Tamanrasset

Just back from four days in the desert south of Tamranrasset, a city of over 140,000 in the extreme south of Algeria. It's in the midst of an area called the Al Hoggar, an intriguing region of mountains, sand dunes, stony, gravelly,plateaus, pictographs, and isolated rocky massifs. Around Tamanrasset, most of the people are from the Al Haggar tribe. I went camping with tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear in large metal trunks, and a 4x4 vehicle with a couple from Bogota, Columbia (Eduardo and Nora), a young French man (Pierre), and two guides (Slimane and Lili)in Tuareg clothing, their accustomed dress. Eduardo and Nora think they may be the first people from Columbia, who have been to Tamanrasset. The climate is characteristic of the Sahara; yet, altitute and tropical forces serve to moderate the heat of the day. It's still warm! The sprawling, Saharan-oasien style city itself isn't much over 100 years old, owing its growth to French colonial administration and the development of tourism. Before that, the area was principally a crossroads between northern and southern African countries and the terrain of the Al Haggar tribe, which enthroned its first Amenokal (leader) in 1750 AD. The Almoravids (a southern African dynasty)established an outpost in the 13th century about 60 miles west of present-day Tamanrasset. In spite of heat, typical of desert climates, the area receives some rain annually, often in torrents, which gush through wide wadis (dry riverbeds) sweeping along whatever might be in their way. After visiting the Artisans' and African market, we started out on our first leg of the trip. In the midst of a vast plateau with a panoramic view of a massive pinnacle protruding from a mountainous base, we slept the first night under the stars, sheltered by the Milky Way and other not-so-other familiar constellations. I grew sleepy looking for the Big Dipper. The moon rose from behind the massif. The only other aura came from the direction of Tamanrasset; the glow of city lights, a remaining vestige of civilization, was still visible in the distance. Day two was the day of the dunes and views of needle rocks, sculpted arches, and other rocky protrusions, peaks, and cliffs carved by natures's volcanic eruptions, wind, and water. The stars that night had no competition in reflecting their luster. There was nothing I liked so much on the trip as lying down on the mats surrounding our carpet (which doubled as evening salon and table) at the end of the day and waiting for the first stars to come out, and then gazing up into the darkness, past the stars, and feeling a sense of infinity. An occasional meteor would make a short trajectory across the sky. Here I was seeking an escape from civilization and the urban masses; yet, even in my sense of private, personal perpetuity, others were striving with every effort to be the first humans there in that area up and beyond the earth. At the base of a great dune, patterned with soothing, smooth, diagonal ripples of sand, and in sight of mounds of sand heaped between massive, flat-surfaced stone protrusions, and beneath the geological wonder of the two kissing camels, I eventually went to sleep, with a cooling breeze blowing through the net door of the tent. While lunch had taken place in the shade of a lone acacia tree, here vegetation was absent. The cool desert nights, even with a bit of cold requiring a shelter and cover, were indeed welcome. Day three was out on the plains, walking out to the reduced capacity of a lake, over the fractured, desiccated mud layer, which crackled beneath your feet, and crunching the dried, dusty round pomegranate casings, dropped by trees when the rains were greater. Night was in the ambiance of another dune. A sizeable, one-dimensional reptile, the art of a bygone people, decorated the façade of a mineral cliff, as we passed by on day four of our excursion. Our guides prepared lunch on the edge of a wadi, while we explored the upper reaches of a stream, which overflows its course and sends waters on their wild journey through the broad, flat-bottomed wadi during periods of rain. The stream, originating in rocky high ground, had worn the rocks on its edges smooth and polished. It was a challenge to climb the rocks, keep from slipping, and navigate the sandy, porous, bottom of the watercourse. Nora and I surprised Pierre taking a shower, seeking cleanliness and refreshment in the cool waters of the stream's cascade. We had truly been camping-no bathrooms or washing facilities, other than bottles of mineral water. On the way down, I left my shoes on, since I thought this would provide protection to the feet; and shoes were awkward for me to carry. However, walking in the midst of the streambed, one foot sank into the squishy sand up to knee level. I succeeded in recovering my balance, but had lost a shoe. Removing my watch, wading in as water rose even over the level of my rolled-up slacks,I worked busily and hurriedly to recover the mate to my remaining walking shoe. Nonetheless, it filled with sand and wouldn't budge from its newfound place of immersion, as I continued to labor ever so energetically to retrieve it. Fortunately, Pierre had the strength to grasp the shoe and pull it up from the stream's soggy depths. We sat in the shade among granite boulders and petrified wood, as we awaited our lunch or tuna and rice surrounded by cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, and olives. After refueling the vehicle from tanks that had been stored overhead and using the upper half of a bottled-water container as a funnel (gas in Algeria costs 15 cents a liter [.22 gallons]), we departed. As we got closer to the city, a few wandering camels, adults and offspring, appeared from time to time. Finally, we were back in Tamanrasset and to our hotels, where we could take a shower and rest a bit. Then, we had dinner at Slimane's house and met his children. The women do not make an appearance, when male non-family members are present. The youngest, three years, jostled with Pierre and rode her tricycle around the kitchen. Asma, now ten years, showed us a picture of herself in a red satin dress with embroidered gold trim and reams of gold jewelry-bracelets, necklace, earrings, a nose-piece. She will certainly make a delightful bride. Rarwa, the son and eldest, in army-colored cropped pants and shirt helped his father. Education is available for all children in the city; boys and girls to to school together. We had been treated in style and eaten well, even while our guides and their families were observing Ramadan.