Algerian Sahara

[Chris Scott]

...we saw a small patrol aircraft fly over the Tassili several times per day...

Perhaps they're looking for someone.

Ch

[andrasz]

One more point that could be of interest:

I had both GPS and a Thuraya satphone with me, on arrival at Algiers airport nobody appeared to bother. All our luggage was x-rayed, but none were opened nor any questions asked, all over in two minutes. It appears that the rules if arriving by air are much more relaxed than at land crossings.

[priffe]

Why is everyone crossing over Taleb Larbi?
We entered over Bou Chebka (east of Tebessah) in 2009. They just asked us if we had anything to declare; I mentioned my laptop and it was entered into the passport. They didn't even look inside the car. GPS was mounted in front window.
Not a tourist in sight. If it is the same today I dunno.

[Rafke]

I can add the ferry port of Algiers as a hassle-free entrance (as a foot passenger). Laptop and GPS in luggage, no problems (february 2011).

[Chris Scott]

About GPS etc.: French travelers entering at Taleb Larbi reported that their cars had been searched and GPS and CB and VHF radio were not allowed to enter.

The more thorough searches at Taleb that Yves mentioned 2 weeks ago are probably to do with the situation in North Africa this year. While I would not display GPS or radios, I can't say we've ever had a hard time there, while at Tunis port it's often been all sorts of aggro (more fishing for bribes than due to security measures, I suspect).

In previous years travellers have mentioned being turned away from frontier posts north of Taleb - though that may have been because they were trying to dodge the escort rule. It's also further from the desert (where most are going) and nearer to GSPC areas where most would not want to be.

I recall an ambush on police near Tebessa one time we were due to cross (Feb 2009?) and if you search 'Tebessa ambush' there are more recent killings and raids, so better not to risk it IMO and just deal with the stone throwers on the road to El Oued - or take a ferry direct to Algeria, of course.

Like Andras, I've never had any sort of searches whatsoever flying into Algiers or Tam - once with a whole sack of filming gear, radios, etc - all scanned and waved through. It's been that way for as long as I've done it. The bigger problem now is on the way out, having stone tools and even bottles of sand confiscated.

Ch

[hieronymus]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

The bigger problem now is on the way out, having stone tools and even bottles of sand confiscated.

Ch

Not to mention, jerrycans filled with diesel

[priffe]

So how many full jericans can I have without being a smuggler?

[Sam Rutherford]

As many as you like if you don't get caught.

Sorry, couldn't resist!!

Sam.

[famous_walker]

Is there in fact such thing as a limit on exporting fuel out of Algeria? Last time I took three jerries x 20 l, plus full tank - You can't resist when it's 10 cents a litre. I was strip-searched at port Algiers on the way out, but no one cared about the diesel.

On the subject of GPS - only once in Algeria someone asked about my GPS. I always had it visible, never a problem. Many algerian guides have a GPS too, or are dreaming of having one. Once a guide in Djanet frowned when I marked a waypoint for something - it was some oued crossing or something like that, but he mentioned it had a local name, and when I put that name down in my GPS he was upset. As if I was stealing his insider knowledge of terrain. He asked if I was permitted to have a GPS in Algeria. I said I'd showed it at the customs (I had), and that it was alright.

[priffe]

C'est 'le GPS dans la tête', tu sais.

Last trip I had some trouble with a Moroccan douanier who said I was smuggling fuel to Mauretania - I had two jericans!

[Chris Scott]

Is there in fact such thing as a limit on exporting fuel out of Algeria?

I suspect the Europeans have turned the screws, as what do the Algies care? Near Oran we saw a tanker on its way to nearby Morocco - filing up off a bowser! Cars with up to 4 jerries in my group talked their way out of it.

In 2007 they got quite heavy arriving in Genoa with a batch of jerries - to the point of calling out a lawyer at midnight or something. This is where a 200L sub-tank pays off.

Ch

[priffe]

Algeria reopens Hoggar Mountains (Magharebia.com)
So what are we waiting for just go go go!

"Groups of tourists travelling in the south of the country are no longer escorted by gendarmes, according to Djeribi, who also represents Tamanrasset travel agencies.
...
Figures released by the Ahaggar National Park Office indicate that the number of tourists visiting the south of Algeria has fallen sharply since 2009. Visitors dropped from 4,210 in 2009 to 788 in 2010 and then zero in 2011 for the Hoggar Plateau. The situation has been almost the same for the Ahnet Plateau, with tourist numbers plummeting from 1,259 in 2009 to 384 in 2010.

"We are just coming out of two dead seasons. The losses have been huge," Djeribi said. "Now that the plateau has been reopened to tourists, Algeria will once again feature in magazines as a destination and tourists will finally come back.""

Wonder if that means we can cross Tam - DJanet legally without escort? I will ask around.
I also wonder what this was all about, and whether the situation really changed in any tangible way two years ago, or now. :confused1:

[Richard Washington]

Originally Posted by priffe

I also wonder what this was all about, and whether the situation really changed in any tangible way two years ago, or now.

In 2010 the Algerian military/intell intercepted comms from AQIM who were planning to abduct tourists on the piste between Djanet and Tam. The tourists were escorted out and restrictions put in place. At the time the UK FCO restricted travel south of Arak (a small settlement about 2hrs drive north of Tam).

AQIM still exist, of course, so I expect the relaxation being reported is a function of pressure from tourism sector (where, in addition, unemployment leads to its own security risk to the state via AQIM recruitment if not riots) and time since that last scare.

If AQIM keep a focus on the Aid worker sector and Spanish and Italian captives, then tourism may free up a bit - till the next incident. Safer in Algeria now than in 2 years time I'd say. Safer being relative....

[Chris Scott]

Sounds like inaccurate reporting to me, plus a bit of upbeat PR spin in an attempt to get things moving. Not unlike what we heard from Agadez a couple of months back, just before escaping PGF Libyans started flooding across the Tenere.

Where is 'the Hoggar plateau' exactly? If they mean the Atakor (Assekrem, etc), then that certainly wasn't closed last Feb when we drove up and over Tam to Hirafok with no gendarmes or hassle of any kind.

I think they are regurgitating recent news (probably in this thread somewhere) that Tassili-Hoggar region (SW of Tam) was declared open after being closed a couple of years ago - possibly as it was on the way to the Niger border. See map below - also known as Taghrera. That was a popular area judging by the amount of toilet paper in the dunes, and was a mainstay of mostly French fly-in groups (along with a quick one to Assekrem). I think it was the French 'ban' on Algeria fly-ins after Germaneau and Areva grabs in Niger, that really finished off Tam tourism. I am not sure what their 'FCO' says currently.

(To be fair it took me a few years to fully appreciate the difference between Tassili-Hoggar/Taghrera and the Hoggar [Atakor] and Tassili N'Ajjer).

Not sure what it means in regards to opening the Tam-Djanet routes. Doubt that will change.

I'm also not convinced AQIM threat has been erased in the area. They raided an AQIM safe house in Abalessa (NW of Tam) a month after we passed through from Ahnet (or so I read) and the Italian woman was grabbed on the Djanet side at the same time. Safe areas are IMO far from southern borders which offer quick escapes for AQIM raiders - and not hanging around too conspicuously in towns like Tam for too long.

Ch

[Chris Scott]

Fyi, there's a new 200k map just out on the Hoggar and Taghera/Tin Tarabine region.

See Maps (about halfway down the page) for details.

Ch