Ron's SEQ photos.
These photos were taken during the Sahara crossing which ended at Djanet. Also some photos of cave paintings near Djanet.
A number of pictures were lost when the cd they were stored on was damaged during the crossing. They had been taken in Mauritania before the breakdown.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Atar
Chinguetti
Mosque tower with 4 ostrich eggs.
Hotel La Maison du Bien Etre and hotel room.
Chinguetti lay on an important trade route. It was a place of learning and well known for it's bibliotheques containing ancient manuscripts and tablets . These can be viewed for a small fee. Most seem to be kept in shoe boxes.
L roof made from palm timber and leaves.
Ouadane
Ouadane like Chinguetti lay on the trans-Saharan trade route and was also home to many bibliotheques.
Being the last town on the very edge of the desert it was an important place.
Although the town is mostly in ruins a few families still live there.There is a police station ( explains it )
It is a World Heritage site.
The Desert
Leaving Ouadane with nothing but open desert beyond.
Guelb er Richat, spectacular from above less so at ground level.
Baked in the sand.
Mohammed Ron Aissa Ahmed Mohammed
Mauritania/Mali border
Collecting dust samples from dried lake bed
Ancient grave
Well worn piste used by smugglers N from Timbuktu. Boneshaking.
First tree since Ouadane
Approaching Ikhalil.
Ikhalil, once military now used by smugglers.
Bordj Mokthar, Algerian border town.
My leaking radiator being repaired. My old '60 only just made it.
Tim Missao - midway between Bordj and Tamansasset
Old burial site on tassili (plateau) above gorge.
Mouflon ( Mountain sheep ) tracks.
Garamantean rock paintings. Until recently the Garamantes who were from what is now Libya were not known to have travelled this far West.
Campsite in Tamanrasset.
Last original ' Sahara Bus '. The Hoggar Mountains are
near Tamanrasset.
Tamanrasset to Djanet
Taghera region.
Tin Tarabine Oued and valley.
A Moula Moula bird, a bit smaller than a Blackbird seem to appear from nowhere & are v tame.
Youf Ekhahit
While visiting the Tadant area in 2005 I came across this domed rock, with many rock engravings and steps up to the top. The guides named it Adrar ( hill ) Bragg.
Djanet
Garamantean chariots.
Crying Cows engraving 7000+ yrs old
Site of Crying Cows with Tassili N'Ajjer in the distance.
Jabarren rock art site ( on the Tassili )
' Keyhole ' burial site.
The paintings are in shallow caves or under rock overhangs. Several styles can be found in a single location with some overpainting which suggests different groups of people/tribes have lived here at different times in the past. Most of them are of people and animals, while some appear abstract or symbolic perhaps.
Saharan Cypress/ Tarout over 2000
yrs old. There are only about 200 left on the Tassili, the only place they grow.
Looking across the top of the Tassili towards Libyan border.
View back down towards Djanet.
On the way down from the Tassili I stopped to take a photo of this particularly thorny acacia. While trying to get the best angle I pricked myself, pressed the shutter and dropped the camera which smashed on a rock. This was my last photo.
