Tag Archives: Tassili N’Ajjer Plateau

T is for Tin Taradjeli Pass

Anyone who’s taken the RN3 down to Djanet in southeastern Algeria will remember the Tin Taradjeli Pass. By the mid-1980s the tarmac may have reached Illizi, but from here a bone-shaking 200-km crossing of the Fadnoun plateau was so rough, steep and bendy, bigger trucks had to take a long detour and there were warning signs at each end of the plateau: Attention; Dangerous Track.

Part of the Tassili N’Ajjer escarpment which stretches over into the Libyan Akakus, the Fadnoun was a notorious, vehicle-wrecking barrier. Suspension problems were common and on various trips I came across a 2CV and a Hilux which were gradually breaking in half and needed the chassis braced.

As I write in Desert Travels, crossing the Fadnoun with a Landrover 101 and a group of bikes in 1989, they’d ride for an hour and then wait hours for me to catch up.

On the left, the 1983 edition of the Paris-Dakar crossed the Fadnoun on its way to Djanet and the Tenere beyond.

A map and few shots of Tin Taradjeli over the years.

Tin Taradjeli: where the green line meets the pink in the middle of the map.

1987 (full story).

1989 with the 101 and some bikes.

A clearer day in 2002, photo by Ian T on his way to West Africa on a KTM 620.

Still sunny in 2003: arriving via the tough Tarat piste (green line on map, above) on Desert Riders.

2007 with a small MAN 8.135 lorry loaded with bikes. Taradjeli now with Armco and cameras improving. Full story.

2018. Armco + white lines. Full story.

S is for Sahara Silhouettes

Other silhouette galleries

Part of the occasional Sahara A to Z series

Tassili N’Ajjer Rock Art (Tamrit, Sefar, Jabbaren)

11 Replies

Gallery from our one-week, 60-km donkey trek on the Tassili plateau in late 2013, following our camel walk to Essendilene. We took the classic route, up the Akba Essaliwen near Djanet onto the escarpment for Tamrit, then over to amazing Sefar and down and out via Jabbaren. See map below.
Loaded camels can’t manage the climb we took to the plateau (left), far less the descent at Jabbaren. So pack donkeys take a longer, less steep path ascent and, with much coaxing, down the Jabbaren trail with us.

Once on top it’s a Lost World of gnared outcrops, rock art caves, weathered canyons and ancient trees where people thrived 10,000 years ago. And less than 10,000 years after my first visit to Djanet, I was thrilled to finally to tick off the famous Tassili plateau trek. Like Assekrem, it’s the another Must See in the Algerian Sahara, but I hear these days is getting like the Lake District. Not got a week for the full lap? Do a one-day up to Jabbaren and back.

As we were approaching Jabbaren before the steep descent back to the plain at the end of our trek, I heard later that my Spot tracking dropped out for those following it back home. At this time Tigantourine oil base near In Amenas was getting attacked by the Algerian army following a raid by an AQIM group led by the notorious Mokhtar Belmokhtar out of Libya. Even though 400km to the south, I presumed the Algerians temporarily blocked all satellite signals across the region. Checking in unshaven at Algiers airport a couple of days later, the bloke at the desk grinned and asked ‘you were there?’. Turns out it was nothing to smile about.