tunisia-algeria-(maili/niger)
 

Mate and I are planning on driving from london in a toyota landcruiser, down to tunisia, into algeria and finish up in either niger or mali. We're planning on doing this trip during july and august. Firstly is that really as insane as people say?
Secondly which is the best route to take at the moment? From things i've read the hoggar route seems the better to take? Considering it will only be one vehicle, two people, first trip to sahara. What do people think?

Hoggar route is safer - you'll have to pay about 600 euros for the escort to take you from Tuni to the Niger border (+ all the rest) and afterwards there is less risk of being nabbed in Niger than north Mali.
Atlantic route is cheaper and less hot of course, (but more boring).

Ch

Chris,

Is that:

'more boring'

or

'less interesting'

??!!

Sam.

Dear Chris,

The 600 euro's to guide us through Algeria is that for one car, or the same price for several cars if we find other travellers to join us? Is it the same price to do it in the other way, and how safe is it for the moment?

Kind regards,

Jan

I car I guess, or more likely 1 guide in a car - it's a price I heard recently -
Have a look at:
http://www.sahara-overland.com/country/algeria.html

Doing it in a group would reduce costs greatly.

With a guide and convoys you'll be as safe as it gets.

Ch

We have been informed within the last fortnight that arrangements will have to be made for a guide to meet you, (or your party) at the border to take you to your destination, in our case Tam. This guide will have his own vehicle and cost you around 130 to 150 euros a day. The old arrangement of simply arranging for a guide to sit in your vehicle with you no longer applies, and has been changed by the Algerian government due to ongoing security issues.

In our case, the 'guide' would take us to Tam, where we will then have to pick up local guides on the same basis for touring/ exploring the Hoggar, etc.

Hope that helps some, and we are still planning to pop over there in January if you maybe wanted to shift your dates from a really sweltering August to another cooler time.

Cheers... Chris
chrisr@webtribe.net