Algeria 4X4 Overland Expedition

The rarest trip on the list, and one almost nobody else runs. Fifteen days and roughly 3,400 kilometres through Algeria in your own 4×4, from Oran south to the Tadrart near the Libyan border and back through the Hoggar Mountains.

It begins with an overnight ferry from Almeria to Oran, and then two thousand kilometres south to Illizi and on to Djanet. From there the route goes deep into the Tadrart, then climbs onto the Tassili n’Ajjer plateau, where thousands of prehistoric paintings and engravings record a Sahara that was once green, with cattle, hippos and people on it. It is one of the great archaeological sites on earth and it has almost no visitors. The return runs through the Hoggar Mountains and In Salah, then fourteen hundred kilometres north to the port.

The paperwork is the real story. Algerian tourist visas and embassy liaison are handled by the operator, which is precisely the barrier that stops people attempting this independently, and a local Touareg guide travels with the group throughout.

Active 4×4 Adventures include the return overnight ferries with cabins, all three meals a day, the Touareg guide, the visas and embassy documentation, all camping and hotel accommodation, and national park and site entry fees. You bring the vehicle and its fuel, the insurance and any carnet, and get yourself to Almeria. The operator describes this as an overland expedition rather than a tour and asks travellers to discuss vehicle and fuel capacity with him first, which is worth doing early.