AKAKUS
DESCRIPTION:
a taste of the incredible beauty of the Sahara, a classic combining magnificent landscapes and superb rock art. The discovery of the endless space across incredible dunes and sand plains. It is the desert of our dreams.
DAY 1
Arrival in Tripoli and connection with domestic flight to Sebha. Upon arrival transfer to the hotel.
Lunch: on one’s own
Dinner: at the hotel
Overnight: Hotel (Beit Sebha or Jebel – all rooms en suite)
Sebha, an ancient oasis dominated by several “garas” (flat-topped mountains) and situated along an old caravan route, is today a city of about 100,000 inhabitants and the most important trading centre of the Fezzan region.
DAY 2
Early morning departure by minibus on the tarmac road to Serdeles where we meet the 4x4 jeeps (km 450 – 5 hrs time). In the afternoon beginning of the expedition. “Monsieur Gautier’s Hotel” will be ready will be ready with tented accommodation in the desert.
Meals: full board, at the camp
Overnight: L’Hotel de Monsieur Gautier (tents) in the Aouiss Area
The tarmac road follows Wadi El Ajal, a fossil river once streaming from the Tassili foothills and now allowing the presence of several oases with lush vegetation, palm trees and cultivated gardens. On the background the beautiful sand dunes of Erg Awbari. In Serdeles, the magic universe of the Akakus starts: the fantastic pinnacles and the soft sands of the Aouiss Region are its northern gateway, the starting point to awe-inspiring landscapes of eroded sandstone and dunes.
DAY 3
We explore southern Akakus (Wadi Teshuinet area, Al Fozzigiaren … ).
Meals: full board, at the camp
Overnight: L’Hotel de Monsieur Gautier (tents) in the area of Ameneina Well.
The Akakus is a mountain range approximately 200 kilometers long (North-South) and 40 kilometers wide (East-West) in south-western Libya, a sub-range of the Hoggar Mountains of Algeria. Geologically speaking it is a secondary “Tassili”: its Silurian and Devonian strata lie on top of the Tassili n’Ajjer from which it is separated by Wadi Tanezzouf Valley and by Ghat’s great depression. It presents a vertical 600 meters deep escarpment to the West while to the East it is scattered into steep eroded blocks, later disappearing under the sand. Rain - nowadays very rare - gets partially collected in the “gueltas”, unexpected water holes. Akakus is one of the wildest inhabited areas of the Sahara: an enchanted world made of stone "mushrooms", pinnacles, arches, strangely shaped corridors, rock and sandy castles, canyons, red dunes, etc. Apart from its fantastic landscape, Akakus is also world famous for its art rock paintings and engravings dating back to the Neolithic.
Rock Art: the present dry desolated landscape was very different in bygone times, in fact it was here that the Neolithic man developed a flourishing civilization which the Italian scholar Fabrizio Mori called “the Ouan Amil Civilization”, from the name of a richly decorated shelter. A real open-air museum witnessing the history of the Sahara through its world famous engravings and paintings: buffalos, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, gazelles, crocodiles, human figures, handprints … and the mysterious ‘round heads’.
DAY 4
Leaving the Akakus behind, via the rose-coloured sands of Ouan Kaza Erg, we move towards the Messak.
Meals: full board, at the camp
Overnight: L’Hotel de Monsieur Gautier (tents) in the area of Akamad.
Messak Mellet is an impressive mountainous barrier hiding artistic treasures of inestimable value in its fossil riverbeds. One of these, Wadi Mathendush, is a display of real masterpieces: magnificent engravings scattered on the rock surfaces and representing a world inhabited by hunters and a wildlife which disappeared over 5,000 years ago.
DAY 5
We explore Mathendush and move towards the dunes of Murzuq.
Meals: full board, at the camp
Overnight: L’Hotel de Monsieur Gautier (tents) in the dunes at the beginning of Murzuq.
The Murzuq Erg is one of the biggest collection of sand in the world. Huge steep dunes haphazardly following one another and creating a magic panorama. The spectacular crossing proceeds eastwards, riding impressive mountains of sand, whose colour changes every hour with the position of the sun.
DAY 6
Across the dunes of Murzuq to Bergiug, Djerma and Tiwiwa, on the border of Awbari Erg.
Meals: full board, at the camp
Overnight: L’Hotel de Monsieur Gautier (tents) in Erg Awbari.
Erg Awbari is a vast mass of dunes and corridors hosting 21 lakes, incredible unexpected gems trapped by the sand. The water often has violet-rose shades due to the high concentration of salts and the presence of tiny crustaceans (artemia salina). A beautiful contrast to the green palms and the yellow sand. Only 15 lakes have permanent water (the origin of which is a mystery). The view is among the most unusual in the Sahara… not to be missed!
DAY 7
Visit of some of the lakes of Erg Awbari and departure to Sebha for the evening domestic flight to Tripoli. Upon arrival transfer to the hotel.
Meals: full board (lunch at the camp and dinner at a local restaurant near the airport)
Overnight: El Khan Hotel (boutique hotel near the Medina – all rooms en suite).
Tripoli. A city with almost one million inhabitants and made up of 3 areas: the old city or medina, the Italian colonial town and the big modern city built after Independence.
DAY 8
A few hours at leisure to explore this fascinating city before the transfer to the airport and your international flight.
Meals: breakfast only