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Tassili N'Ajjer, Algeria 7th - 29th October, 2023 There is no published catalogue and accepted nomenclature of the Tassili sites, the provided site numbers are for convenience only, developed by myself utilising the topographical names used by the Lhote missions and others to be able to reference individual shelters. False colour images processed with DStretch, a freely available software developed by Jon Harman Quick link to the start of the second part (Central Tassili) of the trip account |
While the biggest concentraton of rock art on the Tassili n'Ajjer plateau is around the Tamrit - Sefar - Jabbaren region, the 1947 Swiss expedition led by Yolande Tchudi and the later Lhote missions recorded a number of unique and intriguing sites some 35 kilometres to the north centered on Tissoukaï, accessible via the Assakao pass that is suitable for camels. Visiting this area has long been on my wish-list, this year we organised a 13 day camel supported trek to locate as many as possible of these sites. The first part was followed by another nine day combined vehicle and camel supported visit to the Central Tassili, again mostly to sites not visited previously.
Day 0. – Algiers - Djanet
With the usual late evening flight to Djanet, most of our party arrived with various flights during the day or the day before. While Air Algerie re-shuffled the schedules and the flight was the long one via Tamanrasset, departure and arrival was on the minute, so we could still have some sleep at the Essendilene Voyages premises.
Day 1. – Djanet - Akba Assakao
Originally I was planning a lazy morning in Djanet, purchasing the needed supplies and driving out to the bottom of the pass in the afternoon. However a few days before departure there were some heavy rains, washing away whole sections of the already bad track to the bottom of the Akba Asakao that looked so promising on Google Earth. While waiting for the luggage at the airport with Salah we quickly prepared a plan B. Not far from Aït Talwaten there is a car pass leading to the low plateau at the foot of the pass, and Abdou confirmed that it was still useable. While the track was expected to be bad, it still allowed a longer but feasible access. We decided to start as soon as possible, after a quick visit to the shops and market to top up supplies, we were ready to depart with Abdou and four cars by 10am.
At first the going was easy, after driving north for about 30 kilometres along the Route Nationale we turned off towards Aït Talwaten, zigzagging in the maze of wadis that formed along the fractures in the Palaeozoic sandstones. Without stopping we passed Aït Talwaten, and after another 5 kilometres we reached the car pass leading up to top of the low plateau. It turned out to be far easier than expected, by midday we stopped for lunch at the top of the pass, from where we could expect mostly level ground.
After the midday stop we continued, for a while the going was good along a series of sand-filled valleys. As we neared the edge of the main plateau it became slower as the ground became rocky, but it was still passable until we reached the Oued In Aramas, one of the main wadis draining the low plateau (eventually merging into the large watercourse along Djanet). With the rains a few days earlier it was still flowing, with fairly deep water covering the ford. It took a good amount of testing the ground for underwater rocks and dips until Oichi declared that he was prepared to give it a try with his pickup.
Oichi made it through safely, and the other three cars followed empty, while we made a longer detour to cross on a series of rocks sticking out of the water.
With the river crossing and another couple of kilometres of bad terrain, it was late afternoon by the time we reached the wadi leading up to the pass. We quickly offloaded our luggage and said good bye to Abdou and the drivers who still needed to get back the same way to reach Djaned by the evening. Abu Bakr, ourguide set out to look for the camels who, having started from Djanet in the morning, were coming along the car track we originally intended to take, while the rest of us stated to make camp and organise our luggage for loading on the camels the next morning.
Abu Bakr returned at dusk with the camels and the rest of our crew, we were all set for a morning departure.
Day 2. – Akba Assakao
Our camp was just next to the old piste leading to the pass, which was still a good 12 kilometres away. We originally planned to be at Téchekelaouen by the evening, that was cleary beyond reach, but Abu Bakr assured us that the way was easy, and by the afternoon we should be comfortably up on the top of the plateau, so we woud not lose more than a couple of hours.
As usual breaking first camp and sorting the loads for the camels took a long time, even though we were up at first light it was nearly 8am by the time we could set out of foot following the piste. At first it looked perfectly fine for cars, but after the first kilometre we came upon the first of many deep cuts where flowing water washed away the road embankment made up of soft shale, clarly no vehicle could pass here. The road was originally constructed by the French military in the nineteen fifties to provide an easy access to the strategic pass (one of the rare few where camels can make it up), but with the present damage it would be a huge effort to rebuild it, unlkely to happen given the very limited use.
