June 20 - Libya turns the screws again
For the latest visa regs, click this and ask yourself, is it worth it.
June 16 - Morocco Overland preview - 
Algeria 2010 tour
Check it out right here.
The new book will be available in a couple of weeks.
A decade after my original 'Algeria 2000'4x4 tour (on dvd), the February 2010 tour has filled up with a Pajero, TLC 60 and 80, a Discovery and a Unimog - plus my Mazda. Reserve places are available in the event of cancellations.
June 3 - British hostage killed in Mali Updated Saturday June 6
An Austrian-based Brit, Edwin Dyer (left) who was kidnapped with 2 Swiss and a German in January 2009 while on a German organised tour in eastern Mali, was reportedly killed last Friday by his AQIM captors when a second deadline for their ransom demands ended. These demands included the release of Abu Qatada, a radical Muslim cleric held in a UK prison for extradition to Jordan and described as an associate of Osama bin Laden, as well as up to 10 million euros.
Although other hostages have died in captivity and tourists have very occasionally been killed in the Sahara, Edwin Dyer is the first tourist hostage to actually be executed when the second deadline expired. It is thought the fact that he was British was significant in his murder. The two women in the group were released in April along with the 2 Canadian diplomats grabbed in Niger in November 2008. It is thought ransoms were paid by their governments although this is always denied in these cases. A Swiss man Werner Greiner, whose wife was among the two women released earlier, remains in captivity.
If you can stomach it, there is a 250-page monograph dating from June 2008 published by the Institute for Security Studies, titled: 'Terrorism, in the Maghreb' available here.
News links, comment and recent developments here.
May 27 - Ceasefire in Niger - Mauritania
Things could be looking up in northeastern Niger with a ceasefire announced between the MNJ and FPN and the Niger government. It was a few days as it happens, after a foundation stone was laid at a new uranium mine site at Imouraren, just south of Arlit by French company Areva. Niger supplies most of France's uranium and Areva says it expects Imouraren to become Africa's biggest uranium mine. One of the MNJ's claims was to receive a greater share of uranium royalties mined in northeastern Niger.
Then again, a few days after this, president Mamadou Tandja (70) dissolved parliament after the courts rejected his plan to hold a referendum to gain an unconstitutional third five-year term.
Mauritania has again temporarily stopped issuing visas at the Moroccan border until the June elections have been completed.
March 20 - New map for Morocco
After six years there's a new edition of the Rough Guide Morocco map: 1:1m, double-sided on plastic paper. Full review here and you can also 
post free.
February 20 - Oh Lord! - two Mercedes desert travelogues reviewed.
My Mercedes is Not for Sale and Tom Sheppard's testament to 40-odd years of desert travels: Quiet for a Tuesday.
There's a new Lonely Planet out for Morocco too. For a forensic comparison with it and the current Rough Guide, click this.
February 11 - New 4WD tour for 2010 - Adios Amilcar!
Fancy a great drive in the the wild west of Algeria next winter? Of course you do so click this.
Other news, the Amilcar Hotel, that stalwart 
disco-dancing 70s cheapie with great parking and crap food is closed. Wasting a prime spot of beachfront in Tunis' upmarket Sidi Bou Said suburb, even the east European tour groups, lovelorn local couples and bar room brawlers who patronised the place could not keep it going - I suspect. Don't know anything else out of the city centre so cheap, secure and handy for La Goulette port. Hammamet resort 40 clicks down the motorway would be my next choice if on the way to Algeria or Libya.
And still more good news: along with the obscure Erg Chech region, the Tanezrouft route from Reganne down to Bordj Moktar (BBM) on the Mali border is open again. It was unclear why it was closed to tourists a year or so ago when BBM could be accessed from Tam in the east.
January 28 - Back from Algeria. Kidnapping in Mali
Recently back from taking the first Simoon group to the Amguid crater in Algeria. Picture report here. It's a tough walk on some hot days but I found a better way to the crater that was actually one of the easier ones (the Aguelmam Rahla option mentioned below was too tricky to guarantee). The crater is a highlight of course, but so it the next-, last day when we walk out of the canyon, over the plateau to finish off with a walk through the Bou Zerafa dune field (left).
Same time, same place, same me with Simoon next year. A great way to work off Christmas.
I'm also planning some of my own tours in Algeria for 2010. Things are looking up there at the moment. More news here when the quotes come back.
Other news from Algeria here.
Elsewhere, 3 tourists were kidnapped in eastern Mali close to the Niger border where they attended a Tuareg music festival and where a Candian diplomat also went missing a few weeks ago. This Sahelian border region has long been thought to be a risky area and is not on regular tourist routes. Some links here.
January 4 - Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia
Off to Algeria for a couple of weeks camelling in the Immidir (last year's pictures). This time we're hoping to leave the Amguid crater directly to the north, either along the unknown canyon below or over the plateau, and visit Aguelmam Rahla where, according to our new best friend, Google Earth, at least three varieties of pre-Islamic tombs as well as 'desert mosques' are gathered in close proximity around the aguelmam or waterhole. It suggests the place, 200 kms from the nearest settlement, was once occupied for a very long time.
I've just put up a short movie of last year's trip.
Slowly, my Morocco Overland website is taking shape, with useful stuff for the Morocco-bound, even if you don't want the forthcoming book.
A reminder than new restrictions are said to have come into place from 2009 in the south of Tunisia. More news here.
Archived News 2008
