Tassili N'Ajjer, Algeria, October, 2024 Participants:  5 confirmed    6 tentative Trip Status:  CONFIRMED

Day 0. – Algiers - Djanet

Air Algerie departs at 23:00 to Djanet (sometimes direct, sometimes via Tamanrasset), arriving early next morning. This permits international arrivals up to late afternoon on this day, spending the afternoon and evening at the fine cafeteria of the Domestic terminal. If any of you elect to arrive a day or two earlier (to see Algiers or to get rid of the jetlag) I will help arrange a hotel in town or near the airport as preferred.

Day 1. - Djanet

We will need time to stock up on supplies and get our National Park passes, and in any case a lazy morning will be welcome after the night flight. I’ll do the necessary shopping in the morning, in the afternoon we will have time to visit some rock art sites and preislamic monuments in the Djanet vicinity, then drive to the foot of the Akba Tafilalet in the evening to camp, in order to make an early start in the cool of the morning.

Day 2. - Akba Tafilalet

At dawn our bags and supplies will be loaded on to the donkeys, and we will ascend the Tafilalet pass (about 4-5 hours from bottom to plateau top at a slow easy pace). Our first camp will be at the top of the pass, where there are a number of little known but quite spectacular paintings (including a very nice roundhead site), which we can visit at a relaxed pace after a good midday rest. From here we will continue with camels, the donkeys used to carry our luggage up the pass (which is unsuitable for camels, who have taken a longer, more circuitous route) returning to Djanet.

Day 3 - Upper Tamrit – Timenzouzine - Tan Zumeïtak

In the morning our camels will continue to the camp at Tan Zumeïtak, while we will take a more circuitous route via the Antilopes of Tamrit and some other upper Tamrit sites to Timenzouzine, where we can spend most of the morning and midday. In the afternoon we shall continue to Tan Zumeïtak, where we should arrive with enough time to visit the main site about 400m from camp. Day’s distance about 10km.

Day 4 - Tin Talak – In Itinen

In the morning we will visit the sites of Tin Talak (reported by Bernard Fouilleux, not recorded by the Lhote missions) , from where we will continue to the Oued In Itinen to reach a concentration of sites recorded by Lhote in the early sixties, an area not on the regular tourist trail. We should have enough time in the afternoon to see the In Itinen highlights. Day’s distance about 8km.

Day 5 - In Itinen – Ouan Assakemar - Ouan Derbauen

In the morning we’ll continue with the remaining In Itinen sites, then make a slow walk to Ouan Derbauen (~2km) via the sites of Ouan Assakemar, with enough time in the afternoon for the Ouan Derbauen sites.

Day 6 - Ouan Derbauen – Ouan Bender

From Ouan Derbauen Ouan Bender is a short 3km, we shold comfortably be there by mid-morning (even with some remaining sites to be seen at Ouan Derbauen in the morning), we will spend the rest of the day at Ouan Derbaouen.

Day 7 - Ouan Bender - Tin Aboteka

In the morning we tick off the remaining Ouan Bender sites, then move to Tin Aboteka (about 2km), visiting the numerous sites there in the afternoon.

Day 8 - Tin Tazarift

In the morning we will continue to Tin Tazarift (about 1.5km), where we will spend the rest of the day visiting all the important sites.

Day 9 - Tin Tazarift – Tin Teferiest - Sefar

The distance to be covered is not much, a total of approximately three kilometres. In the morning we will start out towards Tin Teferiest (in reality the western extension of Sefar), where we will visit the important known roundhead sites before slowly moving among the rocks towards the east, there the Lhote missions have recorded a number of fine sites, the exact location of which is not known. Even with the search, I expect we will reach the first sites of Sefar by midday-early afternoon, where we can spend the rest of the day before moving to the Sefar camp.

Day 10 - Sefar

We will spend a full day (and two nights, saving having to break camp) at Sefar, the most important rock art locality on the Tassili. We will have the opportunity to re-visit sites to suit the best light conditions for photography.

Day 11 - Sefar South (Tin Raïcha)

We will continue for about 5km south along the edge of the Sefar “rock city” for about 5km, where a large contcentration of sites (Tin Raïcha ) were reported by Bernard Fouilleux (not recorded by the Lhote missions). We’ll spend the rest of the day visiting the numerous sites, camping in the area.

Day 12 - Rayaye - Ozaneare

A longer walk of about 12 kilometres, passing by the sites of Rayaye, camping at Ozaneare, with enough time left to visit the northern side of the locality with the „culoir tête ronde” and „culoir bovidien”.

Day 13 - Ozaneare – Tabarakat - Jabbaren

About 8km to Jabbaren, with enough time to see the southern side of Ozaneare, then continue via the fine Chariot site of Tabarakat to the campsite. Depending on our progress, we may have time to visit some west Jabbaren sites close to camp.

Day 14 - Jabbaren

We will spend a full day (and two nights, saving having to break camp) at Jabbaren, another very important rock art locality on the Tassili. We will have the opportunity to re-visit sites to suit the best light conditions for photography.

Day 15 - Aouenrhet - Adjefou

We will spend the morning at Aouenrhet (really a ‘suburb’ of Jabbaren, less than a kilometre away accross the Wadi Amazar). From there we will continue to Adjefou, another five kilometres away where well camp.

Day 16 - Adjefou area

A full day (and two nights, saving having to break camp) in the Adjefou area. There are a number of interesting sites here recorded by the Lhote and Tchudi missions, but except for one (the “pyramidion” site) I don’t have precise location information, hopefully our guide will know some but still it might take some time to find them.

Day 17 - Akba Adjefane

Descent via the Akba Adjefane. As I have not descended ths way before, I don’t know how long it will take, I’m planning a whole day for a horizontal distance of about 11km till the point where cars can meet us.

Day 18 - Djanet (drive to Adjujel)

After the long trek on the plateau there will be a lazy morning in Djanet licking wounds and catching up on emails. This is also some reserve time in case for any reason we cannot make it down the pass in one day. Those departing with the overnigh flight can make a visit to Terarart (the “crying cows”) in the late afternoon, when the light is best. The rest of us will start out early afternoon for the drive to Adjujel north of the Dider plain. We will make camp about 2km east of the Tin Akn road, near a spectacular roundhead site we just discovered in March 2024.

Day 19 - Ti Leh-Leh

These sites are located in the Oued Zarzawa, about 6.5 km from our campsite along good easy terrain with no major altitude changes. It requires about 2.5 hours each way, so can be comfortably be done in a single day with plenty of time at the lovely but quite small sites. We should have time to look for site 1 which we failed to re-locate past March.

Day 20 - Adjujel – Tim Ras - Djanet

In the morning we may visit the superb Iheren style site of Adjujel (also the roundhead site near camp if we could not do so earlier), then slowly make our way back to Djanet, passing by the two chariot sites of Tim Ras, finishing at the crying cows (Terarart).

Day 21. Return to Algiers

Air Algerie flights to Algiers depart in the small hours, arriving early in the morning, connecting to onward international flights later in the morning & afternoon.

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