Abu Bakr was right, the going was not difficult, by midday we reached the end of the built road at the foot of the pass proper. We had lunch and a longer rest in the shade of a rock outcrop, then set out in the narrow canyon along a well built path. The trail soon started to rise, zigzagging on the rubble slope filling the head of the canyon, at a much gentler gradient than either tha Akba Takilalet or Akba Aroum.
By 4pm we were up on the flat plateau top, after anoher short rest we contined for another couple of kilometres to a campsite where there was plenty of foraging for the camels.
Day 3. – Téchekelaouen - Ouan Selalamine
In 1950/51 the Swiss ethnographer Jolantha Tchudi visited the Tassili, and copied and photographed a number of imporant sites, some known to Brenans but some revealed for the first time. This work was published in 1955 (in German & Italian, with the French version following in 1956), but despite its pioneering nature it was exclipsed by the hype surrounding the "discoveries" of Lhote in 1957. One of Tsudi's finest reported finds was Téchekelaouen, where we intended to make a base for two nights to explore a number of surrounding sites. This time we could make an early start, it was easy going on the plateau top, by midday we were approaching the small oued.
We made camp beside a group of big rocks offering some good shade at midday, then immediately set out to see the main shelter which was just two dozen metres beyond. The large masked (?) figures were termed &qout;Egyptians" by Lhote on account of a superfcial similarity, they are clearly archaic (with pastoralist scenes painted over them), and are superimposed over some classic roundhead figures.
Just next to the main shelter there are several lesser sites (all copied by the 1960 Lhote mission), including a fine pastoralist panel and some yellow round-headed figures superimposed on a strange long-necked & big eared animal.
In a small ravine a short distance away there are several more sites, again all copied by the Lhote mission. By the time we photographed them all it was well past midday, we retreated to camp for lunch and a little rest in the shade.
In the afternoon we set out to visit a site a litte short of a kilometre away, the westernmost outpost of this locality. It turned out to be a large, prominent shelter, impossible to miss, with a number of faint scenes from multiple styles. Strangely no Tchudi or Lhote copies exist, though the paintings are interesting and they certainly would have passed within sight.
We still had two hours of daylight left by the time we returned to camp, whle some called it a day, the rest of us decided to visit Ouan Selalamine about a kilometre and a half to the east, in the direction of Tissoukaï. A number of interesting sites were recorded here by the 1960 Lhote mission, while we only knew the precise location of a few, the place was compact enough to hope that we would find more. We started at the main site with a large roundhead figure, and a strange "batman" like figure which was already noted by Lt. Brenans (Breuil & Lhote, 1952).
Searching the rocks we did find another shelter with some pastoralist paintings, in a rather unusual manner mostly executed in black. We finished at the very interesting but unfortunately almost invisible site with the multiple masks. On the spot we could only barely make out some traces, even with DStretch the white masks are barely recognisable.
The sun was about to set by the time we finished, we made a hasty retreat to camp at Téchekelaouen.
Day 4. – Assadjem Ouan Mellen - Tin Tartaït - Téchekelaouen
The most intriguing paintings reported by Tchudi were a pair of horse and cattle headed therianthrope archers, at the locality of Ouan Mellen. The 1960 Lhote mission copied the scene in a broader context, plus two more fine scenes with hippopotami at the same location, referred to as Assadjem Oua Mellen. There however was some confusion about the precise location of this shelter, as apparently Ouan Mellen was further to the south west, and the site is presently known as Tin Tartaït. We allotted the whole day to visit both localities and all known sites to make sure we will not miss what was to be one of the highlights of the trip. We started at the area Abu Bakr knew to be Assadjem Ouan Mellen, and did find a few sites but none were particularly interesting.
