Algeria – 20 – Sean P Drysdale

Dear Reader (2025-11-23 – posted simultaneously to FB)
It was a stop-the-car moment. Before travelling to the desert I had envisioned a photograph of a sharp sweeping S of a sand dune against a blue cloudless sky. And there it was. Minutes later I was looking at the back of my phone at some hazy unresolved scrawl. In the heat of the day the sky is a vibrant light blue. The sand is a glowing pale yellow / brown. The two colours are complimentary and when they meet they vibrate. My eye and the eyes of my fellow travellers see a green band where the sky and the sand meet. The phone’s camera brain gets confused and produces drek. I tried using the phone’s manual settings to no avail. It’s possible I didn’t use them very well. In the end I discovered a constraint – there will be no sweeping S’s under the bright sun on this trip. I guess I will have to return to a desert where the R6 (Canon aka “fancy” camera) is welcome.

In today’s post I provide the context for the desert photos of Algeria – 19, and the next 2 or 3 posts. Many posts ago in Algeria – 01, I mentioned that I was on two back to back small group tours in Algeria. The first tour (8 travellers in total) was primarily focused on Algeria’s Roman history. We did make it as far south as Timimoun (central Algeria) where we touched the desert but spent little time there. The second tour (5 travellers in total) was primarily desert focused and centred around Djanet (SE Algeria near Niger and Libya borders). We were both NW and SE of Djanet.

The latter tour was listed as 11 days. As the first and last days were not full days, the tour was composed of 9 full days. 6 / 7 of those days were spent in the desert being driven, in 4WD Toyotas, through desert sculpture gardens and vistas. As part of those 6 / 7 days we spent 4 nights in a row sleeping in tents (one person per tent) in the middle of the desert. Each night’s camp was made in a different location. At night I lay in my tent looking up through the mesh at the Milky Way, which wrapped 180 degrees across the sky. Eventually the band of stars would slowly dance away into the dark (thank you Bruce).

On desert driving days breakfast would be finished by eight ish. If we were camping, our local guide would take us for a walk while the last of the camp was struck. Then, it would be into the vehicles for a drive with frequent stops to look at petroglyphs some dating as far back as 7000 BCE. After lunch, it was too hot for people and vehicles so we would all rest in the shade of a tree or a truck, until 3 / 3:30. The afternoon tours were generally shorter than morning tours, and then it would be time to either set up camp or wait for the sun to set. The sun sets quickly and early in the September desert, and supper was usually eaten at night.

Notes on Photos – Desert Views
~ 01 – (2nd tour) – 1 tent for each traveller, and a tent for the tour guide. The local guide, drivers, and cook were all Toureg and didn’t require tents.
~ 02 – Shade is not always abundant.
~ 03 – 06 – (1st tour) While my fellow travellers and I watch the sun and clamber around dunes, tea is made (it takes a while).
~ 04 – Our tour guide (middle), local guide, and drivers.
~ 06 – It is now late evening and the tea is nearly made.