BOHOMAROON

Africa’s largest country

Reading/Listening

• The Lonely Planet guide on Algeria
• Algerian war by Kelly Mass
• A brief history of Algeria by KJ Smith
• The Stranger by Albert Camus
• The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
• A Savage War of Peace by Alistair Horn

Music

• Tikoubaouine
• Imidiwan

My Route: Algiers-Djemila-Constantine-Ghardaia-Timimoun-Beni Abbes-Taghit-Algiers

Algiers

Visa confusion is probably the best description of our arrival in Algiers. The Lonely planet guide and other sources warn you, but it was still confusing for the uninitiated. Still, 135 Euros and 30 minutes later, we headed off and, in all fairness, the airport staff were great. The process might have felt slightly chaotic, but it was a warm welcome.
We stayed at the Hotel des beaux arts, clean and convenient for walking around town. Dinner that evening was a traditional affair at a very reasonable price (4 people, 6000 Dinars ~ £35).
We did the grand tour on Monday, Casbah, Notre Dame de Afrique, Hamma botanical gardens (one of the Tarzan movies was partly filmed here), Milk cafe and the main centre ville with the French colonial buildings. All great to see, people so far, have been warm and welcoming.

Djemila & Constantine

Heading out of Algiers early in the morning, our aim was to take a peek into the grand mosque. No luck, at least not at 8am on a Tuesday, oh well, it’s seriously impressive from the outside and very big.
Next was the drive to Djemila, where there are some fantastic roman ruins, not something that you would immediately think of in North Africa but this was a real education. The mosaics are incredibly detailed and the museum tour provides great information on the stories behind the tiles. The evening was spent in downtown Constantine, lovely setting with fountains and lights. The big hotel brands are here (Novotel etc), perhaps because of the industrial parks we saw on the drive into town where the likes of Samsung have factories. Walking back to our accommodation in the evening a group of locals stopped to tell us about the best sites to visit. The discussion was charming and what touched me was the very genuine interest they expressed in us and what we thought about their country. It was an experience and feeling that was to be repeated again and again during the visit.
It’s a town of many bridges and fantastic views, I learned plenty about both the history of the country and the rather fractured relationship with France.

Ghardaia

The evening flight to Ghardaia from Algiers left slightly earlier than the scheduled 22:00. It only takes an hour and after a bumpy landing (one wing almost touched the runway) we had a short wait for baggage and a “routine” police escort to the Belvedere hotel. Once daylight arrived its easy to forget you’re in the middle of the desert, overlooking the area you can easily see many well constructed buildings and more importantly, the associated palm groves or oasis which has been setup to provide a source of clean drinking water and areas to grow food.
The villages and market squares are fascinating to explore. Food, clothes, jewellery and electrical goods can be found in a maze of back streets. Walking in different areas it seems unaffected by mass tourism and some communities are very conservative. Taking pictures of people, especially ladies covered head to foot in traditional white robes, can lead to a scolding in some circumstances.

Timimoun

It’s a long drive from Ghardaia to Timimoun, we had set out at 8am and arrived around 5pm, so considering the brief coffee stops along the way, and multiple police checkpoints, about eight hours. Finding the right hotel proved a big tricky, our poor driver had to battle with a GPS system that continually changed its mind on which sandy lane to head down, but with a little assistance we finally turned up at the hotel Gourara. From the rooftop, the views of the sand dunes in the distance were spectacular.

The next day in Timimoun was spent in a 4WD doing what is known as the Sebkha circuit, a route that takes in plantations, oasis towns, old castle ruins, irrigation systems, salt lakes and plenty of impressive sand dunes. During our tour, the guide talked about the legacy of female education and how slowly progress was being made from one generation to the next. In some areas, girls, women could once only learn the Koran. That is now changing but because many mothers only had quite a basic education, they didn’t necessarily encourage their daughters to aim higher than being a home maker. As someone who grew up in England, it’s easy to forget the opportunities and freedoms we enjoy and take for granted. Watching the sunset on the dunes was a great way to end the day.

Beni Abbes & Taghit

The sunrise on Sunday morning was awe inspiring, our pickup and police escort arrangements at 7am less so but one thing you start to learn here is that time is relative. I’ll confess it did add to the sense of adventure, when we had our passports taken and then our driver had the task of keeping up with the police car in front. Moving at high speed through the Sahara landscape needs to be experienced but taking in the mountain sized sand dunes, occasional camel and palm oasis dotted on the horizon was magical. Five police handovers later, we arrived in Beni Abbes. After checking out the Hermitage and learning about Charles de Focauld, we explored the rest of the town including the local passion for skiing down sand dunes.

For me the high point of Taghit is undoubtably the rock carvings. Arriving at the site, there is a small parking area with stalls and a market area, dune buggy and camel rides available for those who want it. Climbing up the hillside those early artists left their marks on the rocks in the shape of different birds, elephants, scorpions and so on. Unfortunately, because the site is unprotected, vandals have also been trying to leave their marks, damaging some of the rocks. Still, it’s great to get the sense of history and imagine the early inhabitants of the local settlement documenting their observations.

The flight back to Algiers in the evening was full of local tourists, many of whom like me, were experiencing the Sahara for the first time and from general atmosphere thoroughly enjoyed it.

Highlights and Learnings

• Many Palm groves are a man-made creation in the Sahara
• The relationship between Algeria and France is complex but also very recent. The scars of this came across quite often when in discussions with local people
• There is a very genuine warmth, people are happy to help, share their knowledge understand more about you
• Algeria is a cash society, card payments are possible but very limited
• Ohh, and let’s not forget the cats…lots of them everywhere!