Having ascertained that the site we were looking for is was certainly not at this locality, we headed north to what Abu Bakr referred to as Tin Tartaït, about two kilometres to the north east, and by midday we were approaching the likely spot. The shelter became visible only from a short distance away, it is tucked away among some larger rocks on a hillside. At first look the ceiling is covered with late paintings and tifinagh inscriptions, but on close look the faint Iheren style figures we were looking for become visible. There are several overpaintings and the scenes are complex, it is not exactly clear which figures belong togehter a part of one scene. The two therianthropes (or masked figures ?) appear to point their arrows at an animal which resembles a calf, but clearly has claws, perhaps some canid or hyena ? However equally posibly they might be fighting the group of humans to the right (or the two groups of humans to the left and right of the therianthropes might be fighting each other...). It is equally unclear how the yellow figures (including a seemingly dog headed therianthrope) are related to the whole scene.
There are many more scenes in the shelter, all of them with multiple superpositons, including the two scenes with hippopotami, elephant and ostriches, none of whom appear to be hunted as either there are no associated humans, or if yes they seem to shoot arrows in an opposite directon, towards other humans.
We had the luxury of being able to spend several hours at the shelter, taking photos and repeated looks at the scenes in turns. Mid afternoon we started heading back to camp at Téchekelaouen. As we approached the western end of the area, Bruno spotted a small shelter, which was found to include some roundhead style paintings which were not reported by anyone to our knowledge, there are certainly no Lhote tracings, and the scenes don't appear on Jitka Soupokova's website either. A particularly interesting detail is what appears to be a hunted porcupine.
We continued towards camp' looking for the site with the only Lhote copy we have not found yet. It turned out to be very close to the previous one, with this all of the Lhote copies from this area have been positively located.
Day 5. – Téchekelaouen - Tissoukaï
Early morning we broke camp, and covered the remaining three kilometres to Tissoukaï, passing Ouan Selalamine again without finding any more sites.
Tissoukaï with over a hundred sites (nearly 150 copies made by the 1960 Lhote mission) is one of the most important localities on the Tassili du Tamrit, originally found by Lt. Brenans in the nineteen thirties. There are very few remaining local guides who know the place, and even those only know a few sites (as Tak found out the hard way when he visited alone with a guide some years ago, missng practicall all of the important sites). Fortunately the 1960 Lhote mission prepared a map based on aerial photographs, on which the location of most of the copies were marked with numbers (unlike other maps where only a triangle denotes sites, with to reference to the numbered copies). Prior to the trip I have created waypoints for all the marked sites by matching the map to google earth. We tested their use as soon as we arrived at the western outpost of Tissoukaï with a couple of sites including a fine hippotragus hunting scene and a small roundhead shelter. We easily found them right where they were marked.
We continued to our agreed campsite in the middle of the area. Our camels have not yet arrived, so we immediately set about to find the surrounding sites. One particularly important scene we were hoping to find was the strange circular shape surrounded by cattle heads copied by Lhote (MNHN 60-39) which many before us tried to find without success. The map showed it to be right next to camp, within five minutes we found it in a hidden corner of a small shelter where I would never have thought to look, were it not for the map. Continuing, we found several more sites in rapid succession, all in their expected location.
By this time our camels arrived with our lugage, we spread out to set up a very comfortable camp for three nights.
After lunch we set out to locate the marked sites in the maze of rocks to the south of our camp. Most were easy to find, but some were so faint that even with the correct location it took some effort to find them. The well known scene of women and the large cattle site were just behind our campsite.
We spent the rest of the afternoon searching, and did find most of the marked sites we were looking for (with a few stubborn exceptions), plus a couple of the copied panels which were not marked on the map.
Elmar even found an unrecorded roundhead figure right in camp, above his intended sleeping spot.
Day 6. – Tissoukaï
In the morning we made a rapid round of several sites found the day earlier to photograph them in a more favorable light. By now it was noticeable that the Tissoukaï sites for one reason or another are mostly very faint and weathered, their state of preservation is much poorer than either Sefar or Jabbaren. In many cases matching of the panels to the Lhote copies was only possible after using DStretch on a phone.
Mid morning we went to see the cluster of sites to the west of our camp, which included the well known pastoral site of Brenans. At first these too appeared a bit disappointing, the large roundhead "swimming" figure was barely visible.
The Brenans site is a tunnel within a rock outcrop, perhaps because of the protected location the paintings are in a much better state of preservation than at the surrounding sites. Both the rondhead figures and the large pastoral panel are well visible, it s certainly the highlight of Tissoikaï.
