Enduro tour in Algeria #2 - Oases

ARRIVAL TO GHARDAIA

If arriving from abroad, you will most definitely choose a flight to Algeria's capital Algiers (Alger in French - IATA: ALG). From there, take the Air Algerie flight to Ghardaia (IATA: GHA) where we will meet you and all the other tour members at the airport and take you to our Ghardaia hotel. When the flights for the concerned period are published, all the booked participants will receive the information about which flight to Ghardaia to take.

After accommodating in the hotel and relaxing with a drink or two, a motorbike tour briefing with your guide and our local guide will take place. The bikes rental documentation will be sorted out on that occasion as well and rental bikes handed over. Dinner and overnight in the hotel.

GHARDAIA – METLILI – SEBSEB – DESERT BIVOUAC

In the morning, we will hop on our bikes and for the beginning visit the charming oasis of Ghardaia on motorbikes and stroll through at least one of its ancient fortressed towns. After the visit, we will slowly leave the oasis and head on the first gravel roads taking us across the high plateau towards the town of Metlili where we will have lunch at a local eatery.

Some more off-road-like riding will follow towards the oasis of Sebseb where we will spot the first dunettes and soft sand and head into the real, remote desert. We will cross some low sand dunes, but rocky terrain will characterize most of the afternoon until the majestic Grand Erg Occidental opens in front of our bikes.

Towards the sunset, we will park our motorbikes and pitch a desert bivouac on a charming place between the dark mountains to the east and yellow sand dunes to the west.

DESERT BIVOUAC – EL-GOLEA

We will follow a wide desert piste to reach our next destination, the oasis of El-Golea at the eastern flank of the Great Western Sand Sea. Depending on our pace, we can veer into the dunes for some playing before getting to the next town.

After our arrival to El-Golea, we will pay a visit to the catholic church of St. Joseph and the tomb of father Charles de Foucauld, a French hermit that lived in Beni Abbas and Tamanrasset where he was eventually killed in 1916. We will also climb – on foot, please – the ruins of the castle, perched on top of a hill overlooking the oasis.

After a good day on the motorbikes, we will have dinner and spend the night in the hotel.

EL-GOLEA - TIMIMOUN

Since we will be all experienced dune-riders, we will enter the vast and high sand dunes just west of the town and make an unsupported shortcut directly westwards into the sand sea. It is a flat area similar to the Erg Admer west of Djanet with chains of extremely high dunes that we will have to cross one after another. It is unlike the Tembaine – Ain Houidhat route in southern Tunisia, but more like crossing a series of the high dunes of Erg Chebbi next to Merzouga in Morocco, separated by flat areas where we can recover. After 85 km in straight line, our support car will meet us bringing us gasoline, water and food.

From there, depending on our physical shape, we will choose a more challenging – dunes – or an easier – flats – route towards the oases of Tinerkouk and Timimoun. Time allowing, we will pay a visit to a series of local castles in ruins that were protecting the irrigation channel called foggara.

Dinner and overnight at a splendid hotel after a challenging day on this Algerian motorcycle tour.

TIMIMOUN – GRAND ERG OCCIDENTAL

Now some real stuff. A two-day enduro crossing of the western stretch of the Grand Erg Occidental with its flats and dunes, to reach the oasis of Beni Abbas. Two times 200 kilometres in a very remote area with our desert bivouac half-way through. Real stuff for true and experienced desert riders. Far. Remote. Unique. Unforgettable. In the hands of experienced local guides.

GRAND ERG OCCIDENTAL – BENI ABBAS

Dunes, flats, dunes, flats, dunes, flats, dunes, flats, dunes… and arrival at the cute oasis of Bani Abbas, just at the western frontier of the Grand Erg Occidental.

Swimming pool and beer. And a shower and dinner and an overnight in the bed.

REST DAY IN BENI ABBAS – OR NOT: WADI ES-SAOURA ROUND TOUR

Those looking for a rest day will just chill in the hotel or maybe do a short excursion into the dunes where we came from the previous day.

But if you are strong enough and eager to explore more, then you can join the rest on a half-day motorbike excursion along the dry (of course!) river bed of the es-Saoura river, taking us to several other villages in the area, avoiding those trees that somehow manage to survive in this arid environment, pumping water from deep under the dry river bed. Since we already got used to rock carvings on our another Algerian motorbike tour in the Tassili n’Ajjer area southeast of Djanet, it will be no surprise to see some more prehistoric carvings from the period when the area of the present-day Sahara was still thriving with wildlife.

At this stage, you will be even allowed to do some serious hard-enduro shit and crash your (yours, not a rented one!) bike on some rocky climbs around the area.

Afternoon at the pool or in the room after those challenging days on our Grand Erg Oriental enduro tour in western Algeria. Dinner and overnight in the same hotel.

BENI ABBAS – TAGHIT

Riding along the upper course of the dry riverbed of the es-Saoura river will take us across a beautiful savannah-like landscape to the town of Igli where we will have lunch at a local eatery. Eventually, the river will bring us to the last oasis on this Grand Erg Occidental enduro tour, the cutest of them all: Taghit.

Not one, but two dinners and overnight will follow in the luxurious hotel next to the oasis and under 150-metre-tall dunes.

TAGHIT

A day to just relax, grab a beer, enjoy by the pool and relive the incredible adventure you have just been part of. You deserve it: take it easy instead of rushing from the bike directly to the plane and back to the office. You can even hire a kayak here and paddle at this unique and beautiful place. Word! 

Dinner and overnight in the hotel in Taghit.

DEPARTURE FROM THE BÉCHAR AIRPORT

Depending on the flight schedule, the night may be quite short (on certain days, flights leave Béchar for Algiers at night). Our Algerian motorcycle tour will end. End of our services.