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7 Aug 2024
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9 Aug 2024
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thegreatbreakout
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!
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Glad that you and your girlfriend are back home and hopefully all safe and well.
I must admit I hadn’t realised that you were planning to travel in July! The Adrar Region in particular is bad enough in late September/October let alone high summer so this was definitely brave to try!
Part of me wonders whether the time of year influenced the embassy’s decision on your visa. But then again the official situation is still so unclear on that front, there appears to be no consistent policy.
Your story is definitely one for others considering this trip to note - time of year is hugely important here. For me, early October to late March/early April is the time to go. Outside of that the logistics, particularly for any piste riding, just become too difficult in terms of safety, volume of water you need tk carry etc.
Ed
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4 Days Ago
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Trip report december 2024
Following al the reports in this thread, we also had a go at the deep South without a guide last december/january. We got the visa before departure by booking some hotels (in the North). We took a 'hybrid' approach and planned to meet a guide somewhere around Djanet, arranged by another couple traveling with their own vehicle around the same dates. Our plan was to 'test the waters' and see how far we would get and what we could do without a guide.
Going south along Biskra/Touggourt we met our first serious checkpoint in Hassi Messaoud. They were definitely surprised to see a solo vehicle, but they let us go after escorting us through town (standard procedure in Hassi Messaoud we understood). The next checkpoints we stuck to the story that we would meet our guide in Illizi, and that was good enough for most. One of the checkpoints wanted to know which agency we where traveling with and tried to reach our guide (but didn't get a hold of him).
We decided to try our luck and see if we could get to the Bordj Omar Driss - Illizi piste. According to our agency the piste was 'closed' north to south. The checkpoint at the crossroads to BOD let us turn off the RN3, which gave us some (false) hope. Once we were in BOD, we were escorted to the gendarmerie station. The officers seemed genuinely concerned and asked us repeatedly what we were doing here and if we knew that this was not the route to Illizi. After explaining them that we knew that we had to go back to the RN3, they told us that the piste to Illlizi was not safe due to 'terrorist activity'. We already decided to not push it further, but were also escorted all the way back to the RN3.
After this experience we decided to just meet with the guide in Tassili N'Ajer and enjoy the rest of the trip (Djanet, Tadrart, Assekrem, Tamanrasset). The guides were sharing just enough of our travel plans to get through the checkpoints, but still having the freedom to explore some smaller pistes. Deviating from this plan was also not possible ('interdit'). The agency later told us that sometimes they get permission to explore a piste from one direction (i.e. going from Illizi to BOD), but not from the other direction because the local military interprets the rules differently. On the way back North, we were able to drive unescorted from Erg Mehedjibat and up (this is where our group split up).
After a few weeks in Algeria, it was clear that you can indeed dodge the escort rule, especially if you stick with the main roads and shorter bits of piste. But to explore some of the more remote pistes, you need a lot of local knowledge (or time) to make it work. The comments about 'terrorist activity' and the concerns about our safety felt empty at the time, but the news about the Spanish tourist made us realize that there might have been some truth to it. Let's hope it does not impact tourism and the freedom to roam too much.
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4 Days Ago
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Thanks for your report.
From my very first travels in Alg, 'interdit' was a word I heard all the time.
I find it hard to think there is terrorist activity on the 'Graveyard Piste' to Illizi.
Terrorists from where and doing what? It's not even a viable smuggling corridor.
However, this is where the mass of the 2003 aductions took place and afaik that classic route has been closed ever since.
But as you say each regional authority interprets rules differently.
I think meeting a good guide down south is a smart way to do it.
You can claim genuinely to northern CPs you have a rendezvous, so it would be just like the pre-escort / GPS days: you hired a knowledgeable guide to do a new route.
Of course these days they are supposed to escort you border to border and may not work for motos, but with a few vehicles the cost gets minimal, they can show you good places, be fun to be with and help blag the CPs.
Otherwise, get and stay on the piste for as long as possible - also does not really work with motos.