There were several more sites furthe west, but unfortunately all in a rather poor state of preservation. One site, not recorded by the Lhote mission, was at the very top of a natural arch, at an almost inaccessible spot, none of us dared to attempt the climb, even without cameras.
We returned to camp for lunch and a little afternoon rest before continuing. I used the rest time to make a round of the sites along the southern edge of the rocky area. here were several interesting details, but again the scenes were very faint, even the relatively recent camel period lion hunt scene.
Mid-afternoon we set out again together to see the eastern part of Tissoukaï The Lhote mission copied a fine Iheren style scene, however this too turned out to be in a very poor condition. We had more luch with another of the "must see" sites which was only known from the copies, noone in recent memory saw the actual site. After some searching we did locate the scene which shows what appears to be a boat (very similar to other such scenes at Tin Tazarift and Tamrit), but in reality they are more likely a double (or in this case triple) headed snake with small figures shooting arrows at the heads.
The Lhote map was not complete, much of the eastern part of Tissoukaï is missing. Without the map it was much more difficult to locate sites, however we did find the panel with large archaic animals (lions ?).
While we were going from site to site the clouds were building up, and while there was no rain at our location, a rainbow was visible at sunset.
By this time most of the others went back to camp, just me, Bruno and Elmar were left looking for one of the most important sites at Tissoukaï, the panel of roundhead style giant buffaloes. Elmar had the luck, at one lane among the rocks we bumped into each other and he gave us the location of the large wall a few hundred metres away. By the time we reached it the sun had set, and we only had time for a few quick photos before we had to return to camp.
Day 7. – Tissoukaï - Rhardes
In the morning we all returned together to the panel of giant buffaloes. While everyone took the photos, I also had the opportunity to photograph the nearby fine pastoral site which we did visit the previous day, but instead of photographing it I spent the time looking for the "boat" site.
Mid-morning we crossed over the riverbed which still contained nomerous pools, vestges of the big rain, to see the northern area with two exceptional sites. The first one was a large therianthrope already noted by Brenans, sadly in 1960 the artist who copied it outlined what he thought to be paintings with a pencil so it is quite hard to discern what is real and what is imagined. Playing with DStretch a startling discovery was made: the therianthrope is in fact superimposed by a large elephant execured in black paint, which has weathered to the point of being invisible to the naked eye.
The other is a very faint panel of paintings that depicts a bird-masked man or a therianthorope. This scene was copied by the Lhote mission (MNHN 60-131), and was published more recently using DStretch by Nicole Honoré (Sahara 24). Having taken my own photos, I'm amazed how accurate the Lhote copy is. A short distance away there is a second shelter with some fine Iheren style figures.
We returned to camp for lunch and I took opportunity of the rest time to photograph the large roundheaded figures at a shelter nearby, which was always half on the sun when we passed by earlier.
In the afternoon we wet out to visit the area of Rhardes (Ouan Djeriouen), the rocky area on the far side of the Oued Idoo a few kilometres to the north of Tissoukaï. The 1960 Lhote mission copied a number of interesting scenes here, but unfortunately produced no map, and I was only aware of a few of the site locations. We started at the first known site (incidentally one not known to Lhote), a large shelter with very faint roundhead style paintings (including some "medusas", enigmatic shapes with no ready explanation.Already when we started the sky was overcast, and as we reached the first site there was a brief but heavy downpour, enough to make the ground wet.
A couple of hundred metres beyond we easily found one of the main sites reported by Lhote, with a mix of roundhead and pastoral scenes.
The third site was another half kilometre further north, next to a shelter that was still in use till recently, as attested by the left-behind belongings. The two panels copied by the Lhote mssion were just beyoun, on opposte sides of the "street".
The area looked promising, and after some searching about we found several more of the panels known from the Lhote copies, including a curious blend of ostrich and giraffe.
On our return we searched the numerous "streets" and did find a few more of the panels (including the two pairs of large figures) reported by Lhote, but far from all. This area certainly warrants a more thorough search on some future trip.
By the time we made it back to camp at Tissoukaï it was almost completely dark. There was some rain also at camp, fortunately most of our gear was inside tents and shelters so there was no lasting damage.
