I’ve now written up a second guide, on the best of the off-tarmac desert routes I rode in my two months in the Algerian Sahara this autumn. Hope you enjoy!

https://wherenextbarney.me/algerian-...outh-off-road/

Cheers

Ed

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Where Next Barney? Buenos Aires to Lima 2015 | London to Sydney 2015/6 | Armenia, Georgia & the FYR 2022 | Algerian Sahara 2023.

Ed,
Thanks for the report. Algeria has been on my bucket list for a long time, in particular the south. Nowadays it seems a website had (barely) opened.
I see you’ve been Tam, any restriction there ? I heard the Hoggar is closed ?
We’re you allowed to ride from Tam to Djanet independently, or with an escort ?
Around Djanet, did you take a guide, on his own vehicle ?

Thanks mate.
Laurent

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2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

Hi Laurent,

No, I had no restrictions in the south, other than just telling the gendarmes where I planned to go at the various checkpoints. You will need to think carefully about what and how much information you tell them, however - they seemed very cautious about people going off the main roads. I chose not to tell them when I was planning to do that.

I was able to ride from Djanet to Tam without an escort, however yes, in the immediate area around Djanet to the east and to the south east you still need a guide - as I understand it that has been the case even before the civil war in the 1990s.

Ed

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Where Next Barney? Buenos Aires to Lima 2015 | London to Sydney 2015/6 | Armenia, Georgia & the FYR 2022 | Algerian Sahara 2023.

Actually that is/was only on the rock art trekking plateau which you can't reach with a vehicle. You could drive southeast all the way to Niger (not that that always ended well once you neared or crossed the border).

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Might then be worth testing the waters with the gendarmes in the other non-plateau areas around Djanet - I simply deferred to them on (perhaps erroneous) assumption that I couldn’t go to those areas anyway.

In the way into town they insisted on escorting me to a hotel and telling me I wasn’t allowed to leave by moto without telling them first, which reinforced that assumption.

However I had no problems just doing that the next morning - I may have then been able to take the road that Chris mentions and explore more, though that’s TBC, rather than just hot footing it westbound.

Ed


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Where Next Barney? Buenos Aires to Lima 2015 | London to Sydney 2015/6 | Armenia, Georgia & the FYR 2022 | Algerian Sahara 2023.

We saw that Jebal made it by road as far the the Libya-Niger roundabout (only 40km from town) but I agree the now popular Tadrart/Merzouga area (vehicle accessible rock art; huge dunes) right along the Libyan border and at least a 400km round trip from Djanet might be a step too far.
2018 we passed an army checkpoint (tent) as we entered the Tadrart canyon. They might be surprised to see a lone vehicle, not least a moto. Plus, without a guide (or waypoints) to ID locations, a trip here would be a little wasted.
Fact is, there is nowhere dull to go in this entire SE corner of Algeria, even just the road ride from Bordj to Djanet.
I now see the southbound 'Niger' road from the roundabout is sealed for 110km as far as 23.42991, 10.10172 where it joins old A15 right on the Illizi/Tam provincial boundary and just south of Adrar Marilou where patrols used to observe/stop passing traffic to/from Niger.
'A15' the Chirfa balise piste, also starts off sealed NW from that waypoint, but the res soon runs out on aerial mapping. I do wonder if the road direct from the roundabout is now the main way into Djanet, because A15 became famously sandy as you neared the old airport and Djanet from the south.
Not far from the roundabout the 'Niger' road soon passes distinctive Mont Tiska (23.9, 9.8), a pre-GPS era landmark when coming up from Niger and aiming for Djanet.
Tiska could also be a nice spot to explore or spend a night or two out of Djanet without frightening the horses.

Balise piste in 1974 by the intrepid Yves Rohmer predating the '4WD' craze ;-)

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Thanks.
Do you reckon one could even go to Assekrem plateau independently ?
If I make it to Djanet, then it would make sense to bite the bullet and hire a guide with his car for a few days. Won’t be cheap (100$/day?), but it can carry water, food and fuel, and most importantly, he’d know the best places to go to.

