April 24 - Some good news for a change
The italian tourist, Maria Sandra Mariani (right), who was kidnapped south of Djanet, Algeria 14 months ago, was released in northern Mali and arrived home on April 18th via Ouagadougou.
And the Swiss woman below who was kidnapped in Timbuktu just over a week ago was also released a few days later, this time by Ansar al Dine, the separatist group who now control Timbuktu.
And tourist visas are now available again for travel in Libya, following the same procedure as before - with an agency invite. However this might be seen as premature as security cannot be said to have returned to the Libyan Sahara.
April 16 - Another kidnapping in Timbuktu
A week after most foreigners fled Timbuktu following Tuareg separatists taking control of the town (along with the rest of north Mali), a Swiss missionary has been abducted by gunmem from her house in the town.
April 6 - Back from Morocco
Job done, bike was great, weather not so good, but we did some great pistes anyway. A few pics here, a report on how the bike went here.
Meanwhile the Sahara gets smaller day by day. Following a military coup and disarray in Bamako, it's said the two rebel Tuareg factions in northern Mali - the MNLA and the Ansar al-Din islamists - have come down from the north and taken Gao and Timbuktu, so taking control of the 'Azawad' Tuareg homeland for which they seek independence. With different agendas, now it seems they may turn on eachother, though the MNLA are said to be much bigger.
There are also more reports of Tubu unrest in southern Libya, in Sebha rather than Kufra this time, and also with talk of separation from Libya.
March 15 - Off to Morocco
... for a few weeks to update the Morocco book on a BMW F650GS SE.
Plan is to land at Nador and check out some new routes in the High Atlas, scott round to Erg Chebbi and explore an area west of there, then over Sarhro west and past Ouarzazate, over Jebel Sirwa, down Taliouine and the Assarag canyons, to Tata and the quarry piste towards Tizerkine Gorge and from there over to the south side of Jebel Ouarkaziz to try some news ways to getting to and from El Bouriyat.
Easily written, we'll see how much of that actually gets ticked off...
Other news: the Malian Tuareg rebels have taken Tessalit after a long siege; Kidal is next on the list one imagines. A land route could actually be on the cards from Egypt to Sudan after many years. And there was a suicide bomb in Tam on an army base, although no one was actually killed apart from the bomber.
February 21 - Libya transit, Algerian visas and new Mauritania map for Route R2
Some good news for a change: there's news of the first reported transit of northern Libya from Tunisia to Egypt and back right here. And since then I've heard of a second completed transit with a visa secured in Cairo following a little persistence.
It's said that Algerian visas are again available too.
And I've added a Google map with extra information for Route R2, the railway piste to Atar in Mauritania.
February 13 - Two new Sahara book reviews
Secrets of South Sahara by Mark Milburn. Account of a solo expedition to Algeria and Niger in 1977 in search of ancient tombs. And Al Qaida au Maghreb Islamique, about recent Saharan politics and kidnappings.
February 6 - Hoggar Assekrem trip report - and other news
Part II of the recent trek - Is here, with a gallery and slideshow and maps.
Meanwhile in north Mali the Tuareg rebellion - much predicted as a result of the Libyan outfall - is causing the biggest regional upheaval in years, with 1000s of refugees heading over the border. And what little news there is from Libya is not so good either. A small ray of hope is yet more talk of the Morocco-Algeria frontier opening. The questions is - will it be be open to non-Maghrebians and will it include the useful Figuig-Beni Ounif frontier north of Bechar?
January 26 - North Africa feature
In the February 2012 issue of 4x4 magazine (I am told).
January 22 - Camel trekking in Algeria
Just back from 3 weeks camelling in the Immidir and Hoggar - all up around 200 miles with a great group and cook plus a new agency, Ben Kada, who did a great job. No security issues that we could see, though things were going on, I heard later. We saw no tourists except one group in the Immidir near Arak. In the Immidir we took the next canyon along which meant just an hour's climb up to the crater, and we stopped off at Aguelman Rahla on the way out - a nice spot.
Hoggar was a new route forme, about 70 miles in an inverted 'V', NNE to Assekrem and back SSE to the car rendezvous. Some fantastic towers and rocky landscapes up there plus the ever-reliable spectacle of Assekrem, but not quite as untouched as the Immidir. Report and slideshow from the Immidir here.
Dates for more camel tours out there shortly.
I'm doing a talk on Sahara camelling this Saturday at the Adventure Travel Show at London Olympia.
Archived News 2008-11