Day 8. – Tissoukaï - Emin Telekout - In Hahatine
Our time at Tissoukaï was up, we needed to continue to the next parts of our itinerary. All in all our stay was very successful, of the 160 scenes copied by the 1960 Lhote mission at Tissoukaï - Rhardes we have managed to locate 111, with all of the key "must see" panels. However clearly there is plenty left for another visit.
The plan for the next three days was to cover the roughly thirty kilometres distance to Ouan Bender, the other key objective of our trip. We planned to visit a number of sites along the way, prograssing at a comfortable slow pace. After some discussion we decided that Gertrud & Helmut, who were considerably slower than the rest of the party, would ride the two spare riding camels to speed ourprogress. We packed up in the morning and set out towards the south on the almost completely flat plateau top spreading to the horizon.
Mid-morning we reached the rocky outcrop of Emin Telekout, where Gérard & Suzie Lachaud found several smaller sites, including one with a very interesting and enigmatic roundhead scene, a little off the regular camel trail.
We stopped for lunch and the midday break on the far side of Emin Telekout, having covered about eight kilometres from Tissoukaï. Nearby there were a couple of shelters which Abu Bakr thought to be empty, but on close sctutiny we found faint paintings in both.
In the afternoon we were to cover another six kilometres till the Oued In Hahatine, where there would be a guelta and good grazing for the camels. As we progressed on the flat plateau, it became increasingly overcast, with dark clouds floating in from which we received several short sprinkles, for the first time ever I actually needd to use the rain cover of my backpack.
In the small watercourses on the plateau there was bright green vegetation, there must have been rains here a couple of weeks earlier (not just the big rain before our trip). Mid-afternoon we descended into the Oued, where camp was already made. We still had some daylight left, so after pitching the tent I walked to the guelta for a wash in rather gloomy weather. I was about to return when I saw a heavy rain squall rapidly approaching, apparently the others were already receiving it as I could see frantic activity in the distance to cover the supplies or move them to a small nearby shelter. I jumped in to a nearby shelter for cover, and soon there was a flowing river in the middle of the valley with waterfalls cascading from the sides of the valley. It was an incedilbe sight, unfortunately bringing the camera was not a part of the bathing routine. The downpour lasted a good twenty minutes before I could return to camp to survey the damage. Our tent, with some lack of foresight, was placed in the sandy bed of a small watercourse which was now a flowing creek, fed by a waterfall on the rocks beyond. Magdi was anchoring it inside as the strong wind almost brought it down. Fortunately the bottom was reasonably watertight, she managed to keep our already laid sleeping bags dry. The others too fared reasonably well, no tents were blown away and the boxes of supplies were covered in time by the heavy blankets of our crew, so while the blankets got wet, nothing underneath.
Day 9. – In Hahatine - Tin Imgharen - Tin Tekelt
It was a cold, damp and miserable morning until the sun came up, after which things began to dry out quickly. The previous day we already covered almost half the distance, so we could afford to wait until tents and blankets and our poor camels dried to some extent before continuing.
Our next objective was the area referred to as Ti-n-Bedjedj by Brenans, where he reported several sites with chariots and also a very fine roundhead panel. Abu Bakr had some idea about the locations, but not all of them, hence we planned the shorter walk to allow time for searching. Currently the sites are known by different names, the western area of the region is Tin Imgharen (also referred to as Ti-n-Amraren). The Lhote missions did not visit this area, the sites are only knon from Brenans (Breuil & Lhote 1952) & Tchudi. The main site with the supposed six chariots was straight forward to find, but with the best effort we could only find five...
We continued along a row of lesser sites, and by midday we reached the area of Tin Tekelt, where we made camp, leaving the afternoon to explore the area. The main site known to Abu Bakr was within site of camp, a lage shelter with some very meagre paintings. Next to it in a smaller shelter we found the fine giraffe that was recorded by Brenans.
The fine roundhead site of Brenans was nearby, tucked away in a small low shelter, quite hard to find. There are several layers of superpositions, with a row of running figures that arrea to be blowing on horns (?). Other than the tracings of Brenans I'm not aware of any published photos of this superb site.
