Our petrol station near Batna where we are camped has
water, so the next morning we get our washing up to date and top up with water.
We are ready for the desert. As we head south the landscape gets dryer and we
see lots of palmeraies. After passing through a rocky gorge at Kantara the dry
plains spread out in front of us. The towns also change with less high-rise and
more berber-style houses. At the town of Doucen we spy the busy vege market and
so turn back and park. We wander around topping up our supplies, and as a bonus
spy a bread shop. Yes, they are open during Ramadan and are generally busy. I
don’t think I could look at those fresh baguettes and wait until dusk before I
could eat them. Slowly there are fewer towns as the desert gets dryer. It’s
nearly time to stop so when we see a decent sized petrol station /police
station at Guettara we pull over. Unfortunately, it is no go, the police want
us to move on to Guerrara 50km away saying it will be safer there as it is a
bigger town. We find a large petrol
station at the end of town, settle in and watch the sun setting over the
rubbish strewn dunes. When John goes for a wander he is given a Ramadan meal.
They are giving them out to all the drivers. Bonus, I don’t need to cook
tonight as it easily feeds the 2 of us.
We made such good time yesterday we should pull into
Ghardaia by mid-day, which will give us time to explore before we meet our
guide there tomorrow. All goes to plan. We head through the Berber town of
Berraine where we spy our first white ghostlike ladies who only have one eye
peeping out. Then head on to meet the big motorway south. As we cruise into
Ghardaia we stop to admire the magic view of the towns running alongside the
river valley. When we look around, we see the Belvedere Hotel where our guidebook
recommends the view so we make our way back to it. They have a huge carpark and
very few guests, so ask if we come to dinner in the Hotel and then stay in the
carpark overnight. And yes, we can. The very helpful guy at reception organizes
a taxi and driver to show us around and the next few hours we explore the old
casbahs, mosques and alleyways. What a maze. All the houses are built so they
receive equal amounts of daylight, and they all encircle the Mosque. The narrow
alleyways remain cool, essential here in summer when temps soar to 40-50deg.
Back at our Hotel we head in for dinner, and it is a 3-course extravaganza to
break the days fast. John pops back to GR3 to get containers to take home the
abundance of food we cannot eat!
Meanwhile we haven’t heard from our guide but assume
he will arrive tomorrow. Finally in the morning we hear. His car broke down, so
he had to find another. It will be tomorrow, so we have another day here in
Ghardaia. Fortunately, it is OK with the Hotel for us to stay another night, so
after using their Wi-Fi we head off to
do our own unguided walk of town. This time it is much better. Yesterday
afternoon there were hardly any people about and most shops were closed. Apparently,
they were all sleeping. Anyway, this morning the market alleys are full of food
and thronged with people. It is bright and crazy. I sneak a few photos of the
white ladies (a big no no here!) We even buy some goodies at a cake shop and
tuck ourselves out of sight to eat them. After more exploring, we decide to
taxi back to avoid the long uphill walk. The rest of the afternoon we potter
around doing chores, finally relaxing in our deck chairs when our guide Ahmed
and driver Salah arrive about 6pm. Between the 2 of them they have not a word of
English and our French consists of bonjour, au voir, merci and baguette. It
will be interesting! The plan is to leave early tomorrow morning. They will
sleep in their car!
We have a few huge driving days ahead of us. If you
look at a map of Algeria, you can see how huge it is. In fact, it’s the biggest
country in Africa, and Ghardaia is only one third of the way south, so we have
a long way to travel to the Tassili-n-Ajjer National Park right in the southeast
corner. Currently the famous area at Tamanrasset is off limits. We pass through
the rest of the M’Zab valley and into miles of flatness. There are oil wells
sprouting up everywhere with all their associated infrastructure. This is what
builds the wealth of this nation. After
the big mining town of Ouargla the towns shrink in size. Finally, we reach the
dunes, stretching out in long, gorgeous layers of honey cream and gold,
depending on the angle of the sun’s rays. Magic driving. As we near Hasi
Bulgabur we veer off the main road and head across the sand. We are camping for
the night at the foot of the dunes. Awesome.
Again, an early start. We drove over 600km yesterday
and will do the same today. This morning it is more flatness with lots of
“black” desert until the town of In Amenas. It’s deserted, but we still manage
to find the bakery that is churning out hot bread. As we leave, we see all the
men in town leaving the Mosque. Friday prayers have just finished. From here we
drive down a huge escarpment to a massive valley stretching for miles before
returning to the magical red dunes. It’s
nearly evening as we pull into the busy town of Illizi. Everyone is out on the
streets waiting for the food vendors to start selling food as the sun sets. We
head out of town to a camping area while Ahmed & Salah head home for their
own beds.
Today the pace is a bit slower so we can admire the ever-changing
scenery, from arid deserts to black topped plains, to huge escarpments, it is
all jaw dropping gorgeous. We make a few stops to look at some rock art (old
graffiti!) and later turn to head to Ihrir. As we head in, we come to a viewpoint
overlooking the Idaren River. As we peer down into the gorge we can see the
ruined houses of Old Ihrir way below us. An incredible sight. Then we head down
to the Tuareg village and continue down a back track so we can walk to the
lovely river. Later we find a camp spot overlooking more of the gorge with a chilly
wind. It’s 5 deg in the morning.
