Djanet and the Tassili, the Algerian Sahara

The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world, and Algeria holds a huge part of it: more than four-fifths of the country is desert. In its far south-east, near the borders with Libya and Niger, the land rises into the Tassili n'Ajjer, a vast plateau of eroded sandstone, which in the language of the Tuareg means plateau of the rivers. There are no rivers now. But there were once, and the people who lived here when the desert was green left a record of their world painted and carved on the rocks.

The town of Djanet

The gateway to the Tassili is Djanet, an oasis town in a valley of palm groves at the foot of the plateau. It is a Tuareg town, and many of its people still wear the long robes and the indigo veils for which the Tuareg are known. From Djanet, travellers set out into the desert by four-wheel drive and on foot, camping under the stars.

The rock art

The Tassili n'Ajjer is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, both for its landscapes and for its rock art. More than fifteen thousand paintings and engravings have been recorded on the plateau, made over thousands of years, from perhaps twelve thousand years ago to the start of the common era. They are a unique record of the changing climate of the Sahara, which was much wetter in the past, with lakes, grassland and great herds of animals.

The oldest engravings show animals that could not survive in the desert today: elephants, giraffes, rhinos and hippos. Later paintings show herds of cattle and their herders, with scenes of daily life, dances and hunting, and strange round-headed figures whose meaning is unclear. The latest show horses and chariots, and finally camels, introduced as the desert spread. Seeing them in place, in the overhangs and shelters where they were painted, is one of the great experiences of the Sahara.

Rock forests and dunes

The landscapes are as remarkable as the art. Over millions of years, wind and water have carved the sandstone of the Tassili into extraordinary shapes: towers, arches, pillars and mushroom rocks, standing in clusters like stone forests. Between them run canyons and sandy valleys, and in places there are still pools of water, the gueltas, where a small population of desert crocodiles survived until the twentieth century.

South-east of Djanet, near the Libyan border, the Tadrart is a region of red and orange dunes and tall rock formations, among the most beautiful landscapes in the Sahara. Its canyons, such as those of El Biridj and Djaren, are lined with engravings, and the dunes at Tin Merzouga and the rock formations at places like Tin Koukak are famous for their colours at sunset and dawn. Nights in the desert are silent and, away from any town, the stars are astonishing.

Life in the desert camps follows Tuareg custom. Tea is the ritual of every halt: green tea brewed with mint and a great deal of sugar, poured from a height to raise a froth, and served in three small glasses, which, the saying goes, are bitter as life, sweet as love and gentle as death. Djanet also keeps an old festival of its own, the Sebiba, a ceremony of drumming and dancing held each year at the time of Ashura, which UNESCO has recognised as part of the world's intangible heritage.

The tours

Explore Worldwide's Algeria's Sahara Desert Adventure, eight nights, starts in Algiers and spends its time in the desert around Djanet, with Timrass, Ali Dema, the El Biredj and Djaren canyons, the Tadrart, Tin Koukak and the Tassili n'Ajjer. It runs in January, from March to April and from October to December.

Explore's Ancient Algeria and the Sahara Desert, fifteen nights, combines the Roman sites of Cherchell, Tipaza and Timgad with the M'Zab valley at Ghardaïa and the oasis towns of Ouargla and Touggourt.

The desert season runs from October to April. In midwinter the days are pleasantly warm and the nights cold, sometimes close to freezing, so warm clothes are needed for camping. In summer, the heat is too fierce for travel.