Over millions of years, the wind and rain have sculpted the Ennedi Massif in Chad's remote north-eastern corner into a plateau of inselbergs, lonely spires and towering arches the colour of honeycomb. Meanwhile, primeval people have decorated this landscape, too, painting and carving thousands of images into the rock. 

数百万年来，风雨将乍得偏远东北角的Ennedi Massif雕刻成了一片高原，遍布孤山、孤零零的尖顶和蜂巢色的高耸拱门。同时，原始人也为这片风景贡献了力量，他们在岩石上雕刻和绘制了成千上万的图像。 

Reaching this region involves a bumpy 1,000km, four-day-drive from the capital N'Djamena through the Sahara. Because of its utter remoteness and the fact that Chad, until recently, has suffered years of fighting – including coups, ethnic bloodshed and a war against Libya – the Ennedi Massif remains largely unknown. So few scientists have been able to reach this inaccessible landscape that it's believed 75% of the massif has yet to be studied, leading some to characterise it as "less explored than the back of the Moon".

从首都恩贾梅纳穿过撒哈拉沙漠到达这里需要四天，长达1000公里的车程。由于地处偏远，而且乍得直到最近还经历了多年的战争——包括政变、种族流血事件和对利比亚的战争——可以说Ennedi Massif仍然鲜为人知。很少有科学家能够到达这片人迹罕至的地貌地区，据说该地块的75%区域尚待研究，因此一些人描述其为“比月球背面所知更少”的地方。

Ennedi's obscurity is heightened because the UK advises against travelling to much of Chad (the area around the Ennedi Massif is considered safe, however). 

英国建议不要前往乍得的大部分地区（不过Ennedi Massif周围的地区被认为是安全的。）

For those who do make the journey, Ennedi has one of the globe's biggest concentrations of prehistoric rock art. Paintings adorn the walls of almost every cave you step into. Although they are not as old as those in France's Lascaux or Indonesia's 45,500-year-old pig painting, many date to the 6th millennium BCE and reveal the shifting history of the world's largest hot desert. 

对于那些真的前往探索Ennedi的人来说，Ennedi是全球最大的史前岩画集中地之一。你所踏入的每个洞穴中的墙壁上几乎都有岩画。虽然它们的年代比不上法国Lascaux或是印度尼西亚45,500年前的猪壁画那样久远，但它们中的许多仍可以被追溯到公元前6千年，揭示了世界上最大的炎热沙漠的变迁历史。

"These paintings help us to reconnect with our identity, our culture and where we come from. Ennedi is an open book to the history of our ancestors," said Angèle Aloumbe, who works for African Parks and is based in N'Djamena. "I'm always crying when I go to Ennedi. It's such a beautiful landscape with very untouched people. No one can go there without feeling a connection. It has something really special." 

“这些画帮我们重新认识我们的身份、文化和我们的传承。Ennedi是一本打开我们祖先历史的书，”Angèle Aloumbe说，他在非洲公园工作，常驻N'Djamena，“去Ennedi的时候我总是要流泪。那是一个风景可人的地方，那里的人们非常淳朴。所有人都能在那里感受到一种归属感。它就是有这样的魔力。”

Here, deep in the desert, I was alone with the ancient world. There were no buildings or roads for miles; whereas elsewhere, most early art is surrounded by the noise of tourism or shut to the public for protection.

在这里，在沙漠深处，我独自与古老的世界相处。连着数英里都没有任何建筑或是道路。而现在大部分地方，古老的艺术都被旅游的喧嚣所包围，或是要受保护而对公众关闭。

In 2016, Ennedi – roughly the size of Switzerland – was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site. Shortly afterwards, it was classified as a Natural and Cultural Reserve and taken under the protection of the renowned non-profit conservation organisation African Parks. And earlier this year, a long-term archaeological study began that will not only map all the rock art sites, but also investigate the surrounding ground for ancient ceramics, plant pollen and animal bones. "When an Italian archaeologist recently came for a brief visit, he found, within half an hour, a 7,000-year-old piece of pottery," said my Italian guide, Andrea Bonomo, who works for the company Spazi d'Avventura, which has been running trips to Chad for 30 years. "Imagine what they will find with more time." 

