Tamanrasset to Djanet

For three days, 9-11 April, we travelled from Tamanrasset to Djanet through the Algerian Sahara. After registering our route with the Gendarmerie, we set off on Route National 1 to the North, then turned East towards Ideles. The track became variations of sand, gravel and stone, and the scenery became more interesting, with plains of tuff rubble, eroded volcanic peaks and sandstone mesas. Temperatures were very pleasant, in the low thirties, and everyone spent some time taking in the view from the roof of the Dutch Land Rover, except Haakon who was enjoying his bike. 

After checking in again with the police at Hirafok we drove on a few miles to camp in a well-wooded Oued, or dry river bed. With plenty of firewood, we were able to grill the chicken bought in Tam.

We passed to the North of Jebel Telerhteba, stopping at the first large dune we encountered to take some photos. Our second camp was on a gentle slope of sand under one of the large basalt hills in the area. Djafar went off in search of water, and as we climbed the hill we could see him far away, a tiny speck in the desert, heading for some greenery. The hill has outcrops of basalt columns like the Giant’s Causeway in Antrim. 

The next day we stopped to check a rattle under the car, and instead found a different problem – lots of diesel. The fuel lift pump had given up and was spraying fuel out of a small hole. We tried driving a few hours, but it got so bad that the Dutch could see a trail of diesel behind us in the sand, so we stopped to change the pump, as we had a spare.

It was a pleasure to drive on the regs as we got closer to the Erg d’Admer, since we could do a good speed without fear of hitting something nasty. Nevertheless, because of the repairs, it was later than planned when we reached the tar for Djanet. We did the last couple of hours in darkness on the potholed road. We made Djanet at 9pm and the town was brightly lit but already shut down. The campsite was taken over by the military, but we found a nice place in the town centre with a car park and adequate rooms. In Djanet we heard news of bomb attacks in Algiers. They were suicide attacks, which is unusual for Algeria, but apart from that the local opinion was that it was - sadly - not unusual, intractable, and far away. 

We ended up spending three nights in Djanet. It is the Alice Springs of Algeria - an outback outpost, full of hard looking desert characters, Berber and Arab, Toureg and Tourist. The standard vehicle is an ancient Land Cruiser with a rack of jerrys, sand ladders, shovel and grill on the roof and always a guerba – a water bag made of an entire goat skin – slung on the body. It was good to have a break, eat pizzas garnished with tinned tuna and mayonnaise, and laze around in the café under an arcade. This, like all the cafés in Arab world, is a mens' world, and sadly also alcohol free. But it does very good coffee and croissants.

Photos from Claire and Leon below.

Photos - Tamanrasset to Djanet

We are now in Ghardaia, a city made up of five old fortified towns. It is really beautiful, so we have decided to stay a second night. These are some photos of the journey from Tamanrasset to Djanet.

Travel companions - Claire and Leon from Netherlands in a Series III, and Haakon from Norway on his bike. The Dutch carried our guide, and Claire spent a lot of time on the roof

The roof was a a popular place to sit - good view, good breeze and no danger of this old Land Rover going too fast, especially on lava boulder terrain.

We crossed great gravel plains known as regs, and any feature, such as these boulders, stood out for miles. 

There wasn't too much sand - our guide knows the desert well and was very good at picking routes that avoided tricky sections.

 Not many trees either, so we were happy to use this one for a lunch stop.

Leon - generally he spends more time under the Land Rover than on top

For the first day we travelled through volcanic hills, like this one where we camped. It had to be climbed, and of course turned out to be a lot higher than it looked - we earned that Amsterdam beer. The hills have basalt columns like the Giants Causeway in Antrim, and they have crumbled to form boulder slopes.

Our camp (above) viewed from the mountain top (below)

 

Morning coffee

Back on the tar road, and a long way from Algiers

A Note from Algeria

Today we reached In-Salah in southern Algeria. We spent the last ten days crossing to Djanat near Libya and back via the Tefedest mountains. Great trip. Will post some photos when we reach Tunisia in a few days.

Wrecks of the Hoggar

The Hoggar Route crosses the Sahara. It is the classic central trans-Sahara route, and one of the very few passable in a non-4x4 vehicle. However, not all make it. There are some very sandy sections, especially on the Niger side between Agadez and the border. Dozens of vehicle carcasses litter the route, their paint sand-blasted.

Diesel and Dust, the road to Tamanrasset

The Algerian border post - we camped on their football pitch

Lots of this en route

Con and Haakon are wondering how this chap was changing an axle, solo, in the middle of nowhere; so far for five days

The first part of the road from the border town to Tamanrasset has nice tar

Later it doesn't

We have arrived in Tamanrasset, Algeria and it is a wonderful place. 35°C seems crisp and cool after the heat of Agadez and it has a Mediterranean feel despite being in the heart of the Sahara: pavement cafés under trees, good coffee again. It is also relaxing to have no hassles at all on the streets, no hawkers, no cadeaux cadeaux. Even the sky is clear of dust. 

I have already written too much car stuff, but it is hard to avoid. All I can say is that the roads, heat and dust are tough on all vehicles, and everyone has problems. The piste from Agadez to Tamanrasset is littered with the remains of hundreds of vehicles that never made it. So, the short version is as follows. 25km out of Agadez we had a big deja vu of Timbuktu - clutch went, the hydraulics (again) this time.

Back to Agadez, where after a day of work they found that the push rod was broken, a fault on all Discoverys and Range Rovers. They sourced a part, fixed it and we were off, two days late. Our Algeria guide had been waiting for us at the border, a lonely walled compound in the desert, and we met on the evening of the 6th April. The border was fine, the officials very friendly. 

The piste north is beautiful, with volcanic hills, rubble piles, some deep sand, some long fast stretches of harder sand. The piste braids often and the faster guide car (Toyota HJ80) and Haakon's bike went ahead and we travelled with the Dutch LR Series III. At one point we saw that they had taken a parallel piste in the distance and cut across to catch them (Con was with Leon, reclining in comfort, Claire with me). Just as we reached their piste my drive belt disintegrated in spectacular fashion. The guide car and Haakon arrived soon after, and though we had the spare belt on quickly, it was several hours before we caught up with Leon and Con - despite having the slowest vehicle, they made steady progress. 

The border had no fuel, so we were all low on diesel. Haakon had got petrol with special permit from the police. We managed to get 20 litres from a drilling work site. So there was a lot of jerry can work today, and we arrived coated in diesel and dust. A pleasant camp in the east of the town, where we met Yves and Mohammed of Tanezrouft Voyages, our agency. They have just returned from a short trip to Mali. Over dinner of camel brochettes they devised a two-week route for us that will take us East to Djanet, back to In Salah via the Tefedest mountains and to Tunisia.