Fireboomer

Thanks very much for the info, there are a number of us travelling this route so it should be ok if we stick together.

Thanks once again everyone
Maybe see you down there.

Kind regards
Baz

Twenty years ago this month, give or take
 

A blast from the past from the early years of this forum* marking the beginning of the end of adventure tourism in the greater Sahara.

Another HUBB discussion around the same time on the future of Alg desert tourism:
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...ia-visas-14259

A few years later a downbeat list of adventure travel options in the Sahara from Motorrad mag:
https://www.motorradonline.de/reise/...in-der-sahara/

An article I archived from Motorrad by Rainer B on his ordeal in 2003:
https://sahara-overland.com/2015/05/...apped-in-2003/

Can't find a HUBB thread on the actual events – a series of abductions over several days from mid-February 03 – even though some of us knew of them prior to the OP's panicky post when the news broke worldwide in April 2003.
(It was the day they pulled down Sadaam Hussein's statue in Baghdad – April 9 – the future looked bright...)
I think I may have been asked to initially keep it offline.
(I'd flown out of Algeria in early Feb with a moto mate and a few broken ribs).

Anyway, here we are.
Two days ago two Red Cross workers were grabbed north of Gao which is a bit less safe now the French have withdrawn and Wagner/Afrika Corps moved in.
AFAIK it's the first desert kidnapping for nearly 2 years. As we know the hot zone has moved south into the Sahel.

* The Sahara Forum was moved from my own ropey late-90s website to the HUBB in 2001.
Fyi Sahara Forum post #1 is here.
RichieBoy rhetorically asks the perennial question; 'Am I daft?'
Interesting to see the regular posters' and scan users' Sahara queries and responses from that time.
What an amazing resource the HUBB has become!

Current advice from UK govt is not to travel to border areas of Algeria, with the exception of the Morocco border. This could suggest the country isn't too unsafe as a whole, but in general from what I've heard it is a not a safe place at all for westerners. Certainly Mali (where the kidnappings occurred) and Niger aren't really tourist destinations. Maybe somebody can offer recent first-hand advice though.

By regional standards Alg is safe enough these days.
Other issues and restrictions make it a difficult destination.

And yet the Tadrart - right on the Libyan border – is the only expanse of officially vehicle accessible off-highway Sahara in Alg.
What they mean is steer clear of Niger and Mali borders, but I doubt a tourist and their escort could get near them if they tried.

I know that some groups (under an agency umbrella) were permitted to visit the Tarat region, right on the Libyan border in the NE Tassili. From what I could pick up on the grapewine, things have been quiet for some time in the Ghat area, hence the relaxed attitude on the Algerian side of the border. As usual, the FO is years behind actual conditions and events.

I suspect their sources are more comprehensive and up to date than yours ;) However as a government body their travel advice will always err on the side of cautious.

I think that depends, actually - we often assume the FCO is more all-seeing and all-knowing than it actually is or at least leads us to believe in the advice it publicly shares, especially in an age where its reach isn't what it once was and generally takes a more risk averse approach itself. There's been more than one occasion when the situation I've found myself (and others too) on the ground is a whole world away from what is on the FCO advice page. That comes with the caveat that circumstances can change quickly and the whole thing about instability from a security perspective isn't that things are permanently dangerous, but instead have the potential to become quickly that.

I do agree FCO that the advice will always be on the cautious side. But in my view that leads it to giving advice generally aimed towards the lowest common dominator in terms appetite for risk - think 2.4 children family here. Which is totally fair enough. Its also worth remembering that most travel insurance rests on an FCO recommendation too, to the Department has a responsibility in that sense.

For me, nonetheless, the FCO advice is always a good starting point. Then it's a case of taking things step by step, accepting that things might not pass muster at each - desk research on recent events, a range of local opinion on the ground from different sources when in-country and of course the views of local security.