Unsuspected Magic of Tassili N'Immidir

Departure by 4x4 towards Immidir. We take the trans-Saharan road in the direction of In Salah. We pass through the small villages of Outoul and Tit and we pass not far from a hill where, in 1902, the famous Battle of Tit took place, between Arabs and French on one side, and Tuareg on the other. To the east we have the long Téfédest mountain range and to the west the famous In Eker mountain, Taourirt Tan Afela, where French atomic experiments took place. We cross two large wadis that descend from the Téfédest, Adenek and Abezou, then cut across the track road that goes from In Eker to Amguid.

We leave the road 20 km before Arak to meet up with our camel team set up near the oued Iherdjan; departure towards our camp.

We go up the Iherdjan wadi, then the Oued Taflout. Climbing the Taflout pass gives us access to the plateau from which we have a beautiful view of what we have just done. We cross it to reach a canyon that is quite wide, with detrital cliffs. The progression is partly on the beautiful slabs at the bottom of the wadi.

Late in the afternoon, we arrive in the oued Tissadwa ("The Cut Branches"). Visit of a rock shelter, then we camp near a guelta.

Approximately 5h30 of hiking.

Departure to descend the wadi Tissadwa until the confluence of the wadi Agzel in which we find very fine paintings, then a large guelta.

The wadi Tissadwa deepens more and more between the cliffs until it curves towards the Arak gorges.

A tributary gives us access to a black plateau, soon mixed with sand.

We reach the Adjror wadi and a magnificent large guelta, the In Bordan guelta.

In the afternoon, we move through a beautiful winding gorge. Then the walls lower and we arrive at another large guelta where we set up our bivouac.

A wide plain to cross and then climb back up to a plateau, covered with sand and rocks.

Beautiful fine paintings of bighorn sheep, then a change of wadi. In the afternoon we discover a kind of forest of stones, then we descend towards an extraordinary canyon, following its right bank. The views are vertiginous. Then we leave it and descend towards the large plain of the oued Labiod.

Heading North-East; grassy, rocky and sandy areas alternating. Crossing a short plateau leads to the Oued Ti Karbaten, carpeted with vegetation.

In the afternoon, a wadi and a rocky plateau lead us to stone forests with very jagged rocks. We set up our bivouac in the large wadi Tin Horeghen or "the red wadi".

Descent of Wadi Tin Horeghen. We arrive above a very high cliff of the wadi (more than 100 m). An overlook above the wadi allows us to see the beautiful guelta at the foot of the waterfall. In the distance, we can see the high dunes of Tahaft. In the background, the elevated edge of the external tassili dominates the landscape. From the edge of the plateau we begin a long descent on a mule track, through rocky terrain.

In the afternoon, a long crossing of a black plain, finally reaching dunes close to a beautiful low forest of pink sandstone rocks.

A short plateau leads us to the canyon of In Sita. At its foot, an improbable green guelta and palm tree welcome us. The tiered potholes above are as many water points when it has rained.

We leave the Tahaft wadi, cluttered with trees and bushes, and access a pass. We walk through a good thickness of schistose debris in light and varied colors. Then a dark plateau stretching endlessly seems to lead nowhere; fortunately a large undetectable canyon soon cuts through it and we discover at the bottom a magnificent palm grove! Superb and beautiful reward… A steep descent over rocks leads us to the bottom, and we follow it until we find our caravan on schistose sand with a few trees and bushes.

Day of wadis and gueltas! We follow the wadi Tin Djenan, sometimes inside it, sometimes along its banks, on an easy path. We arrive at the guelta Ibnewen or "the twins", a superb large guelta in the middle of the reeds, fed by a waterfall.

We descend the Ibnewen wadi and stop for a moment at the edge of a guelta under the "Ahtes" (Acacia albida).

Continuation of the wadi descent; the bivouac is set up near the mountain, where another easily accessible guelta allows the camel drivers to fill up with water.

The meanders of the Tissedet wadi soon reach the dunes. We immediately climb the highest possible dune… From the summit, we see the caravan heading towards us.

We continue across the sand, with a view over this magnificent erg. Bivouac in the dunes at the edge of the erg, where a few tamarisks grow.

Keeping our course to the North-East, we keep the dunes on our right. The bravest ride across the dunes; the others follow the plain. This one is soon cluttered with small barkhanes (crescent-shaped dunes). We set up camp in small dunes in the shade of tamarisks.

We leave our camel team to begin the return journey. Many gazelles flee as our vehicles approach. They love these vast desert plains. The views of the successive ergs are very beautiful.

Transfer to the apricot-colored dunes of the imposing Mehedjebat dune massif.

Bivouac at the edge of the erg.

We discover the magnificent dunes of the erg, from the top of which, at a height of 250 meters, we embrace on either side the sandstone barriers of Adrar Ahnet and those of Immidir. Then we resume our transfer back towards Tamanrasset and stop in the erg Gourdane, one of the last bastions of sand before the granites of the Hoggar.

This small erg set in the middle of a vast peneplain has no lack of charm for our last bivouac.

Early in the morning we continue our journey through the Arak gorges to return to Tamanrasset.

Lunch at the inn and free time in the early afternoon to visit the city. Tamanrasset (situated at 1400 m) has become in a few years an imposing city of over 150,000 inhabitants. Only the city center, with its streets shaded by tamarisks, has retained its original charm.

In the evening dinner at the inn.

Rooms will be made available to you (4 people per room) to store your luggage, rest and take a shower before the transfer to the airport during the night.