| Day 1. - Djanet |
| I will need the morning to stock up on supplies and get our National Park passes, everyone else will have the choice of a lazy morning, exploring Djanet and environs, or join me for the chores. There is a little museum at the national Park headquarters (though often closed). In the afternoon we may visit a couple of preislamic monuments in the Djanet vicinity, then go to the 'Crying Cows' engraving close to the airport, best viewed in mid-afternoon light. Late afternoon we will drive to the base of Akba Tafilalet , and make our first desert camp there, allowing for an early start the next day. |
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| Day 2. - Akba Tafilalet - Tamrit - Tan Zumaitak |
| At dawn our bags and supplies will be loaded on to the donkeys, which will go straight to our camp at Tamrit. We will ascend the Tafilalet pass (about 3 hours from bottom to plateau top), then continue to Tamrit (via a detour to see the 'Tamrit antelopes', a very fine panel of paintings at a rather isolated spot). We should be at Tamrit by early afternoon, after a brief pause we will continue to the large shelter of Tan Zumaitak, one of the best preserved ‘roundhead’ sites, about a kilometre beyond Tamrit. On our way back we will pass through Wadi Tamrit with the ancient cypresses and a number of other rock art sites. |
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| Day 3. - Tamrit - Titeras N’Elias - Tin Aboteka |
| From Tamrit it is about 8 kilometres to Tin Aboteka, across the most scenic part of the plateau with huge towering rock pillars and a couple of natural arches. We will pass by the sites of Titeras N’Elias on our way. We should be at Tin Aboteka by early afternoon. We can spend the remainder of the day visiting the sites of Tin Aboteka. |
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| Day 4. - Tin Aboteka - Tin Tazarift - Tin Teferiest - Sefar |
| The distance to be covered is not much, a total of perhaps six kilometres. The morning (and probably early afternoon) will be spent at the sites of Tin Tazarift, one of the principal rock art localities about two kilometres from Tin Aboteka. On our way to Sefar we will pass by Tin Teferiest, an important ‘roundhead’ site. |
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| Day 5. - Sefar |
| We will spend a full day (and two nights, saving having to break camp) at Sefar, the most important rock art locality on the Tassili. We will have the opportunity to re-visit sites to suit the best light conditions for photography. |
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| Day 6. - Sefar - Tin Kani - Alanedoumen |
| This will be a long day, with roughly 15 kilometres to cover (about net 6-7 hours trekking). We will pass by the sites of Tin Rassoutin (a single large shelter with many overlapping paintings of different periods) and Tin Kani (roundhead paintings). We will camp at Alanedoumen wadi, with some paintings including one of the best preserved chariot scenes in the area. |
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| Day 7. - Ozeneare - Jabbaren |
| The donkeys with our packs will make a direct path to Jabbaner, while with an early start we will make a large detour to visit the site of Ozeneare, about 5 kilometres off our route. It is one of the principal localities of the Cattle pastoral period, with some very fine paintings. Note that this is a rarely visited site, the general area is known but it will take some search to find all of the principal localities. In the afternoon we will complete the approximately 7 kilometres to Jabbaren, where we will spend two nights. |
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| Day 8. - Jabbaren - Aouenrhet |
| We will spend the full day at Jabbaren and Aouenrhet (really a ‘suburb’ of Jabbaren, less than a kilometre away across the Wadi Amazar). While Sefar is the larges site by sheer numbers, the two sites combined present a greater variety of styles and themes than any other area on the tassili. |
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| Day 9. - Jabbaren - Matalen Amazar - Akba Arum |
| Before we make our descent via the Akba Arum, we shall make a detour to the nearby site of Matalen Amazar, a site with some unique paintings of the roundhead period (including a large masked figure, similar to the one at Aouenrhet). The descent itself should take about 3-4 hours, we should be comfortably down to be picked up by vehicles by mid-afternoon. |
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