Eastern part of the Saharan Massif Central, Tassili n’Ajjer is a sandstone plateau 1,500 to 1,800 m above sea level, inclined to the north and east, the infra-Tassilian furrow, separates from the Ahaggar massif. This lower part is the domain of ergs, the most important of which is the Admer erg. Narrow switchbacks, called akba, where one circulates in the middle of vertiginous scree for long hours and where, most often, only men and donkeys can venture, give access to the summit. The best known, those of Tafelalet and Aghum, lead to the famous sites of Tamrit and Sefar for one, Jabbaren for the other. North of Djanet, the Assakao pass, less steep, is accessible to camels.
At the top, a fabulous landscape of thousands of gigantic columns pressing against each other, evoking castles, ruined cities, sometimes forming veritable stone forests, is visible. At the base of these columns, alveoli served as shelters for prehistoric populations and are still frequently used.
Their walls are readily covered with paintings evoking populations that have followed one another for more than 10,000 years.
Its geological formations, its rock art, their richness and their diversity earned Tassili N’Ajjer an inscription on the list of World Heritage sites in 1982.
But beyond its immeasurable archaeological wealth, Tassili deserves to be discovered differently because it has the merit of being all deserts at the same time. From the mineral Tassili to the fantastic Tadrart, from the erg Admer to the beautiful dunes to the Djerat wadi in which the first paintings were observed, your visit to this region will transform you for life.
Djanet With its three ksour and neighborhoods suspended above the wadi Idjeriou (the sea), Djanet is a charming oasis, endowed with a beautiful palm grove. But Djanet is above all the salutary stopover before the ascent to Tassili. This magnificent ascent by steep paths – the motorable tracks stop at the foot of the plateau – and full of mysteries will enchant you. The circuits are multiple and allow you to cross the plateau on foot through the collar of rock stations of Tamrit, In Itinen, Sefar, Tin Tazarift, Jabbaren, In Aouanret.
You will be amazed at the mystery and grace that emanates from these paintings. Frescoes of hunting scenes from the so-called “bovidian” period (6th millennium BC), horse antelopes in Tamrit; gods painted “Round Heads” alongside elephants and “Pretty Women on Luxuriously Harnessed Oxen,” as Lhote describes in In Itinen; “God of prayers” 3 meters high hidden from view, in the depths of the gorges leading to Sefar; archer and reclining woman from the Bovidian period at Tin Tazarift; figures with dancing horns and great Martian god in Jabbaren or even White Lady of In Ouanrhat, painted in particular ochres. So many worlds are available to you in Tassili, a gigantic open-air museum!