Actually through all the colonial activity in particular, as well as the trade from Europe which extends well into antiquity, tribal awareness of styles and forms from these weapons is understandable. Many tribal weapons are fashioned after European forms, and often bayonets were used for daggers much the way that trade blades enabled the production of swords.These of course another weapon well adopted from both European and Middle East arms.
In Morocco the so called 'Zanzibar' swords discussed here years ago, are the Moriccan s'boula daggers which are often found with French bayonets. In the Sahara, Sudan and many tribal areas little is ever discarded, and blades of any kind can be recycled and remounted countless times over generations.
While it is always tempting to classify any amomaly or unusual variant from these regions as 'commercially oriented', it must be remembered that these native weapons are not fashioned from a regulation pattern book. There were countless self styled artisans who created thier own weapons in the field, and the use of these hides including many crocodile types are known to have been favored by warriors during the Mahdist uprisings which the potent totemic value presumably imbued.
This one seems to have some good genuine age with the deterioration in the pommel under the hide, and I think this puts it quite plausibly in the Mahdist period. I must confess at first I thought it might be a 'creative' item as suggested for the burgeoning tourist market of the occupation, but second thoughts make me feel differently.
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