Trans Sahara Highway
Algeria - January 2002
The tar road from Tam to In Eker is open, but at In Eker there is a military post next to the road from which the convoys north seem to begin. The base has about 10-15 big convoy escort-like trucks standing by. We arrived at this point going north at 5pm, answered questions for 15 minutes, were told about terrorists and bandits to the north, but were allowed to roll through. We camped about 6km east of the road and about 10km north of In Eker. There were no vehicles on the road at night. At dawn, many trucks started out at the same time going north from In Eker.
A few kms beyond the In Eker-Amguid piste turnoff (which is clearly signposted to Amguid) we also left the tar road and spent several days roaming the inselberg country west of the Tefedest. There are several pistes which join the In Eker-Amguid piste further north (i.e. they branch off the tar road further north west than the main In Eker-Amguid piste tar road junction). We drove some of these - some are fast - over flat hard sand. These alternatives might be a quicker way of getting to Amguid than the In Eker piste if one were pushed for time.
The tarmac going north to Arak is fine - but a bit broken up south of Arak - watch out for reinforcing steel sticking up on the broken concrete bridge crossings. At Arak we were pulled into the check point, but this was one of the best check points we passed through in Algeria. We walked from the check point into the military building just south of the petrol station. The bloke in charge was swift and helpful, even allowing us to fill up with fuel while our details were taken down. We were free to move on north without being part of any convoy.
The new road north of Arak takes a different route from that marked on the IGN map - probably to avoid flooding in the river - passing close to the escarpment, well to the west of the main oued and erg. It was through this section that we passed 50 or 60 trucks in the convoy heading south. Almost all the traffic was in convoys of some sort.
Some 40km south of Ain Salah the road is undergoing major re-construction. There's no single diversion, just deep ruts heading all over the place - very slow going for 40km or more to town. It was here that we met two Swiss guys who were heading south to Tam but had been held back two days and made to join the convoy. They were in a new LR 110. The Swiss warned us about a military guy wearing shades at the road block outside Ain Salah. He did his thing with us too - keeping us there for all sorts of questions. We were told to report to the police (Commissar?) in town. We followed his directions off the main road until we were out of sight of the road block and then headed out of Ain Salah. There was no check point on the north side of town. The next control post we came to was just after the road climbed up the Tademait plateau. The plateau is an extremely stark place with very little cover. We passed a convoy of ten or so TLCs (mining vehicles) escorted by the smart green and white Gendarmerie TLCs.
We camped out on the plateau that night - out of sight of the road, which took some doing. We found possible evidence of banditry in the form of discarded sets of vehicle number plates. There was no traffic during the night.
El Menaia (which seems to be the start of the convoy going south - this is where the Swiss were held up) has check points on both sides of town. Again we were told to report to the police, but managed to get out of town without doing so.
North of El Menaia things seem more relaxed. The Tanezrouft isn't easily accessible from here and the road is trapped on both side by dunes for much of the way. There were check points south of Ghardaia and west and east of Ouargla. We passed through the latter in early evening. There was traffic on the road north of Ouargla throughout the night.
Richard Washington
Travellers reports from the Sahara