Food for thought.

Laurent

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2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

Yep Asskerem was fine for me - managed to do all three routes up/down, first at end of September and then again middle of November.

Ed


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Where Next Barney? Buenos Aires to Lima 2015 | London to Sydney 2015/6 | Armenia, Georgia & the FYR 2022 | Algerian Sahara 2023.

I think about my next year trip to Africa. My first plan was to drive from Tunis to Alger and then to Tinduf and cross the border with Mauritania. But it can be difficult and maybe they (gandarmerie) will not let me pass.

So my second plan was to drive as ussual from Tanger south and then during my way back drive to Choum and cross the border. If it will fail I can always return.
I want to do it without guide, but I think it could be possible with guide waiting for you on the border.

Any suggests???

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Bartosz
www.wyprawy4x4.com.pl

From the south (RIM) up seems like a less risky way to do it for the reasons you mention.
I know someone who is heading that way now, but it will be at least a month or more.
Ideally you get the Alg visa without the escort/tour requirement.

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Getting visa in my country is not a problem. The problem could bo driving from Alger to Mauritania border and not getting pass. Thi can crush all travel. Especially when I want to visit Liberia.
So better as you mention from south to north after all travel. It is not risky.

I wait for the info, thank you for this news.

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Bartosz
www.wyprawy4x4.com.pl

We are now since 2 weeks in Algeria and made our way to In Amguel. No Problems with the police, only once turned back in a small road in Tlemcen Region, because too close to Morocco (30 km).

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Cycling in Asia: Thailand to Turkey, Siberia and Central Asia

We are now in Algiers waiting for our flight tomorrow.
We arrived in Tam on Tuesday and took a night flight yesterday, the more conveniant morning flights are usually sold out, when booking short term.
This thread was somehow the trigger for our voyage, thanks for all the contributions. Without it, we would not have taken a chance to try travelling in Algeria. My first and last time here was in 2003.
It worked all better than expected. We took the ferry from Almeria to Ghazaouet. Got off at 9.15 and had passed the Migration at 10.00. That was due to being foot passengers and ones of the first in line. There are way less foot passengers than drivers. It was good to have a booking for the first night to shorten the inquiries. We got the visa as described with some online bookings, proof of travel insurance and confirmation of employer.
Our route was Ghazaouet- Tlemcen-Ain Sefra- Beni Ounif - Taghit - Adrar - Reggane - In Salah - In Amguel - Tazrouk - Tamanrasset.
My Impression was, that we were stopped more often by the police in the north and between In Salah and In Amguel. But most often we did not have to wait for much time. As we were cycling on a tandem it was impossible to get unseen through the checkpoints. We always were transparent with the police, telling the next towns en route. Only 2 or 3 times they started the dialogue mentioning escorte or agency, and some first had to phone the line up, but we never had to argue, just wait a bit and "bon voyage". The only checkpoint, that was giving less confidence was 120 km behind In Salah, talking about aggression until Arak, but after 45 minutes, we could continue into the dusk and stayed the night at the simple service station hostel 20 km later. The police checkpoint in In Salah and a mobile Gendarmerie Check 2 km later were short and had no suspicion when we gave Tam as destination.
I had the impression, that we always had a thorough check, when getting in a new Wilaya, but afterwards were waved through in the same Wilaya as they knew already about foreign cyclists coming through.
After In Amguel, we had no more checkpoints in the Ideles and Tazrouk road. On our last day in Tamanrasset we went up the Assekrem road a bit, but the checkpoint at the crossroads did not even stop us.
People were often happy to meet us and especially the south hopes that tourists are coming back in greater numbers.
It seems that the Escort requirement for Assekrem has fallen not so long ago, but things can change again quickly.
We were told, that there was some gold found recently in the Hoggar and the government tries to push back illegal prospection and mining.

