Landmines
It's well known that certain areas of the Sahara are scattered with minefields, some dating back to WWII, but most laid during more recent conflicts. Anti-personnel mines will blow off your legs and possibly kill you if you step on one, but if you drive over such a mine, you could get away with just a ruined tyre. Larger anti-tank mines will destroy both you and your vehicle. In In Search of the Sahara Quentin Crewe described driving his Unimog over a mine near Nouadhibou in the 1970s. The heavy vehicle was destroyed but saved the occupants from injury. Most years a Saharan party sets off a mine somewhere, all known cases being in the areas listed below.
The best way to avoid setting off a mine is to avoid known minefields altogether. However, if you can't or don't want to do that, hire a relibale local guide to steer you through the danger zone. If you decide to go it alone using someone else's GPS waypoints through a minefield, be aware that the slightest deviation could result in a fatal accident. Follow any existing tracks and be wary of any unnatural barriers across a piste.
Known mined areas in the Sahara
Apart from the Atlantic Route (p.464), Route L6 and routes in Egypt's Western Desert, all the pistes in this book avoid mined areas so you should have little to worry about. Nevertheless, it's prudent to list the known locations of Saharan minefields, though this list should not be taken as a guarantee that mines do not exist elsewhere.
Starting
from the far west, the horizontal border between Western
Sahara and Mauritania is mined. Even though by now everyone
knows the risks of leaving the piste when crossing the
border and a new sealed road is complete, deadly accidents
still happen as late as Feb
2007. There is no danger if you
directly follow the couple of kilometres of stony track
from leaving the tarmac at the Moroccan frontier to rejoining
the tarmac at the Mauritanian frontier. Stay on
the clearest direct tracks. The 2007
death occured way east of this route - no one knows
why they are there but sadly they asked for it.
It's
very likely that the entire Mauritanian border north with
Morocco is left mined from a time when Polisario raiders
got as far south as Chinguetti. There are certainly mines
alongside the Layounne-Bir Mogrein road; a Paris-Dakar
truck caught one here in the late nineties.
Still in Mauritania, areas east and south of Ouadane are also said to be mined although Route R8 to Guelb is safe. Again there are said to be mines north of Guelb near the El Beyyid well and rock paintings.
There are also mines between Algeria and Morocco in the Hamada du Draa and Guir region between Tindouf and Bechar, though no regular pistes cross this area. If they exist they are all well south of the Moroccan routes given in this book.
Mali is thought to be mine-free as is Algeria. In Niger Tubu rebels laid mines in the Djado region in 1997-8. They were cleared in 2001 after the rebels came to an agreement with the Niger government but in March 2003 three Italians tourists were killed when they hit an anti-tank mine north of Djado. After the accident the military post at Chirfa confirmed there were mines in the area on the route into Enneri Blaka where the former base of the FANS Tubu rebels was located until 2001. There are apparently three routes into the valley of Enneri Blaka, one is the regular route from the south via Seguidine, one from the north which cuts north east of Djaba and then goes south down the Enneri Domo, and a new one which cuts directly eastwards from Chirfa. It was this latter route which was reported to be mined.
Besides this, the far eastern reaches of the Seguedine-Zouar piste are mined around Col de Yei Lulu just before the Chad border, and also reports of wired-off mine fields further north.
Libya
Libya has plenty of mines from both WWII (mostly in the east) and along its southern border following the war with Chad and related to the current Tibesti rebellion. WWII still exist east of the line from Ajdabija (south of Benghazi) to Jalu as well as further south. A surveyor working in southeast of Libya reported that 'Many areas of country to east of Kufra-Benghazi road are mined' although the run from Al Jakbub close to the border across a passable 'neck' of the Calansho Sand Sea down to Kufra is becoming a popular off-piste excursion with no known reports of mines (see also 'Egypt' below). These mines have long been a sore point with Libya who've insisted Germany and Britain pay for their clearance and as a result of Libya's continuted rehabilitation, in March 2003 the Virgin Group announced a deal where they would sell an airship-based landmine clearance system using radar to Libya.
It's also been reported that in the broad plain leading from the tarmac road about 90km north of Sebha. southeast to the Sarir al Qattusah is mined (in 1989 a traveller was warned by a Libyan police patrol who followed).
In southern Libya between Serir Tibesti and the Rebiana Erg in the Dohone region, the Passe de Klingue on Route L6, KM409 has mines from several periods and wrecked vehicles to prove it. Mines located at this point damaged a truck in 1991, nearby in 2001 and again in 2003.
