We just returned from Algeria.
28 day trip with acaciaaventure.com
The Raid intégral Algérie is a 28-day 4x4 tour covering more than 7,000 km to discover the most beautiful landscapes in Algeria. We've crossed the Tassili N'ajjer, the Tadrart and part of the Great Western Erg. Mus Hafiz, the boss of our organiser Acacia Aventure, promised us that "every day will be more beautiful", and he was right.
We were a group of 20 toyota’s. Most of the days we were split in different groups and drove independently along a set of waypoints. The big group never was a problem and every night we got together at the bivouac spot or hotel. 18 bivouacs in 28’days.
Everything south of El Golea is controlled area and you can’t go on your own. We met a german couple in a truck in Tamanrasset who were stopped along the way from Alger to Tamanrasset. The rest of their trip was with a police escort on the tarmac roads.
With our organised tour, the visa on arrival was arranged and also the permits for the Tassili national park, so we could drive to the nicest spots, on and off road. A lot of police checkpoints along the way, so I don’t think it is really possible to slip through without an agency. Several times, when we were driving in our little groups, we were stopped by the police to check us out. Always very friendly and helpful.
One day, a tourist was stabbed in Djanet and directly after that our group was stopped at the first town and placed under police escort until they figured out that the attack was from a single criminal and not terroristic. The authorities are very security aware.
But......apart from the police thing, it was magical! Fantastic landscapes! Friendly people who really want you to have a good time in their country. I needed a replacement side window and the guy that fixed it even didn’t want any money.

Ferry from Marseille to Alger. Corsica linea.
You can buy insurance when you leave the port in Alger. Also buy a simcard there. Use Mobilis, they have the best coverage. 12 euros for 30 days 80 GB (yes eighty!)
Diesel : 0,20€ per liter. If you go to the national parks, you’ll need 900 kms of autonomy, 200 liters of diesel in a standard 24v 80.
Credit cards don’t work. Everything is cash.
border with tunisia ar Nefta is open.
Border with Morroco is closed.

Long term parking in Algeria or Tunis?
 

Hi,

I plan to overland Tunis and Algeria february / march.
Does anybody knows if long term parking is possible there? I would like to leave there a car and fly back home for 3 or 4 weeks and then back to Algeria.

There are different conditions in different countries but I didn´t find any information about this issue in Algeria or Tunis.


And by the way, one more question: as I found out, a CPD(Carnet de Passages en Douane) is not needed?

Thank you for any info.
I am from Czech republic (EU).

Marian

November December 2024
 

Evening all and thank you @Firewout below for that latest.

Ngiri will be arriving in Algeria 17/11 at Mostaganem to be met I expect by a group of local bikers. I'll be then heading to Taghit to be met by another biker/safari guide before heading down south.

Hoping to put on my more nobbly tyres at In Salah and we'll go from there. I'll be a bit short on endurance (depending on going) if they require 900km of autonomy. Tant pis/Inchallah

I'll post as I go if I have coverage.

Is there anyone else in the area?

I doubt very much it is possible in Algeria.
It only became possible in Morocco a few years ago and the countries are miles apart. Tunisia more likely.

According to our local tour operator, Mus Hafiz from acacia aventure, you can leave your car up to 3 months in Algeria.
This was mentioned sideways in a conversation, so I don’t have any practical knowledge how to organise this.

Tar from Ideles to the east /Djanet
 

I’m now in Tam.

Rest and maintenance tomorrow then off to Assekrem and beyond.

Been talking to disappointed Algerian Bikers who thought that the route: Ideles- east was tar.

I said but it is - having scanned the route on google maps. Now I’ve been looking more closely and I find that the tar stops at longitude E 6.4445919

Now I’ve seen my consumption (thanks Rotax) I think I’ll have a stab at some of the Gpx routes I’ve got dialled in.

Does anyone else have any up-to-date info?

Incredible the amount of mis- and dis-information - just been talking to a local guide who tells me that there is tar from Ideles to Djanet.

I was there last year. Defenitly tar wasn't all the way. Many long section without it. Route from Djanet to Ideles (482 km) we drove 9 hours (with brake for lunch). We were 4x4 and truck so it was long distance without tar.

Latest I have read is that there is still a small piste section between Tam/Djanet.

https://sahara-overland.com/2023/05/...o-tamanrasset/

How were the checkpoints going south? Were you accompanied by a guide the whole time?

No, I had no guide. For me there seemed to be one choke point on the road south. This was at In Salah. There thé gendarmes were more assiduous. There is a part of me that conjures the idea that the guide of a guided group of Germans that I met at the junction south of In Golea might have contributed to this. There was a bit of chatter on WhatsApp the next morning when they were leaving saying the escort was ready …. This hadn’t been discussed as I needed to change my tyres. (Edited - After event an Algerian biker friend told me later that he overheard the hotel receptionist talking to the police because of the stirring by the guide - I think a case of sour grapes.)

So while changing tyres two gendarmes turned up but couldn’t speak French …. So tyres changed I then said I must fill my water bladders…. And then my fuel bladders ….. then the side stand broke on my bike so I said, «*no departure today*» they then left my passport at the hotel.