The day starts with pink stripes fanning out across
the blue desert sky, but before we know it, we are back on the road to Djanet. Mid-morning
we arrive in this bustling town full of turbaned men, brightly garbed ladies
and a smattering of tourists. We explore the main drag while Ahmed & Salah
do some errands. They ask if we need fuel. John says he has enough until we
reach Illizi on our return trip, so we finally head off. It’s all a bit of a
lucky dip as we have no idea where we are going. Communication is not their
strong point. We head out of town and then straight into the desert, cruising
along rutted tracks and up and over sand dunes stopping now and then to look at
rock art or rock sculptures. Then we are off over more sand, across the tarmac
and another crazy sandy drive to the most famous rock art of all – The Crying
Cows/Tegharghart. We are actually very impressed. Much later we pass Djanet and
drive off the seal again to find a camp spot for the night surrounded by huge
rock pinnacles.
Much to our surprise, the next morning, we continue over
more sand and duck between towering rocky outcrops. It is breathtaking,
although a little nerve racking as some of the dunes are very sandy. GR3 keeps plowing on, but all that drag means
she is now using much more fuel. (On the highway she uses 16litres per 100km,
and now she is using 54litres per 100km). We have a problem. John is pretty
sure that now we won’t make it all the way to Illizi where the next fuel
station is located. We will have to go back to Djanet. It takes a lot of
explaining before our guys understand. We decide to continue along the sandy
tracks for 35kms and then return to Djanet on the tarseal. All is going well;
the scenery is sensational and GR3 is taking it all in stride until we spy a
rather large dune. John revs her up, but this one is too much and GR3 digs in
her heels. Oh no! A lot of digging, a few attempts and then more digging and releasing
some tyre pressure. Phew, we are on the move again, but somehow the glow is not
quite the same. Up ahead there is a great walk to a billabong that we are planning
to do, but when Ahmed shows us we will need to drop the tyre pressure a lot
more we decide the sand must be deep and we don’t want to risk it. Instead, we
continue back to the tarseal and Djanet for the much needed diesel. After an
amazing “Dakar” day we find a campspot near a huge riverbed.
We are now on our drive back north and eventually the
Tunisian border. So today is a repeat of the miles of desert, but we do stop at
some more amazing rock art at Tin Taghirt a good 30 mins off the main road. The
pictures have been drawn in the layer of lava and so are very clear. There is
no roof protecting the site and although we take off our shoes we can walk all
over the artwork itself! Much later that day we reach Illizi again, fill up
with diesel and grab a few groceries at the small supermarket. Then we are back
at the campground, while our guys go home for a much-needed shower.
We assume today we will continue the same way we came
to Illizi, but when we follow our guys, we discover we are going a different
route right over the massive Erg Isaouane (Erg is for sanddunes). It starts as
a main road (that doesn’t show on any of our maps!) and so we relax and assume
the road will get through. It proves to be an incredible drive with barely any traffic
and it’s not long before the dunes start appearing as we follow river valleys
full of lush grass. We pass lots of sheep, goats and camels. Later we spy a Tuareg
village, locals busy watering camels and then a camel caravan. It is only a
small one, but it is awesome to stop and inspect it. Eventually our good road vanishes,
and we are on gravel, but close to the gorgeous red dunes. Miles of them. Later
even the gravel vanishes and we now follow a sandy track strewn with blue
gravel. Sometimes the road is almost totally swallowed by the sand. I don’t
think it would take long in a sandstorm for GR3 to be swallowed whole! It is
incredible to be driving right on the dunes. What a bonus today has been.
Eventually we reach tarseal at the main road heading north and at dusk reach
Hassi bel Bulgabur and head to the dunes for the night. (We camped here on our
way south)
Our guys want another early start. We think they just
want to get up and go because they are fasting. We are really getting tired of
following instructions and driving slowly/erratically. Only a few more days
now! It is a long rather tedious day
with few stops. We have no idea where we will stop. There has been discussion
of a Hotel and we say we will only stay in the carpark. Surprisingly we stop
beside a Police station and camp on the sand behind it.
Today is Friday and we have read that there are markets
in Touggourt We really want to investigate, but Ahmed is not very keen. We get
the impression he just wants to rush us to the border so they can get started
on their long drive back home, but we are pleasantly surprised when we stop in
town and hunt down the markets. We love wandering around looking at all the
goods and doing a spot of people watching. Later as we head out of town we pass
the animal markets. Wow, both markets. Then it is time to drive through
countless little towns with numerous speed bumps and police stops before we
reach the desert. This is the Erg Oriental that spreads all the way across
Algeria and spills into Tunisia. Small farms and green palmeraies sprawl across
the desert as we head to the border. But one last stop! We use the rest of our
cash to fill up with cheap diesel. Tank full we reach the border. Our passports
are stamped out but customs demand fuel tax before we leave, and they want
dinars. John checks online. It is correct, but we have no cash. Fortunately,
Ahmed comes to the rescue with dinars. Finally, we say our goodbyes and head to
Tunisia.
Goodbye Algeria. We love your friendly people, your
glorious scenery, your amazing ruins and most especially your stunning desert.
But we will be glad to be able to travel freely again.
