100% customisable travel idea
Djanet and the Tassili n’Ajjer The Sahara is back
Algeria - Sahara - Djanet - Tassili n’Ajjer
100% customisable travel idea
Algeria - Sahara - Djanet - Tassili n’Ajjer
100% customisable for you
Airport transfer to your hotel for an overnight stay in Ifri district. Your hotel is simple but pleasantly laid out. Here you’ll experience the atmosphere and warm welcome typical of Saharan towns. In your room, you’ll find everything you need. The common areas, both indoors and out, are inviting spaces where you can relax and share your impressions and ideas. The food, cooked on the premises, is like everything else here - unpretentious but carefully prepared. The plants in the garden show a determined, drought-loving spirit in providing shade and their effort is much appreciated. Now, the adventure has begun - for tomorrow, we sleep under canvas!
Jump into your all-terrain vehicle with your Tuareg driver-guide and head towards the Tikoubaouine Dune, on the outskirts of Essendilene. Cross about 100 kilometres (60 miles) of alternating sandy stretches and rocky outcrops. Some rock formations bring to mind a desert version of Ha Long Bay. Upon arrival, the first camp is set up for the first bivouac. Before dinner and the stars come out, take a one-hour hike to stretch your legs and watch the sunset: a flamboyantly colourful “good night”.
This morning, walk through a narrow canyon to suddenly come upon the Essendilene Oasis, which is now uninhabited. Resilient bushes, palm trees and oleanders have a special presence, thanks, in part, to their sudden appearance. Continue towards the gueltas (natural reservoirs). The Tuaregs know these places well as they are important to them and their camels, donkeys and goats. The gueltas are indispensable to their nomadic culture. In such an arid landscape, water and vegetation are treasures that explain many aspects of the civilisations challenged by the desert.
Today, between Dider and Iherir, you’ll visit the rock art site of Tin Taghirt. The engravings are of exceptional quality - fluid and swirling, with a striking dynamic realism. Spot running ostriches, a dozing antelope, buffalo with long, supple horns, and human figures, sometimes interacting with the animals. Tassili n’Ajjer is an extraordinary repository of this prehistoric virtuosity, which dates from 10,000 to 9,000 BCE. One feels a slight sense of vertigo at the change of surroundings these representations suggest. Bivouac at Iherir.
Set off early in the morning for the canyon and village of Idaren. With its dry stone enclosures and thatched-roof huts, it seems to rise from the earth itself. Down below, palm trees thrive at the foot of steep cliffs. Then, continue to the Afara Desert. This time, Monument Valley comes to mind. Erosion has worked on a grand scale here and shaped cyclopean landscapes. The regs (stony plains) spread out into vast deposits of black gravel. There is nothing particularly welcoming about this area, but it is a radical, mineral landscape that commands respect.
In contrast, you’ll next come to the light-coloured sand of Erg Admer, one of the largest dune fields in the Sahara. Perhaps less dramatic than the rest, but it is vast and effectively evokes the intangible span of geological time in the shifting uncertainty of its shapes. The Neolithic site of La Vache qui Pleure (The Crying Cow) is outstanding. The genius of the ancient sculptors of these bovids shines through in the confidence of their lines, the harmony of the images, the subtle effects of stylisation, and the elegant realism. Last night in the bivouac.
Return to Djanet. Although this oasis has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic period, the medieval settlement was, and remains, first and foremost a Tuareg creation. Closer to our time, in the 20th century, it is linked to the history of French méhariste soldiers and the French colonisation of the Sahara. Tuareg leader Cheikh Amoud Ag El Mokhtar’s resistance to this advance is part of the epic. Djanet is now the gateway for visiting Tassili n’Ajjer National Park. Overnight in the same hotel as on arrival.
Transfer to the airport and flight home.
Every day, our travel specialists craft bespoke experiences shaped around each traveller's profile, desires and budget. These passionate experts design experiences delivered on the ground by a local network of Concierges and trusted contacts. These fully customisable, made-to-measure trips are complemented by a wide range of high-end services (lounges, 24/7 assistance, travel booklet, app, Wi-Fi, restaurant booking, etc.)
Let us create your trip
Travel with complete freedom, guided by your interests,
ideas and passions.
250 travel specialists, organised by country and region. Driven by a passion for beauty and never short of ideas, they inspire you and design an ultra-personalised journey: itineraries, accommodation, workshops, encounters, and more.
Always at your service: with a dedicated travel specialist, Concierge service and 24/7 assistance, our teams support you and adapt in real time, for a trip that is both flexible and expertly supported.
With family, as a couple, in a group of ten, on a road trip, by train, by boat, for a weekend or a round-the-world journey... Trips tailored to your preferences, enhanced by clever services, for ever smoother travel.