2016年，面积相当于瑞士的Ennedi被列为联合国教科文组织世界遗产。不久之后也成为了自然和文化保护区，并受到著名的非营利保护组织非洲公园的保护。今年的早些时候，一项针对该地区的长期考古研究开始了，不仅要绘制所有岩画遗址的地图，还要调查周围地面的古代陶瓷、植物花粉和动物骨骼。“当一位意大利考古学家最近来进行短暂访问时，他仅花了半小时就发现了一件有7000年历史的陶器，”我的意大利向导Andrea Bonomo说道，他在Spazi d'Avventura公司工作，该公司30年来一直运营乍得旅行业务，“想象一下给他们更多时间他们能发现什么。”

To reach Ennedi, Bonomo and I drove through savannah with desert roses, yellow grasses and acacia trees gleaming gold. We passed nomadic Wodaabe and Oulad-Rachid people on the move. Women and children rode up on camels, seated inside colourful chariots decorated with vivid fabrics, carved calabashes and rows of bronze bowls. Men walked alongside, leather amulets strapped across their chests like small suitcases to protect them from evil. Then the tarmac road stopped, the land emptied of trees and entering Ennedi was like stepping through a portal into a place between worlds.

为了到达Ennedi，Bonomo和我开车经过了沙漠玫瑰、黄草和闪闪发光金合欢树。经过了游牧的沃达贝人和乌拉德-拉希德人。妇女和儿童骑着骆驼，坐在装饰着鲜艳织物、雕饰葫芦和成排青铜碗的彩色战车内。男人走在旁边，胸前挂着皮革附身符以保护它们免受邪祟侵害。然后柏油碎石道走到了尽头，这片土地上没有任何树木，而Ennedi就像是一个入口，连接着两个不同的世界。

Ennedi's rock art reveals the changes that have happened over millennia to this land. Like the whole of the Sahara, the area was once green and glittered with lakes. Many people once lived here, but now few do. As I wandered among the red monoliths, I saw images of elephants, rhinos, giraffes and ostriches – all common wild animals in Ennedi.

Ennedi的岩石艺术揭示了这片土地几千年来经历的变化。就像整个撒哈拉沙漠一样，这片地区曾经绿意盎然，湖泊闪闪发光。曾经也有许多居民住在这里，但是现在罕有人迹。当我漫步在红色巨岩之间时，我看到了大象、犀牛、长颈鹿和鸵鸟的身影——这些都是恩内地常见的野生动物。

On many of the rock surfaces, I spotted different styles of painting. When Bonomo and I later visited the regional office of African Parks in the frontier town of Fada, I met with local archaeologist Dr Guemona Djimet. "Unlike elsewhere in the Sahara, where places were abandoned, people have continuously lived here since the Neolithic times," he said. "This is shown by the diversity of art superimposed on top of each other and is what makes Ennedi so special." 

在许多岩石表面，我发现了许多不同风格的岩画。当后来我和Bonomo参观位于边境城镇Fada的非洲公园地区办公室时，我回见了当地的考古学家Dr Guemona Djimet。“与撒哈拉沙漠其他像是被遗弃了的地方不同，自新石器时代以来这里一直都有人居住，”他说，“艺术多样性的相互叠加就表明了这一点，这也是Ennedi特别之处。”

Djimet said that African Parks is trying to educate local people about the paintings' historical importance and are pointing out correlations to life today to school children. "We show them details like the men wearing knives on their arms, just like their parents," he said. "And the dancing is similar to that of the Kereda people, who now live south in the Sahel."

Djimet说，非洲公园正试图让当地人了解这些画作的历史重要性，并向学生们指出了它们与当今生活的相关性。“我们向学生们展示了一些细节，比如手臂上戴着刀的男人，就像他们的父母一样，”他说，“还有一些舞蹈的画作，上面展示的动作与现在居住在Sahel的凯雷达人的舞蹈很相似。”

"This is a reserve, not a park. People have lived here for thousands of years so we need to work alongside them," Djimet said.

“这片地方是个保护区，不是个闲逛的公园。而当地人们在这里生活了几千年，所以我们需要和他们协同工作。”Djimet说道。

This land certainly seemed anachronistic. We passed archaic ironworks, their stoves still sitting in the drifts, and uncovered Neolithic houses, tumuli and antique grinding stones. 

这片土地显得有些不合时宜。我们走过了古老的炼铁厂，炼铁厂的炉子还留在废墟中，我们还看到了新石器时代的房屋、古墓和古老磨石。

As archaeological explorations get underway, the Ennedi Massif may finally reveal a few of its ancient secrets.

随着考古探索的进行，Ennedi Massif的古老秘密可能最终会被揭晓。