Abu Bakr knew of some more sites at a place called Ouan Mata about a kilometre noth of our camp. I have not seen this place name in any publication, so it was a bit of a gamble what there was to see, but we still had severela hours so it was worth giving it a go, while some of our party elected to stay in camp to rest. It was a quich twenty minute walk to the place, where we found a typical " rock city" with streets having shelters on both sides. There was a particularly fine site with Iheren style paintings, plus a multitude of lesser sites,
In the next "street" we found a unique scene with a mirrored cattle (reflecting from a pool while drinking ?) that was superimposed over a frieze of white roundhead figures.
As we visited the last site in the easternmost "street", rain again started to fall in big drops that reflected the light of the setting sun, with a fine rainbow visible towards the east. This time we were prepared, all our gear at camp was safely tucked away into the cover of a large shelter, but the rain was much less than the day before, it was just enough to moisten the rocks but everything was dry by the time we reached camp.
Day 10. – Tin Tekelt - Ouan Bender
We only had ten kilometres remaining to Oan Bender, we planned to cover that in one non-stop trek in the morning, to already have the afternoon at the sites. At first we continued among the rock towers of Tin Tekelt, but soon the country opened up and we were on the flat plateau again, until reaching a broad valley with Ouan Derbauen along its northern side. We stopped at a guelta to take water, then climbed the rocks to make camp in the middle of the Ouan Bender area.
Ouan Bender was another of the localities first reported by Jolantha Tschudi, with a strange horned figure from the main site making it to the front cover of her book. The 1960 Lhote mission also visited this place, making a few copies but far less than the true nuber of paintings here. After having a quick lunch we immediately set out to explore the area, starting at the main site with a huge panel of superimposed roundhead and pastoralist paintings. The panel is mostly very faint, but recognisable, and with DStretch all details are revealed. The figure copied by Tschudi is in fact a composite impression created by superposition, there is a large roundhead figure underneath the smaller one which appears to hold a calf with two hands (a detail ommitted in Tchudi's copy)
We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for the other smaller sites around camp. At one shelter Gertraud found a very faint panel of strange human figures (bird legged therianthropes ?) which to my knowledge have not beed reported before. Near the end of the day we managed to locate the magnificent Culoir «tête ronde» reported by Bernard Fouilleux & Annie Mouchet in 2008 (Sahara 19).
Day 11. – Ouan Bender
With two nights at Ouan Bender, we could afford a leisurely day going throught all the known sites. Several scenes required repeated visits due to the position of the sun, and as the area is quite large (more than a kilometre between the northern and southern extremities, with our camp in the middle), this took up most of the day.
As we were passing back and forth to sites, we also passed several promising looking walls and shelters. Knowing that this area was far from being systematically searched, we looked at every one. Most were empty, but at one wall Bruno found the traces of a large red seated woman. Only at home, looking at the photos with DStretch did we realise that the scene in fact shows a seated man and woman facing each other, an almost perfect match for a similar scene at Sefar.
At another wall very close to camp I found a small little scene with an intriguing cattle headed therianthrope, with the rest hard to make out. Again with DStretch the horns of a giant buffalo become visible above the figures, but all trace of the body is gone.
Again we finished the day at the "Culoir «tête ronde»", arguably the finest ensemble of panels at the locality. Looking through in more detail and in better light, I noted a pair of barely visible but remarkable donkey or antelope headed therianthropes. While this area was sketched in their article, Bernart and Annie failed to recognise these figures, entirely understandable in the days before DStretch, possibly in different light conditions.
Day 12. – Ouan Bender - Ouan Derbaouen - Tan Zumeïtak
In the morning as we packed camp, some excitement was caused by a large black scorpion (Androctonus hogarensis) that was under Tak's tent. It was busy sucking on the abdomen of a large solifuge it caught earlier, which it did not let go even as it attempted to escape, remarkably climbing the smooth vertical wall of the shelter, something I would have never expected it to be able to do.
After packing camp we set out towards the south, crossing the broad valley to Ouan Derbaouen on the far side. The camels just caught up with us as we reached the "main plaza" with the splendid Iheren style shelter.
We visited Ouan Derbaouen in October 2022, but we only had a morning, and there was plenty of follow=up to do. The photos I took of the splendid little Iheren style scene somewhat removed from the main shelter did not comoe out too well, now I had the oportunity to re-take them, with a better understanding of the scene (of which very little is visible on the spot). One startling result is the group of figures on the left, on the Lhote copy they surround some vague shape, which with DStretch is revealed to be a hunted ostrich, echoing a somewhat similar scene at Tikadouine.
