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Algeria
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Once a popular holiday destination on a par with neighbouring Morocco, Algeria's tourist industry all but disappeared when bitter civil war broke out in 1992. After a decade of conflict the situation improved slightly, and some access to the southern Sahara region has been possible in the last couple of years. However, independent travel without a vehicle is almost nonexistent, and after the tourist abductions of 2003 self-drive travellers need to be very aware of the risks involved.
This dearth of visitors is a great shame, as Algeria is one of the most fascinating countries in North Africa. In the dramatic Unesco-listed Tassili N'Ajjer and Hoggar regions, near the town of Tamanrasset, tribal culture is very much alive, and the day-to-day hassle common to many Arab countries is conspicuously absent. Algiers contains a vivid mix of tradition and modernism, its colonial past maintaining a presence. Timimoun embodies the storybook oasis town of the Sahara, and the welcoming town of In Salah is split in two by a creeping sand dune.
Your options for travel are limited, especially as a backpacker, but a chance to see even a part of this vast nation should not be passed up.
Mapa de Argelia
Adrar is a major regional capital 120km south of the road which rings the Grand Erg Occidental. There isn’t much of interest here, and the only reason you’d pass through would be on your way to the Malian border or In Salah. Its uniform brick-red colour is interesting though and its central square is notable too, if only for its gargantuan size. Because the square is so big, the midday sun here is blinding, and you need to follow the local example and retreat somewhere cooler. The town is virtually deserted in the afternoon.
On the way into the town from the north, keep an eye out for signs of the fouggara (underground water channels), identifiable above ground by the lines of small wells on the surface. This system of channels, now superseded by more modern methods, once stretched for more than 2000km in this area.
Algiers
Algiers ‘la blanche’, the white one, is what the French called the capital of Algeria. A big, bustling, whitewashed city, with the Mediterranean out front, hills and rich farmland behind, Algiers (El-Djazaïr in Arabic) is an exciting destination and the gateway to the country’s interior.
Algiers was the most successful of all the Barbary pirate bases, especially in the 16th century under the most remarkable pirate of all, Kheireddin Barbarossa. It was also the most cherished of all French colonial centres. And since independence in 1962, it has been the political, economic and cultural hub of an extremely large and culturally and geographically diverse country. The largest port in northwest Africa and the largest city too, it now spreads far to accommodate a population that has doubled in 20 years.
Algiers suffered along with the rest of the country during the ‘black years’ of the 1990s. Since then, it has seen a strange split in its fortunes. You don’t have to walk far in the centre to see people hanging around with nothing to do. All capitals have their jobless and homeless, but they look out of place in a country that has just paid off its foreign debt. Thanks mainly to oil and gas revenue, there has never been so much cash in the city – the state is spending large sums and there is a sense among some individuals that money is there to be made. The number of new cars choking the main roads is a sign of growing personal prosperity.
Yet, in its rush to modernise Algiers has still preserved some of its old mystique; it has a strong sense of identity and is still dazzlingly white.
Annaba
Annaba’s excellent natural port and its proximity to fresh water and some very fertile farmland drew the Phoenicians here in the first place and have ensured the city’s continuing prosperity. Today, its port handles the majority of the country’s considerable mineral exports. But alongside business, Annaba has preserved its sense of history and culture. The city where St Augustine chose to live out his last years, known variously over the centuries as Hippo Regius, Hippone, Annabe, Bône and now Annaba, has a reputation for being a quiet haven, in spite of the fact that in 1992 President Mohamed Boudiaf, recently returned from 28 years in exile to head a reconciliation government, was assassinated here. Annaba saw little of the violence that scarred other cities during the ‘black years’ of the 1990s and many families moved here from Algiers and the west.
The port, the steel mills and tourism, centred around the stunning remains of nearby Hippo Regius and, in the summer, the beaches, provide the majority of work opportunities. Annaba is Algeria’s fourth largest city, with a sizeable university. Ringed by hills, close to some good beaches and with an elegant colonial-period centre, the city makes an excellent start or end point for a tour of the northeast.
Timgad (la Pompeya del Norte) Argelia
Assekrem
Immediately north of Tamanrasset, and part of the Ahaggar National Park, is the plateau of Atakor, a Tolkein-esque land of dry earth and dark peaks, at the heart of which is Assekrem, 73km from Tamanrasset, where Charles de Foucauld built his hermitage in 1911. Without your own transport, getting out to the Atakor plateau can be difficult, but it’s worth making the effort to get up to Assekrem.
The route up to Assekrem is long and bumpy but the spectacular landscape more than makes up for it. You drive through a warped landscape where strange mountains rise up from the rocky black plateau – many of them deeply scored as if they have been mauled by some mythical beast – eventually reaching the heights of Assekrem where you’ll be greeted with outstanding vistas over the sea of mountains below. Assekrem means ‘the End of the World’ in the language of the Tuareg and it’s easy to see why; standing up here it feels like you’re as far away from civilization as can be.
