--- description: Libya's leader prefers the je ne sais quoi of a portable Bedouin shelter both at home and on the roadby Miral Sattar title: Inside the Tents of Muammar Gaddafi image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) # Inside the Tents of Muammar Gaddafi by [TIME](/author/time/) Mar 9, 2011 5:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Mar 9, 2011 5:00 AM CUT Libya’s leader prefers theje ne sais quoiof a portable Bedouin shelter both at home and on the roadby Miral Sattar ### Home, Sweet Home  Gaddafi is all smiles in his father's tent in Libya, August 1973\. The "Brother Leader" was raised in a Berber family that lived in traditional Bedouin shelters. Genevieve Chauvel / Sygma / Corbis ### Have Tent, Will Travel  Gaddafi's office in Tripoli, Libya, in 1986\. Notorious for conducting his business meetings in tents, Gaddafi travels with one everywhere he goes. Bernard Bisson / Sygma / Corbis ### Checkered Pasts  Gaddafi and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak get down to business in 1992. Frederic Neema / Sygma / Corbis ### Color Coordinated  Gaddafi takes a seat in his traveling tent before a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine, during a 2008 visit. Note the matching green fly swatter on the table. Konstantin Chernichkin/ Reuters / Corbis ### Home Fires Burning  During a November 2008 trip to Moscow, Gaddafi was permitted to pitch his tent in a Kremlin garden. Alexei Druzhinin / Reuters / Corbis ### Far From Roughing It  The Libyan leader brought in a bit of furniture for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's visit to Tripoli on October 14th, 2004. John MacDougall / AFP / Getty Images ### Low Tech  Who needs a computer and projector when guests can present issues on an easel? Gaddafi gives his undivided attention to a Sudanese tribal leader in Tripoli, Libya, on May 9, 2005. Osama Ibrahim / AFP / Getty Images ### Life’s a Beach  For the 2009 Africa and South America Summit, Gaddafi had his tent set up in a lovely spot by the water in Porlamar, on Margarita Island, Venezuela. Fernando Llano / AP ### Conference Room  In 2009, Gaddafi caused a stir when he wanted to pitch his Bedouin tent in Central Park for the United Nations General Assembly. In the end, he was forced to settle for a perch in upstate New York, but because of permit problems, never actually used it. Mary Altaffer / AP Inside the Tents of Muammar Gaddafi - Photo Essays - TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7060309/inside-the-tents-of-muammar-gaddafi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7060309/inside-the-tents-of-muammar-gaddafi/"},"headline":"Inside the Tents of Muammar Gaddafi","datePublished":"2011-03-09T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T10:45:35.697Z","description":"Libya's leader prefers the je ne sais quoi of a portable Bedouin shelter both at home and on the roadby Miral Sattar","url":"https://time.com/archive/7060309/inside-the-tents-of-muammar-gaddafi/","keywords":["LightBox"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7060309/inside-the-tents-of-muammar-gaddafi/","name":"Inside the Tents of Muammar Gaddafi"}}]}] ```