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Cycling in Asia: Thailand to Turkey, Siberia and Central Asia

Congrats Chris! Great to hear that you made it down and around successfully.


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Where Next Barney? Buenos Aires to Lima 2015 | London to Sydney 2015/6 | Armenia, Georgia & the FYR 2022 | Algerian Sahara 2023.

Hello Everyone,
After years of using the HUBB for my own benefit and not “giving back,” this thread made me create an account.
Visiting Algeria had already been in the back of my mind for a couple of years, and all your testimonials were very helpful in preparing everything.
Here’s my experience getting into Algeria, traveling within it, and entering Tunisia with a motorcycle as of July 2024:

The Plan
My initial plan was to ride my motorcycle from Lisbon to Djanet and attend the Sebiba festival that took place during the first weeks of July. For that, I had planned a route going west from Oran to Taghit, Timimoun, In Salah, Tamanrasset, and finally Djanet, then back up from the east, heading towards Ghardaia, Constantine, and Tunisia. While planning everything in more detail, I realized that the condition of the road connecting Tamanrasset and Djanet would be a huge challenge for a bike carrying two people, 30+ kg of luggage, a lot of water, and extra fuel. So, unfortunately, I had to rethink my plan, forget about Djanet this time, and stick to Tamanrasset and the Ahaggar National Park as my final destination. (A plan that also failed.)

Getting the Visa
Applying for the visa started as an apparently easy process. I checked and gathered all the documentation I would need for me and my girlfriend. This included the ferry ticket (free cancellation until 48 hours before departure) and 3 hotel reservations I had made through Booking.com along the Algerian coast (also free to cancel, as that was the plan all along). I visited the Algerian embassy in Lisbon, explained our “coastal route,” handed everything in, and paid for the visas in less than 20 minutes. I was fortunate enough to deal with a very nice embassy worker. Some days later, I got a phone call from the embassy. They required proof that we were employed and wanted a signed document from our employers stating our functions within our companies. This was something that was not listed, but alright, two days later I was already handing them these additional documents.
A week later, I received another call from the embassy. They wanted to confirm my planned route in Algeria and warn me that it was completely forbidden for me to go south. I got curious and asked what was considered south? The answer was “anything south of my route” (I had presented them the following route: Oran - Algiers - Annaba - Tunisia). I started to wonder what could go wrong and how they could control where I'll be going. It was enough to get me thinking but not enough to ditch my plan. Later that day, I received another phone call from the embassy. Maybe my curiosity previously got them suspicious, and they now wanted me to declare in a signed document that I was sticking to my route and not going anywhere else. At this point, I started to doubt the entire trip being possible. I really didn’t want to push it and face unpleasant consequences in Algeria. I slept on it, and the next day, I decided to write down that declaration. I wrote it in Portuguese and did my best to avoid any real commitment to my words. I was vague and stated a lot of “ifs”. I printed it, signed it, and went to the embassy for the last time. Another week passed with no news, and as our ferry departure date approached, I began to worry. Maybe my declaration declaring nothing did not convince them, and they would not issue us the visas. Four days before our ferry departure, I got the call: “Your visas are ready!” Finally, good news. The very next day, as soon as the embassy opened, I was already there picking up our passports, although the good outcome obviously came with a twist. We were granted only a 10-day visa, which would again interfere with our actual plan—a very naive mistake on our part as I was convinced that the tourist visa, independently of the route presented, would be 30 days. But that was not the case; they gave us the exact amount of time we needed for our fake coastal route. Lesson learned.