To cut a long story short, I got my passport back the next morning and I left town avoiding the police checkpoint on the TSH by cutting through the town dump and rejoined the highway about 5km out of town. I was then on the Ed Gill Old TSH piste for the next day and a half.

So when I got to Arak the gendarmes couldn’t have been more friendly. There was some confusion about a bloke who looked a bit like me in a hotel in In Salah but I continued on to Tam.

Down here it seems that a solitary biker slips easily through the net. When I leave town tomorrow I’ll do a map recce and avoid any obvious checkpoint sites and join my route later.

My general feeling has been that security has been getting tighter as one rolls south. Up north the gendarmes carry sidearms. Down here they carry AKMs but without spare magazines. There are sandbagged positions but they seem to be dilatory. So what ever threat they expect is likely to be of short duration.

There doesn’t seem to be a set requirement of passport or driving licence or whatever. Sometimes they take your fone number sometimes not. Sometimes they call in the information sometimes not. It all depends on the gendarme. As always in Africa it’s best to not be in a hurry …. 3 days at the customs in Tête (Mozambique) taught me that. I try to get in neutral, switch off and coast to a halt by the gendarme with visor up and smile on. Sometimes in traffic this is not possible.

Ngiri and I’ll see what it’s like leaving town tomorrow…. I have also used heavy traffic to sneak through masked by a lorry and a wave. They’ve generally not got chase cars so there isn’t much they can do.
Share

If it is all sealed I would surprised - 100km in 6 months.
It took them a decade to do 250km over the Fadnoun plateau (Illizi>BeH).
But eventually it will happen heralding a whole new era on this classic southern loop.
Till then I recall it gets sandy as it turns SE as you near Serenout (checkpoint).

Best you find out for us, Ngirienroute ;-)

I hear via an Italian group that in some areas motos have been banned, such as Tadrart - a now over popular long valley SE of Djanet with rock art etc and ending in Merzouga dunes near Libyan border. There are many better places to ride off road.
Don't know the other areas other than the obvious southern and western border expanses.

Two people tell me they want GPS at the border - not allowed any more [as in Tunisia once years ago]. Drones too I think + sat phones and radios, as expected. But of course a mobile is a GPS and that they like them to keep tabs on your location (I am told).

The latest as of yesterday for the state of the road from Idles to Djanet.

In miles. The first 50 are tar. There is then dirt to mile 94. Then a period of tar to mile 106. Then dirt to mile 122. After that it’s tar to BEH. Between BEH AND Djanet there is just a 3 mile spot of dirt at about mile 30.

The road BEH to Djanet varies from good to starting to mosaic - where it is forming the latter there appears to be work in progress to put in a new course.

To complete the picture for the route from the TSH (just S of In Amguel) the first 40 km are travaux/dirt. After that it’s goudronnée to Idles. After that see above.

Only just picked up on these - interesting to read and thanks for sharing, Jim.

FWIW Instagram biker Nata has been down this way the last week or two and had some frusrtrations with escorts from In Salah onwards, and even already with a guide across from Idles to BEH. My understanding is that she was blocked by gendarmes at BEH from completing her anti-clockwise loop from Tamanrasset via BEH back north to Hassi Massaoud and Tunesia.

See here - https://www.instagram.com/nata_onthe...NlZDc0MzIxNw==

I think your comments on solo bikers finding it easier to slip through, and the arbitery nature of it all hit the nail on the head.

I'm due to hear back next week on a visa for myself, for a two week trip in February - but will be focussing on the northern Sahara sections for that.

Ed

I can understand that In Salah was an issue for Nata. The gendarmes might have been sensitised by what happened to me.

If you have nobbly/sand tyres avoiding the police road block leaving In Salah is reasonably easy - just look at the map and you will see where you can cut through the town dump and rejoin the TSH further south. The checkpoint on arrival at In Salah from the North is trickier to avoid and I didn't have time while heading north myself to find a way around it - but there must be.

I would like to reiterate that my issues in In Salah stemmed from a guide sticking his oar in. I never had another issue with the Gendarmes anywhere in Algeria.

There are more and more bikers trundling around the South. Coming back from Djanet I bumped into two Dutch bikers (Martijn and Max) at the (empty that day) filling station at Bordj El Haouas who said that they had encountered a group of 5 bikers in Djanet. So there are heaps more folk doing the south but not writing it up.

Spare 21in Front Tyre

In In Salah, if this can help someone in the future, due to changes of plans, I left a practically new 21inch Motoz Tractionator Desert with Nordine at his workshop which on Google maps is Mechelen Lat/Long 27.19363254287799, 2.484235799624933 (I did have workshop logged but my DMD spat the dummy on arrival back in Spain and I lost the Lat/Long) - you'll see my Live Unlimited Warthog/Ngiri sticker on his door if he isn't there. He's a great bloke and has the only tyre machine that does bike tyres in In Salah. He will also store your tyres for the return if you need to do that. Give him my salaams. Furthermore if you do want to use his services you might consider a gift of rubber solution and patches which are both hard to get and expensive in In Salah.