Route advice sought.

[FromHere2Timbuktu]

I am planning the following route across the Sahara to Timbuktu:
Tunisia, down to Tozeur and Nefta (without guide). Then pick up an Algerian guide at the border to do: El Menia, In Salah, Tamangrasset and then cut across to Bordj on the Malian border.

Any advice on problems with this route greatly received.
Also can anyone give me an idea of fuel costs in Tunisia and Algeria?

Thanks
guy@fromhere2timbuktu.com

[willking7]

Hi, my nephew and I did this trip in January in a 20 year old Mitsubishi Shogun. Had no real problems other than with the car. Diesel in Tunisia was pretty cheap and in Algeria it was less than 15 pence a litre thats £10 to fill her up.
There is pot holed tarmac to Tam, and the road to Silet is ok.
It's a bit awkward to find the piste out of Silet but with a guide you'll be ok. Once you're in the desert its mainly hard flat and fast.
We never bothered with a guide after Bordj. and took the wrong piste to Tessalit in a sand storm but eventually found the road. Then we drove straight into the military base thinking it was Tessalit and ater a bollocking got escorted to the Douenne.
At the border in Tessalit you can pick up cheap fuel smuggled in from Algeria if you are low. We picked up a military seargeant of some kind wanting a lift to Gao, which was not what we wanted but came in handy as there is a big military presence up there and the piste into Gao is a bit dubious.
I wouldn't mind doing it again, apart from the expence of the guide in Algeria (65 euro's a day) and also I,m planning to drive from Banjul to Accra and possibly on to Bamako this January.

Anyway, all the best.
Will