The Ferry
Eduarda and I left Lisbon towards Almeria (Spain), where we took the Naviera Armas/Trasmediterranea Ferry to Oran. The ferry was quite expensive but was the best option that suited our plan. Unlike Morocco or Tunisia, there are not a lot of alternatives. Expect to pay 250+ euros for a person and a motorcycle one-way ticket and expect only a couple of ferries per week (at least from Spain). The crossing from Almeria to Oran took around 6 hours, a walk in the park compared with the 30+ hours that were waiting for me some weeks later. We were the only tourists and the only motorcycle on the ferry. I guess it makes sense as it was July, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Getting In
As soon as we got off the ferry, we got the green light from the Algerian authorities to skip the queue of cars, which is always a good start. In 10 minutes, we were already handing our passports to a police officer. “Portuguese? Cristiano Ronaldo!” We all smile, and our lives get automatically easier, and this could summarize every interaction I’ve had with the authorities and people in Algeria, and Africa in general. A big thanks to Cristiano for diplomatically making the life of every Portuguese citizen easier for the past 20 years. We both got our passports stamped in 30 minutes. Then it was time to get the bike into the country. One hour more for Douane, and we were free to roam Algeria. The whole process was super fast, in my opinion. Everything was simple, well-organized, and the officers were very helpful. I only had one officer checking my bags, who I later realized actually wanted some money, but as my French sucks, I honestly thought he wanted to know how much money I had with me. So, I guess he got confused with my french attempt of an answer for that, and he quit.
As soon as you get out of the port, there’s a place where you can buy vehicle insurance. It cost us 15 euros for a month, and they also exchanged some money for us at a good rate given the circumstances (220 dinars for 1 euro). We ended up re-entering the port to buy a SIM card from the mobile operator stands at the exit. It’s mainly young people working there, and they were pretty helpful. We ended up choosing Mobilis, which had 80GB of internet for a month for less than 10 euros. With all these things taken care of, we were good to say goodbye to the port for good.

Getting Around
Booking a place to stay online doesn't really work in Algeria, and in some cases, you might fall victim to scams when booking rooms on shady websites. Google Maps will be your best solution for this. One thing we did was choose the hotel that suited our needs best for the next day and kindly ask someone from the hotel where we were staying to call and let them know in advance that we were coming the next day.
We ended up exchanging all of our money at the first hotel where we stayed in Oran, so we don’t really know how it goes on the streets. However, it seems that everyone knows someone, and you'll always get a way better rate than in a bank.
Fuel is ridiculously cheap in Algeria, around 35 euro cents per liter. It’s so cheap that on the outskirts of Timimoun, I was offered a full tank by the guy working at the fuel station.
Algerians are very welcoming. As you might guess from what’s written above, the lack of tourism makes all interactions more genuine. No one is going to bother you or try to get something from you. Prices are the same for everyone, and with the exception of smaller towns (just like everywhere in the world), everyone will go on with their lives not caring at all about your presence.
Food is good and cheap, from traditional to fast food. We stuck to places with good reviews.
Roads are overall in good condition, despite a few beaten-up parts, nothing to worry about.
We always had data coverage from my Mobilis SIM card. You’ll see plenty of antennas installed in the desert.
What about police or checkpoints? To my surprise, I got stopped only twice. Maybe I was riding too early, maybe it was too hot for them to be outside, or maybe it was so foolish to be riding during that period that no traffic was being checked. Despite the distance from where we quit continuing south, I really felt like we could continue without any issue. The second time we got stopped was 200 km north of Taghit. It took 15 minutes as these were very surprised young police officers who wanted to confirm everything with a superior. The superior came, took a look at us and our passports, and let us go. We were still looking fresh and in good spirits despite it being 40ºC, but later that day we experienced 48ºC in Taghit.