Batna
It may only be a 100km drive from Constantine, but Batna is a world away. Separated from the coastal northeast by a series of salt flats, Batna is the capital of the Aurès Massif, a continuation of the Moroccan Atlas Mountains. South of the Aurès, the Sahara begins.
There isn’t much history here: Batna’s beginning was its most significant moment, created by a decree signed by the Emperor Napoleon III on 12 September 1848. The reason for its creation is the reason you might want to visit: it sits at the crossroads of east–west and north–south trade routes and has good transport links, which makes it a useful base for visiting the Roman site at Timgad.
Ville propre, citoyen propre (clean town, clean citizen) is the slogan plastered on billboards around town and it seems to have been a successful campaign in most places, because, at least in its centre, Batna is clean and tidy. Sitting in the middle of a broad valley at 980m above sea level, it also boasts good air, though winters are cold and summers very hot. Batna is going through a massive building boom and the centre is surrounded by a landscape of concrete apartment blocks, among them housing for the more than 30, 000 students attending the city’s thriving university.
The centre of town is around the junction of the avs de l’Indépendance and de la Révolution.
Beni Isguen
The town is built on the slope of the hill, 2.5km southeast of Ghardaïa. This is the most important religious town in the M’Zab and also has an excellent reputation for science and education. Constructed in the 14th century, it’s also known for its ramparts, which are 2.5km long and 3m high. The people here hang on very firmly to their traditional ways, and the amount of outside influence is kept to an absolute minimum.
The town’s narrow streets are entered from the main Ghardaïa road. It is compulsory for all tourists entering the town to have a guide, and you can pick one up at this entry point. At the entrance to the town is a sign reminding tourists that photography and smoking are forbidden in the town, and modest dress is compulsory (no shorts or bare shoulders). However, you will normally be permitted to take photos as long as there are no women passing.
Beni Ounif
This totally unremarkable little border town used to give travellers coming from Morocco their first glimpse of Algeria, but since the closure of the border, it sees much less trade. The town is small – only about half a kilometre from one end to the other, centred on one long main street – so there’s no difficulty in finding things.
There are two banks here, a Banque Nationale d’Algérie and a Banque de l’Agriculture et du Développement Rural, both off the main drag, but neither exchange travellers cheques. There’s also a petrol station.
The road between here and Béchar still bears some of the few remaining signs of the battle for Algerian independence. Right along this border, some distance in from the actual line, the French built a continuous barrier of barbed wire some 5m wide. The whole section was patrolled by soldiers stationed at forts, each built in sight of the next, and the line was more than 1000km long on this side of the country. The idea, largely successful, was to isolate the Algerian nationalists from any support from Morocco. Most of the forts are still there today; so is much of the barbed wire.
Argel, Argelia
Constantine
Algeria’s third city, Constantine, is one of the grand spectacles of the north, made by nature but embellished by man. Over time, the Oued Rhumel carved out a deep gorge around an outcrop of rock, creating a natural fortress that was already occupied in Neolithic times. Since then Constantine (Cirta as it was known in antiquity, Qacentina as it has also been called) has always been a city of political, cultural and economic significance.
The Numidians made it their capital and after Julius Caesar defeated the army of Juba I at Thapsus, it remained the capital of Roman Numidia. The Romans destroyed the city after a rebellion in AD 311, but the Emperor Constantine then gave orders for it to be rebuilt – and renamed, using his name.
The French writer Alexandre Dumas called it ‘a fantastic city, something like Gulliver’s flying island’. The sense of fantasy has still not left it, for however much building has gone on around, the heart of Constantine remains on that upland shelf, reached by bridges. It is a cosmopolitan place which, over the centuries, has attracted traders, as well as invaders, from around the Mediterranean including Jews from France and Spain, Ottoman Turks, Genoese and others. From the 16th century, after the Turks conquered much of what is now Algeria, Constantine – Qacentina – became an important, independent beylik, and even after the last bey was chased from his palace by the colonising French, the bey continued the struggle from elsewhere in the region until resistance became impossible, for a while. On 8 May 1945 (a date commemorated in street names across the region) it was here, and in neighbouring Sétif and Guelma, that the independence movement started.
Constantine today has grown far away from its original fortifications – the new city spreads down across the plain below the old battlements – but it has not lost sight of its origins. There is remarkably little to see, considering how long and interesting a history it boasts, but there is something special about the place, evident in malouf, its Arabo-Andalusian music, in its sophisticated embroidery and a dozen other ways that express Constantine’s long, proud story.
Djemila
A highlight of Algeria (and of North Africa for that matter), the remarkable World Heritage site of Djemila is all that remains of the ancient Roman town of Cuicul. Tucked into the strikingly beautiful Petite Kabylie hills, some 40km inland from the Mediterranean, Djemila is one of the most perfect expressions of the meeting of Roman power and African beauty. Here, more than almost anywhere else this side of the Mediterranean, perhaps even more than in the great Libyan sites of Leptis Magna or Sabratha, you can come closer to understanding the Roman aesthetic: the marriage of order and beauty. It is, as the French writer Albert Camus observed, ‘a lesson in love and patience’.
