The Algerian Sahara: Djanet and Tadrart

Below you will find a sample itinerary of just one of Expert Algeria’s Sahara tours. For comprehensive details and photos of the Algerian Sahara, please click here.

All of Expert Algeria’s tours and circuits are made-to-measure and are accompanied by qualified guides. Tours last from three days to three weeks and can be designed for between two and thirty participants. Please contact us for further details of all our Algeria tours and itineraries.

The awe-inspiring Tadrart region is to be found in the deep south-east of the Algerian Sahara. Once visited by the Swiss-Algerian explorer Isabelle Eberhardt and the naturalist Theodore Monod, the Tadrart is dotted with gueltas, pre-historic rock paintings, strange rock formations and lofty dunes of virgin sand – “here the dunes are a true paradise”, according to the Bradt Guide to Algeria, “a great place to explore and play, like a huge open playground”.

The oasis town of Djanet lies at the heart of this mountainous landscape of towering dunes of sand, sheer-sided canyons and dense forests of rock – not to mention its old ksars, oases, palm groves and gueltas.

This tour includes several nights camping under the Saharan stars with visits to cave and rock paintings (from circa 12,000 BC to 100 AD) depicting cattle, giraffes and human beings… and we’ll also hunt down the “Crying Cow” (a famous rock painting) and set out in search of the “Hedgehog” (a sublime rock formation).

For much more information on holidays and vacations in the Algerian Sahara, please visit our Sahara in Focus pages.

holiday and tour in Algeria with Expert Algeria travel agency
Day 1
Arrive Algiers for walking and driving tour of the Algerian capital: Place des Martyrs (17th century El Djedid Mosque), Place Emir Abd-el-Kader (panoramic square with statue of founder of Algerian nation), neo-Moorish Grande Poste, esplanade. Afternoon: depart by air for Djanet in the deep south of Algeria. Short orientation tour of this oasis town at foot of Tassili mountains . Overnight in local guest house.
Day 2
Depart in 4×4 for Tadrart: extraordinary landscape of desert mountains, canyons, rock arches, huge sand dunes and cave and rock paintings (circa 12,000 BC to 100 AD) depicting cattle, giraffes and human beings. Dinner and camping in canyon of D’In-Djarena surrounded by dunes for first night under the Saharan stars.
Day 3
Continue through Tadrart along El Biredj (wide desert canyon and valley) to Moul el Naga (especially beautiful dunes of orange sand) for overnight in desert.
Day 4
Depart in 4×4 for In Zouatane (dunes and rock art, spectacular landscape) for overnight in desert.
Day 5
Head for red dunes (up to 1,800 ft. high) of Tin Merzouga with circuit of some of the region’s most stunning rock arches (including the “Hedgehog”).
Day 6
Depart in 4×4 for Tilfazou, Oued Amais, famous Cow painting.
Day 7
Return to Djanet for lunch and visits in town with colorful market selling dates and cheches (Tuareg turban). Farwell dinner and rest in local guest house.
Day 8
Very early morning departure from Djanet by air for Algiers. Free time in Algiers before transfer to international airport for departure.