at night will almost certainly die, not due to the fall but because of the desert's relentless heat the following day.
A migrant prays in the headlights of a pickup truck carrying him to Libya.
Vendors sell drinks to a truckload of West African migrants headed north across the desert to Libya.
Broken sunglasses hang from the dust-covered neck of a young migrant headed to Libya.
A young Nigerian woman headed across the Sahara changes money from the back of the pickup truck that will transport her to Libya.
Trucks carrying migrants pass back into the desert as vendors push their carts back to wait for more trucks at a small desert outpost a few hours north of Agadez. Smugglers time their departure into the desert to within a few hours, forming a loose caravan in the hopes that it will provide some shred of security against the increasingly lawless Sahara.