Chazaouet
Algeria’s westernmost port sits in a well-protected bay, some 70km from Tlemcen (DA150 in taxis collectifs). The road is busy with halabiyah, the so-called ‘milk run’ of vehicles, from trucks to small cars, smuggling cheap Algerian petrol to the Moroccan border.
The Romans called Ghazaouet Ad Fratres (the Two Brothers), after the twin 25m rocks that rise out of the water at the mouth of the harbour. Under the French the port was known as Nemours, after the French aristocrat who governed here, and had a reputation for the quality anchovies and sardines canned in its factory. The centre still has a French feel, with its covered market (1938) and the central church, now a library (1931). The Pecherie, at the east end of the port, is a good place to walk and watch the fish being landed off boats as well as locals trying their luck with rod and line.
The best swimming is found away from the port. There’s a fashionable beach 10km east where, it is said, ‘even the rich like to go’. There is also good swimming west, at Marsa ben M’hidi, a 2km stretch of fine sand that is cut through by the Moroccan border. To get there you’ll need a car. Some people hitch with the petrol smugglers.
In Salah
Built in the red Sudanese style, In Salah would be a very pleasant place to stay were it not for the problem that gives the town its name: salty water. The water is disgusting, so bring as much water with you as you can from Tamanrasset or El-Goléa. Even the local soft drinks are made from it and bottled water is often unavailable.
The most interesting feature of the town is the presence of a creeping sand dune on the western edge by the Aoulef road. Behind the mosque you can see how the dune is gradually encroaching on the town. From the top of the dune it becomes apparent that In Salah has actually been cut in two.
The dune moves at the rate of about 1m every five years.
Desierto del Sahara, Argelia
Melika
It is from Melika that you get the best overall views of the Oued M’Zab and Ghardaïa itself. The town is about a kilometre to the southeast of Ghardaïa, high above the oued. The main point of interest is the curious cemetery on the northern side of the town where Sidi Aïssa and his family are buried. It’s a series of eerie white tombs with conical structures, almost like turrets, pointing towards the sky.
As the story goes, Sidi Aïssa was a Malakite Muslim who converted to Ibadism after a dream in which he saw three cemeteries. The first was surrounded by flames and smoke and, he believed, was that of the Jews; the second was a Malakite cemetery which emitted groans of pain; and the third cemetery, which he believed was the cemetery of the Ibadis, was bathed in a serene light. After an argument with Melika’s chief, Sidi Aïssa shut himself away, refusing to receive guests, until his death. After his death, the people of Melika, who were very fond of him, decided to build a magnificent tomb.
Oran
Algeria’s second city is a lively port with plenty of history and a lot of rhythm. Yet here, more than in Algiers, the consequences of the violence of the 1990s and the subsequent government neglect are plain to see, and every ship that sails north to Europe is watched by hundreds of people. Many of them long to make the journey to what they believe will be a better life, perhaps hoping to emulate Oran’s most famous émigré, fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. Albert Camus, who found the city dull and dusty when he lived here in the 1940s, used it as the setting for his novel The Plague. But for all its problems, Oran is still fascinating, a city with a sense of its own history and culture, which has contributed much to the world, not least North Africa’s liveliest music movement, rai.
Tamanrasset
As the last town on the route south to Niger, Tam, with a current population of around 120, 000, has long been a vital rest stop for ancient caravans and desert traders and, as a major centre for Algeria’s Saharan tourism, is still is a busy crossroads today. It’s one of those places where virtually all trans-Saharan travellers stop for a few days to rest up and make repairs to equipment. Tamanrasset is also the place from which to arrange trips up into the Hoggar Mountains, something that should not be missed on any account.
If you arrive by plane, as many tourists do, you will be treated to a spectacular preview of things to come – endless twisted peaks of red and brown are spread out below you and volcanic craters blister the ground like the surface of some far off planet.
With an altitude of nearly 1400m, Taman-rasset has a climate which stays relatively moderate all year round. Even in midsummer the temperature rarely gets above 35°C. There’s not a great deal to do here but it’s an appealing place in which to while away a couple of days – there’s a good market, some nice cafés and a friendly atmosphere. It’s also a place where you can get things done – there are banks, one of which can change travellers cheques, several internet cafés and Malian and Nigerien consulates for arranging ongoing visas.
Timimoun
If you can stop at only one of the oases around the Grand Erg Occidental, make it Timimoun. It’s an enchanting place, full of distinctive red mud buildings studded with wooden spikes, and surrounded by ancient villages. The residents are very friendly and it’s one of the nicest places in the Sahara.
Perhaps the best thing about Timimoun is its location – the town is built on the edge of an escarpment, and there are fantastic views out over an ancient salt lake to the sand dunes in the distance; on a bright, moonlit night the effect is magical.
The population of the town and the surrounding area is a real mix: the Haratine (non-Negroid Blacks), the Zénète Berbers, the Chaamba Arabs (originally from the east) and the Black Africans (descendants of Malian slaves). The predominant language of the region is Zénète, a Berber dialect similar to those of the Kabylie and the M’Zab.
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