Tadrart Rouge

The Tadrart Rouge lies south of Djanet toward the Libyan and Nigerien borders, at the southern end of the Tassili n'Ajjer, and it is the part of the Algerian Sahara that photographs have made familiar: towers, arches and fins of deep red sandstone standing out of orange dunes, with narrow canyons, natural amphitheatres and gueltas holding water after rain. Rock art is found through the area, engravings and paintings left by people who lived here when the climate was wetter, showing cattle, giraffe and hunters. It is visited on four-wheel-drive expeditions of several days from Djanet, camping in the sand, with Tuareg guides who know the routes and the water.

History

The massif is the southern continuation into Algeria of Libya's Tadrart Acacus, a sandstone range about 150 kilometres long that rises to 1,340 metres. Today it is one of the driest places on earth, but in the wet phase of the Neolithic it was savanna that could support people and animals, and its rock art records the change: the paintings and engravings span the time from the Neolithic to recent centuries, as the region turned from savanna around 10,000 years ago to desert around 5,000 years ago, and the animals drawn move from elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, antelope and wild cattle to domestic cattle, sheep and goats, horses and finally camels (French Wikipedia, Tadrart Rouge).

What's there

• Red sandstone towers and arches - the formations rising out of the dunes.
• Orange dune fields - the sand between the rock.
• Prehistoric rock art - engravings and paintings of a wetter Sahara.
• Gueltas after rain - the rock pools that hold water.

When to go

November to March; the desert festival at Djanet falls in the cooler months. Three to five days minimum. Nights are cold. Permits and licensed guides are compulsory.

Practical notes

It is a full expedition, not a day trip: several days of driving and camping with no facilities. Permits take time and must be arranged through an agency. Rock art is fragile and touching or wetting it destroys it. Summer travel here is not possible.

Nearby

Djanet is north; the Tassili plateau rises above it.

Key facts