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2 Days Ago
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Indeed, the answer to our questions was either 'interdit' or 'comme vous voulez'. It was soon clear that there was not much to choose from though... (except departure times, lunch stops, etc.)
We understood that another group (with guide) did the Graveyard Piste the other way round (south to north), so it does not seem to be completely of limits.
The only problem with meeting the guide only in the south, is that the agency might get in trouble for leaving you unescorted, so they might be hesitant to organize this.
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2 Days Ago
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thanks for your report, good to read. The kidnap is a worry... giving out rewards for kidnapping is a bad development in an area with high unemployment.. I still wonder how they managed to kidnap the spanish tourist at assekrem and get him across the border without getting caught before.. quite a few tourists, guides and army posts around that area
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1 Day Ago
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Accompanied trip Tam & Djanet
Beginning of December 2024 we decided to try to get to South Algeria. As visa timings were very short, and it is in the south, we chose to go via an agent, one of the ones recommended by Chris Scott in sahara overland. With only two weeks before our travel date this was pretty ambitious, but we got it one day before travelling. We got an approval for boarding, not visa, and then went through the visa process upon arrival in Algers. Travelling by plane from Algers to Tam at this time of they year is a struggle... air algers doesnt have enough planes, so this flight is pretty fully booked (we couldnt book from netherlands). Our and our guide's hope was for no-shows... and they werent after 12 hours of waiting at the airport (there are direct and indirect flights to Tam), so we slept a bit at the airport and flew next day to Djanet at 0530 in the end, to go with a driver to Tam the next day and start our tour there.
We did Assekrem, and from there to the beautiful Tahifet wadi, Tazrouk. We had planned to camp around Serouenout, but our local guide said he wasnt keen to camp there due to illegal gold diggers. First time we heard about gold in algeria, so when we had cell reception we checked on the internet... and indeed its an issue with Mali and Niger gangs gearing up with locals to dig for gold at night. Military is doing lots of raids in the desert and its not funny of course to get caught in the middle of this. Its seems Bordj El Haouas is the epic centre, with lots of men from Mali/Niger waiting to be picked up for work, diesel generators and jack hammers on sale.. and fast petrol pick-ups around (it seems newer petrol toyotas are not allowed in algeria as they can outrun the police and military....but we always felt safe.
We visited 70km west of Djanet, north of the main road, some very nice scenery, off road/tracks ending around 40km west, easy to follow tracks there. Bit of wadi rum vibes in that area and seems to be on the day trip from Djanet with lots of traffic.
Overall no (real) CP encountered, whereas this Tam Djanet road was closed 2 years ago, and one year ago required escort. Travelling east. It still has two major dirt track sections, one starting 72km west of Idles for about 75km, then some 20km tarmac, then another 25km dirt track, and then tarmac all the way to Djanet.
Being a passenger, rather then driving has his pro and cons.. Pro is no stress, great food cooked three times a day, safety and no issues with police, plenty of breaks and lot of time to detox from our hurried lives and phone...and real value for money. Cons... less exciting... sometimes outright boring.. slowish driving offroad, and the guide is actually more a cook and points out where to drive and camp, than an expert guide on nature and history..
Last point to share is the local hospital/clinic in Djanet. I had climbed some rocks, fell on the way down and slit open my hand requiring 5 stitches. Local clinic was very efficient, but police will come straight away requiring a full report and our guide had to go to police station twice...maybe because of what happened last year in Djanet? Overall did a good job on my hand I can say two months later.
Will go back again, really keen to come with own car and arrange guide with car , from Tunisia south to djanet, Tam then west to Tindouf, mauritania, west sahara and up to Morocco. Our guide believes this is possible (guided in the south).
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22 Hours Ago
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I am also from the Netherlands and would like some more info on the visa application in the Hague, as I plan a trip later this year. How difficult is the application without an invitation of an agency? How many hotel reservations are required? How long does the application take? Did the embassy ask extra documents for bringing your own car to Algeria? Thanks a lot
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