We went deep in the Sahara to Djanet Algeria for five days of camping, prehistoric rock art, sand, driving, food, more sand, and even some live music. It was an amazing adventure as our time in Algeria comes to an end this summer.
Our flight arrived very early in the morning, so our tents were already setup for us near the airport on the first short night and morning in Djanet.
The kitchen truck packs up after breakfast and runs ahead to setup lunch. They do it again for dinner and repeat this process throughout the entire trip. It's an efficient method since lunch is usually waiting for us when we catch up with them.
We're put in the shade most of the time, but the first morning is setup in the sun for our group of 10 campers.
tracks from vehicles, people, and... lizards?
elaborate traffic circle decoration
Our journey takes us closer to the Libya border and the well protected area of Tassili n'Ajjer.
Wikipedia excerpts: Tassili n'Ajjer "Plateau of rivers" is a national park, biosphere reserve, and UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has one of the most important groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world.
The range is composed largely of sandstone. The sandstone is stained by a thin outer layer of deposited metallic oxides that color the rock formations variously from near-black to dull red.
Algerian rock art has been subject to European study since 1863. Tassili was already well known by the early 20th century, but Westerners were broadly introduced to it through a series of sketches made by French legionnaires. French archaeologist Henri Lhote's expeditions have been heavily criticized, with his team accused of faking images and of damaging paintings in brightening them for tracing and photography, which resulted in reducing the original colors beyond repair.
The rock formation is an archaeological site, noted for its numerous prehistoric parietal works of rock art, first reported in 1910, that date to the early Neolithic era at the end of the last glacial period during which the Sahara was a habitable savanna rather than the current desert.
Although sources vary considerably, the earliest pieces of art are presumed to be 12,000 years old. The vast majority date to the ninth and tenth millennia BP or younger, according to OSL dating of associated sediments. The art was dated by gathering small fragments of the painted panels that had dried out and flaked off before being buried.
Among the 15,000 engravings so far identified, the subjects depicted are large wild animals including antelopes and crocodiles, cattle herds, and humans who engage in activities such as hunting and dancing. These paintings are some of the earliest by Central Saharan artists, and occur in the largest concentration at Tassili. Although Algeria is relatively close to the Iberian Peninsula, the rock art of Tassili n'Ajjer evolved separately from that of the European tradition. According to UNESCO, "The exceptional density of paintings and engravings...have made Tassili world famous."
the road behind us...
... and the fork in the road ahead. We went left. Left is usually a good direction.
The view from the pile of rocks with the carvings where I imagine that the prehistoric humans were watching the animals they were carving. "Hey giraffe, hold still a second while I finish carving your face. Darn, you moved, so I guess I'll just put a vague shape of a head here."
a moon, ok, it's THE moon since we only have the one around this planet (so far)
Lunch music. It was really cool having our own musicians playing live music after some of the lunches and every dinner. The singer/guitarist described it as a mix of traditional music and American blues, which made it more interesting when he'd end with some rock style flourishes and solos.
We climbed towards our first cave paintings. They're just up there in the rocks without any signs. Sometimes there's a ring of rocks around a painting or carving area to show where something is, otherwise the guides lead us to them and point them out.
They're not always easy to spot at first, but then they're obvious once you can fixate on the shapes.
this is the open cave painter's room with a view
it was more of a cliff side with an overhang roof instead of an enclosed "cave"
camels and one of the other vehicles in our caravan
Toyota Land Cruisers were good for cruising the land
a long day of travel and sunset came quick so we scrambled to put up our tents before it got dark
our driver got stuck in the sand a few times during the trip but got it moving again each time
A fireside traditional tea and music each evening after dinner was a great way to end each day. This was always followed by the exhausted crawl into our tents to keep warm in the cold desert nights.
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