Tassili n'Ajjer

Tassili n'Ajjer — "plateau of rivers" in Berber — is a sandstone upland of more than 72,000 square kilometres in south-eastern Algeria, near the borders with Libya and Niger, and it holds one of the densest concentrations of prehistoric rock art on Earth. Some 15,000 paintings and engravings have been recorded in its shelters and gorges. UNESCO listed it in 1982 for both its art and its geology, and it is also a national park and biosphere reserve.

The landscape alone would justify the journey. Erosion has carved the sandstone into "rock forests" of pillars and slots, varnished by the desert from black to dull red, with close to 300 natural arches in the south-east and deep canyons holding permanent pools in the north. On the higher ground survive relict Saharan cypresses — among the longest-lived trees known — and the rare Saharan myrtle, remnants of a wetter past. An isolated population of West African crocodiles survived here into the twentieth century.

That wetter past is what the art records. For thousands of years, while the Sahara was savanna, hunter-gatherers and then herders moved across the plateau, and their images follow the changing climate. The oldest engravings show wild animals of the early Holocene; the "Round Head" paintings depict floating human figures with featureless heads, some more than five metres tall and among the largest prehistoric paintings in Africa; the pastoral period brings herds of cattle, women and children, camps and dogs; later come horses and chariots, then camels, reflecting the full desertification of the region and the rise of caravan trade. Sites such as Tamrit, Sefar and Jabbaren on the plateau above Djanet are among the best known. The art has also suffered: the French expeditions of the 1950s were criticised for brightening paintings to trace and photograph them, damaging their colours beyond repair.

Visiting means trekking. The main painted sites lie on the plateau, reached from Djanet by steep passes and several days on foot, usually with donkeys carrying the gear; one classic loop through Tamrit, Sefar and Jabbaren covers around 90 km. Algeria requires foreign tourists in the deep south to travel with a licensed local agency and an official guide, and groups may be assigned a police or military escort.

Getting there

The practical gateway is the oasis town of Djanet on the plateau's south-eastern edge, served by Djanet Tiska airport (DJG), about 30 km south of town, with flights from Algiers. Illizi, on the northern edge, has its own airport (VVZ) about 120 km from the area. The nearest large town in a straight line lies across the border in Libya and is not a practical route. Tours are organised from Djanet by approved agencies, which handle permits.