Sahara Routes Map

February 2012

This is an informed but personal interpretation.

The Libyan Sahara won't be a tourist destination for a while yet, and parts of north Niger as well as Mali are risky.

For kidnappings in the Sahara, click this.

For a map of Med ferries to Morocco click this.

 

Wherever possible use official border crossings, marked with the black diamond or expect the consequences outlined below

Black diamonds shown possible two-way desert border crossings. Many other border crossings exist or are used, but are closed to non-Africans or tourists without good connections.
Purple lines show the three main trans-Sahara routes, but not all are useable at the moment. You will notice there are far fewer than you would expect over such a vast area. Red lines show borders which cannot be crossed legitimately (some may be mined and you may be arrested or run into bandits/smugglers/rebels/terrorists). Green border lines can, up to a point be crossed as long as you check into the nearest immigration point. Some pass through extremely remote outlaw areas and you still may get arrested or robbed. As you can see, besides Libya it's principally northern Mali and Niger - not a place where any tourists go to at the moment.


© Chris Scott, 1998-2012