Safety in "Grand Erg Occidental" region.

[Guy Scheveneels]

I see very little information on the "Grand Erg Occidental" region appearing in this travel forum. I would very much like to visit the oasis on the Beni-Abbes to El-Meniaa road. Has someone any recent travelling experience with regard to personel safety in this region. In believe some time ago the In Salah to Ghardaïa road was unsafe and convoy was obligatory, which doesn't sound very promising.

[Chris Scott]

I have heard of French people/tours travelling in this region for a couple of years - the reason you dont hear much is possibly because it is a comparative dead end and - Timimou and Beni Abbes apart - is scenically less impressive than SE Alg.

CS

[Wilmar]

This year me and my girlfried tried to go overland from Ghardaia to El-Meniaa by public transport. On the road to El-Meniaa from Ghardaia there were some roadblocks. No problems there. From El-Meniaa it was not so easy to get to Timimoun. We were not lucky. The roadblock south of El-Meniaa wouldn't let us through. We needed an escort. We returned to Ghardaia because we didn't want to wait for days in El-Meniaa(and have to visit the local policestation a lot of times...).
We were warned for El-Meniaa by locals in Tam just before we left(by plane) to Ghardaia. They spoke about maffia and thieves. Timimoun and Beni-Abbes were OK they said.

In 1999 I visit Timimoun alone and things were OK. That's all I know.

These places are worth the visit if you have some time left to wait for the convoy.

Greetings,

Wilmar