..................... May 2009

This information is an informed but personal interpretation of travel access
across the Sahara and believed to be correct at the date shown above.
For the latest situation on Saharan travel in a specific country click this.

Crossing the Sahara has for centuries been limited to a handful of routes linking the Mediterranean with sub-Saharan Africa. In the old days these caravan routes followed a string of reliable wells, while at the same time circumventing difficult terrain such as mountain ranges or sand seas. Prevailing routes also shifted according to regional political allegiances and the activity of nomadic bandits who would offer to guide a caravan across the desert for a fee, pillage it, or engage in a bit of both.

It's not an exaggeration to say that today the situation is broadly similar, but with the added restrictions imposed by contemporary politics in the Islamic world; the Sahara remains, by and large, a vast and unpoliced region where the risks to the traveller are not to be underestimated. Looking at the thin lines which criss-cross Michelin's latest 741 map or even the gaps in between, you might think there are an infinite number of possibilities for a trans-Saharan adventure. This is not the case. No longer can you roam around the desert with impunity or increasingly, without an official guide. As with Antarctica, it's an irony that legitimate access to such a vast wilderness is limited by human intervention. My regularly updated Sahara Routes Map (right) shows the main pistes, desert border crossing posts, which borders are porous and which are not.

One idea people regularly come up with is travelling anticlockwise around the rim of the Mediterranean until they learn that the the Moroccan/Algerian border has been closed for years. Starting or ending in Tunisia will work notwithstanding the hassle of crossing Libya. The classic Tamanrasset-Agadez 'Hoggar Route' is accessible in both directions, but requires guides in Algeria while Agadez has suffered badly from the Aïr Tuareg rebellion (a reconciliation may be currently underway).
Although it was never that popular following the 1990s, the Algerian part of the Tanezrouft route south of Reganne is again open to tourists, although the border at Bordj Moktar is easily accessible from Tamanrasset along a more interesting route). The north Malian portion of the Tanezrouft route has long been risky for tourists and an expensive guide here for the run down to the Niger river is not compulsory but may be a good idea.

In the 1970s, crossing the Nubian desert from Egypt to Sudan and Uganda was the main route to East Africa until the escalation of the Sudanese civil war put an end to this. This war is apparently over (or has moved to Darfur) but tourists aren't exactly rushing into southern Sudan yet. Two parties were robbed by either bandits or SLA patrols in the Gilf in early 2008 (west of the Nile route). The Wadi Halfa ferry is running, but Egyptian bureaucracy as well as Sudanese visas (for some nationals), are as tedious as ever.

In the 1990s, with Algeria and Sudan's unpopularity with travellers, the flow of trans-Saharan traffic, both commercial and touristic, diverted to the west, via Morocco, Western Sahara and Mauritania's Atlantic shore. This has become the easiest way of crossing the desert in both directions as in late 2005, baring a couple of kms of rocky piste through the minefields in No Man's Land, the first sealed, all-weather route across the Sahara was completed. In Mauritania it runs inland from the former beach route down to Nouakchott, Dakar and so West Africa. Unless you slow down or head inland in Mauritania, the Atlantic Route is a relatively boring and unsatisfactory run if you're looking to experience the real Sahara.

In 2006 the one-way route from Libya to Niger from El Gatrun to Tumu closed to tourists. Djanet in Algeria to Ghat or the other way (as well as Ghadames-Deb Deb) were also never open to tourists or haven't been for years.

There are other TRANS SAHARA ROUTES that you might think possible from the sometimes misleading 741 Michelin map, but for first timers these are marginal, dangerous or impossible. They include:

• Morocco/Algeria via Bir Mogrein into northern Mauritania (or any other the thin black lines in west Algeria and north Mori - most don't exist).
• Libya-Chad (east of Tibesti) - Forbidden by Libya without special permission.
• Libya-Sudan off piste. Used by smugglers but forbidden and very risky for tourists.

 

SO WHICH ROUTE SHOULD I CHOOSE?
(notwithstanding the latest political and security issues which come and go)

Heading south

Hitching/busing:
• Atlantic

By vehicle:
• Algeria to Niger if you like the desert and don't mind the guides and keep out of the Aïr.
• Egypt if you don't mind the hassle and are going down the east side of Africa.
• Atlantic if you're on a pushbike, in a hurry, or want to pass from Spain through Senegal and Mali.

 

Heading north

Hitching/busing:
• Easiest from Mauritania to Morocco (Atlantic).

By vehicle:
• Niger-Algeria if you like the desert, don't mind guides and want the ferries out of Algiers or Tunis.
• Mori-Maroc if you're vehicle is on its last legs or you want to end up in Spain.
• Sudan-Egypt - much arsing about to get the ferry but it gets you there.

For more information visit the forum orfollow the links at the top of this page.