In August 2000 a Swiss party hit a mine on the way back from the well at Gongom on the western side of Dohone. The mine was located in the Oued Oyouroum (N22° 40' E18° 45'), which was not known to be mined.The travellers were returning along their own three-day-old tracks. Later they met an Chadian army patrol near Kilingue looking for Chadian rebels who probably laid the mines, thinking the new tracks belonged to rebels using the well. It seems the Chadian army has permission from Libya to venture into deep southern Libya to lay mines in theor operations against the Tubu rebels so it's simply best to avoid this part of Libya.
Chad
Chad, or to be precise the north as far south as Faya and up to and beyond the Libyan border is the most mined region in the Saharan, dating from the Libyan war of the 1980s and, as you've just read, still being mined today. Mines exist alongside tracks, some are well marked, others are not. In August 2002 the leader of the rebel MDJT movement himself was among the dead in a landmine incident. Near the Libyan border the mines at the Passe de Korizo are well-known with a well developed alternative piste. A truck hit a mine on the track south of the Pass on the Arkiafera Plain north of Wour. Mines also wrecked a Unimog at N22° 19' E17° 25' on the way to Aozou and other tracks in this region are well known to be mined, such as the track between Ouri and Aozi, east of the Dohone spur.
There are said to be mines around Ounianga Kebir and the piste northwest to Gouro as well as the piste between Faya and Fada through the Kora dunes (just above N18°). They block the line of least resistance which everyone would follow and you must know the places to avoid by crossing a 50m-high dune belt. South of Ounianga Kebir the ominously named Wadi Doum (N18° 22' E20° 23') - where the Libyans lost the 1980s war and now a Chadian military base - is littered abandoned military hardware, UXO and is heavily mined. Those minefields which are crossed by the clear piste are carefully fenced off with barbed wire. You may by quite safe staying on the piste but walking around to a look to the military equipment is dangerous.
In January 2003 in the first reported mine clearance operation in Chad, the head of the anti mine unit funded by a UN development programme announced that they had removed some five hundred mines from around Faya Largeau and the area was mine free up to 10kms from the town.
In this region as well as the western Ennedi it is wise to travel with an experienced guide. Even the sides of the well-used piste about 20km WNW of Fada are mined at a narrow passage. This list is far from exhaustive and sticking to previous tracks or travelling with a guide if coming down from Al Gatrun all the way to Faya (should it even be safe enough to do so) seems to be the only advice. Guides however are not a guarantee that you will avoid mines which, along with its other dangers, is why northern Chad is the least visited Saharan country.
Egypt
The Western Desert of Egypt saw fierce fighting in WWII and its northern part, between El Alamein and the Libyan border, as well as the Qattara depression, was heavily mined. All mines have been eliminated between the coastal road and the sea, but further inland any number may still remain. The Qattara Depression was never cleared, and both the German and the British armies mined the northern parts, below the cliffs, to prevent the other from getting behind their lines. Given this situation, all parts of the Depression away from travelled roads and tracks are best avoided.
Tensions between Egypt and Libya resulted in some of the border areas being mined. At Jebel Uweinat there is a marked minefield (with large anti-tank mines) blocking the west side of the entrance of Karkur Talh (N22° 02.7' E25° 07.9'), and also at the low pass where the track skirts the northern spur of the mountain and continues towards the Libyan border at N22° 04.5' E25° 02.8'. It's also reported that there are mines near tracks passing a series of hills at N22° 04' E25° 16', about 20km NE of Uweinat where two red tracks join on the 1942 Uweinat map.
There are unconfirmed reports of mines at the pass between Peter and Paul, and mines may be expected at any easily blockable route close to the border. In February 1999 German tourists ran over a mine in the southern Gilf Kebir at the western entrance of the Wadi Wassa (N23 00.2', E25 51.3'), and it may be expected that the western reaches of the Wadi el Firaq are also mined; a vehicle hit a mine here in 1983 around N22° 53' E25° 47', half a kilometre from some iron poles and near a yellow drum.
There have been reports of the Aqaba Pass at the central Gilf Kebir being mined, however this seems extremely unlikely as countless vehicles have gone through this narrow pass overr recent years. Old reports suggested that the western entrance of Wadi el Gubba in the northern Gilf Kebir was also mined, but this too is unlikely. A Dakar Rally passed through here in 2000 as have several travellers since, taking the track rounding the western Gilf and heading for the entrance to Silica Glass valley (see p.000).
The recent minefields placed by the Egyptian army are marked with posts and barbed wire, and small stone cairns. If you see any obviously man-placed object (piles of stones, big slabs, steel drum, etc.) directly across the track, this is likely to be a warning sign for mines.
