We spent New Year's in Tamanrasset Algeria. More precisely, we flew to the oasis city in southern Algeria, stayed very briefly in a hotel, and then proceeded to wander around and camp in the Hoggar Mountains highlands in the central Sahara region.
It was in the 70s F during the day and close to freezing at night, so alternating between burning skin and freezing skin. It was a tough environment, but there was a majestic rugged beauty to it all. It was one heck of an experience. I'm happy to have seen it all, but I'm not sure I'd be happy to do it again soon.
It started with a 2 1/2 hour flight from Algiers at midnight. We arrived at a cool looking hotel at probably 4am and got up for breakfast at 8, so not much sleep to start. Here's the courtyard of the hotel.
We were picked up by our driver and met up with a truck which had our guide and a cook. They brought the tents and food. We brought our sleeping bags and sense of adventure to go wherever it is they were taking us. This was home for the next four days.
We left the city. I didn't think to take pics of it, but there wasn't much to see on our path out.
We were soon on the open road and heading to where the roads were no longer paved.
the pavement didn't last very long where we were heading
there were still signs along the way
and a vehicle arch, gate, or whatever that we drove around instead of through
We stop for lunch and learn the first rule of desert touring. Keep the tourists busy with a walk while lunch is being setup. There's a table area and food to prepare, so we weren't left standing around to watch them do it. Instead we hiked to see water, which is definitely a unique site in this area.
our guide chilling by the water
We walked back to the surprise of our dining table and the magic of this table appearing in a variety of places for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The first lunch in the sun was kind of rough, but they were able to get us in shade for the rest of the meals.
and the guide makes a traditional tea for every meal
lunch!
we found our camping spot for the night surrounded by amazing views of mountains in every direction
We setup our 2 person tents and they setup the table for a snack. However, we had to quickly eat some cookies and run to get to the Hermitage of Charles de Foucauld in Assekrem before sunset.
The hermitage at the top is at an altitude of 2,726 metres (8,944 ft). I'm not sure what the altitude of the parking was, but we had to hike a good bit to get to the top.
Hermitage of Charles de Foucauld
oh wait... it's getting dark... let's head back down to the vehicle!
Back at camp, it was time to try out the phone's night shot mode which wasn't able to pick up all of the stars. I don't think I've seen so many stars without light pollution since I was a kid. The pictures don't truly capture it.
We ate in the dark with a little light from the lanterns we brought. We soon went to sleep in our tents. It was just the first day and we were already a bit exhausted after the middle of the night flight and the day's events.
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