The Actual Trip
Even after the setback with the short 10-day visa, we were still determined to reach Tamanrasset. We really didn’t think about how stupid and dangerous this would be with the high temperatures, but at least we were somewhat prepared: plenty of water, plenty of fuel, Dioralyte solutions, energy bars…
The first days already showed us that it would not be fun. We were getting up at 5 am and trying to reach our destination before 12 pm. After reaching our destination, there’s not much you can do. It's too hot to walk around, too hot to do anything, and everyone is equally avoiding the heat. Every town turns into a ghost town after 12 pm. We were picking hotels with swimming pools to keep ourselves busy during the afternoon. It worked in Taghit, and we were actually able to relax with the shade from the trees and some casual breeze, but in Timimoun, we weren’t so lucky. There was no natural shade near the hotel pool, and it got really uncomfortable. Everything was literally burning hot to the point we actually burned our hands and feet trying to use the pool. That day, the thermometers registered 49ºC at 5 pm.
On the fourth day of our trip, we rode from Taghit to Timimoun. The day started early for us with already 36ºC on the thermometer. It got hotter and hotter by the minute, and after 100 km we were already facing 40+ temperatures; it only got worse. We went through every tactic to cool ourselves down, but it was useless. 150 km from reaching Timimoun, we stopped at one of the last fuel stations before our destination. We took a break, but long breaks mean you’ll ride in even higher temperatures, so we tried to keep them short even when we really needed a longer one (like in this case). As soon as we left the gas station, we faced a sandstorm. It started as something tolerable, and I thought it would not last long, but that was not the case. It got worse every km, so bad to the point where you couldn’t even see the road or the motorcycle dashboard. The sand just blasted and got inside everything: our helmets, our gear, even the switch to turn the hazard lights was blocked with sand. I was forced to slow down a lot, which made it harder to deal with the wind gusts. It became more physically demanding and exhausting, especially dealing with the temperature. I started to worry that the bike could overheat and we would have to stop, which would be the worst place and time for that. After these long and tortuous 150 km, we reached Timimoun. My mood got better, and we went straight to the first gas station to fuel up, get off the bike, and appreciate that we got there and everything was okay. However, it wasn’t. Eduarda passed out, and my adrenaline rushed again. The situation made everyone at the fuel station take frozen water bottles from their cars and trucks to help out as they could. I got her a hydration solution, and she ate. She got better but not enough to get on the bike. I stopped a taxi and got her inside; our hotel was just a couple of km away. With no navigation as the phone couldn’t handle the temperature, I drained my last bit of energy trying to reach the hotel through very sandy streets. When we both got in our room, we both collapsed under the AC. After this, we knew we weren’t going to reach Tamanrasset, and our plan had to change again.
In the end, our trip took us from Timimoun directly to Ghardaia, where we could finally experience some of the culture and walk around the market late in the afternoon. Our route was the following:
Oran - El Abiodh Sidi Cheikh - Taghit - Timimoun - El Menia - Ghardaia - El Oued - Tozeur - Sousse - Tunis - Bizerte - Tunis



Getting Out
Unlike entering Algeria through the port of Oran, the border of Taleb el Arbi resembles more of an African border and is more demanding in terms of time. When leaving Algeria, we got charged a fee of 12,000 Algerian dinar for the fuel (a way of trying to get foreigners to pay more for the cheap fuel there?!?). The whole thing seemed legit, and they had a receipt ready. But I was caught by surprise and decided to act dumb, pulled the Ronaldo card, and got away without paying it.
It took us 3 hours to get out of Algeria, a lot of waiting and repeating ourselves to different officers. In the process, one officer found that my bike's VIN number was not on the TIP paper and tried to escalate that into something. I played it cool, laughing and repeating, “I guess your colleague in Oran forgot about it,” showed him the VIN number on the bike and on the bike document, and after some waiting, he let us go. Again, thinking about it, it was surely a “give me something” situation, but the difficult communication and my genuine lack of understanding the signs made him quit.
On the Tunisian side, everything was easier. Two booths, two officers, and we crossed it in less than an hour. We bought insurance directly from the border police officer while getting the bike in (that was a first for me)—25 euros for 15 days. And off we went.

Final Thoughts
Algeria is an awesome country to discover, and I am surely going back to finish what was initially planned. Avoid my mistakes (or not); riding during the summer is very challenging. Thanks to Ed Gill for helping me with some doubts before the trip, and thanks to Chris Scott for keeping valuable up-to-date info (a real public service) and also for the inspiration with the Arak rock photography trip report!
Cheers and happy travels!