We spent a long time at the main shelter, trying to capture the fine details, most of whch again only appear with DStretch.
Sadly the faintness of the paintings here too prompted the artist of the Lhote mission making the copy to trace the outlines with a pencil, in many cases rather crudely or incorrectly. At present in many cases what is visible are the penciled outlines, the original paint is too faded. Fortunately DStretch LRE filter eliminates black while enhancing red, so it is possible to restore the original scenes.
We continued to the other well known site, the scene of the white cow let towards some U shaped gate. Here too my photos of the previous year were not perfect, I could now take much better ones.
Our midday camp was very close to the southernmost site at Ouan Derbaouen. On the Lhote map of the area there was one site marked which we did not have time to visit the last time. As all the copied panels were accounted for, I did not expect very much, but we found a splendid roundhead style shelter at the spot, just beyond a fine natural arch.
We had lunch in the shade of the rocks, and we also could re-visit the fine site next to our resting place, which now had a dense coverage of fresh vegetation on the sheter floor.
After the midday rest we set out again towards the south to reach Tan Zoumeïtak by the evening, a short & easy 5 kilometres away. We passed the area of Tin Talak along the way, there are a few sites reported from there but Abu Bakr did not know them, I was not prepared, and by now we were not in a mood to do any more searching, we just passed by a single site with late mouflon depictions which our guide knew.
After crossing a series of sandy plains we reached our campsite near Tan Zoumeïtak in the finest golden light of sunset.
Day 13. – Tan Zoumeïtak - Tamrit
In the morning after packing camp we immediately went to see the main shelter of Tan Zoumeïtak a few hundred metres away, one of the finest sites on the Tassili. This too was first reported by Jolantha Tchudi, and it is in a remarkable state of preservation compared to other sites. In 2022 we had to abandon visiting it due to the delays on the way up, now we spent a long time taking detailed photos, and it was also a perfect opportunity for our group photo.
The local guides generally know only the main shelter of Tan Zoumeïtak, but there are a number of lesser shelters in the same area with paintings which have been copied in 1957 by the Lhote mission. Now we had ample time to search, and did find a good number (though not all) in the near vicinity of the main shelter. One surprise was a big shelter a hundred metres or so beyond the main one, where we found a strange human figure that matched the Lhote copy MNHN 57-101 which was assigned to Timenzouzine, no wonder we did not find it there.
Mid-morning we covered the short distance to the valley of Tamrit. Here too we could make only a very hurried visit in 2022, now we could spend all the time we needed. We started at the "The two Venus" site of Lhote, which I have not seen since 1991. Even thogh I knew the exact spot, they were extremely difficult to find, much fainter than I remembered them to be.
As we walked down the valley we were presented with a very sad sight. The largest cypress was dead, its leaves dry and withered even though there was plenty of water in the guelta next to it. Fortunately the smaller trees are still doing fine.
We proceeded to the main shelter of the Tamrit valley, with the fine Iheren style running figures. Lhote described it as a hunting scene, but strangely the hunted animal was missing, only sheep were present. This time taking better pictures I finally spotted the hunted - it is a very faint yellow lion which captured a goat, practically identical to the two in the Iheren II shelter some 160 kilometres away. At some point the scene was altered, adding reins and a riding figure to the lion, which makes the scene very confusing and almost indiscernble.
As we progressed towards the camp beyond the guelta at the southern end of Tamrit, bu Bakr took us along a path which we have never taken before. It was with a purpose, we soon hit upon a small shelter with the lovely Iheren style cattle herd copied by Lhote, which we have searched for in the past butnever found. This scene too was the subject of a conservation effort in the mid-seventies, the result is debatable. While on first look the scene does appear disfigured, if checked with DStretch the figures under the applied varnish are indeed better visible than the ones on the untreated areas. After the site we returned to the valley, past a number of thriving cypresses to our camp.
In the afternoon we set out to visit the "Tamrit supeieur" area, to the south east of the Tamrit valley. First we followed the valley, and found the other large cypress, marking the start of Tamrit when coming from the direction of Tafillet, also dry and dead. We climbed the low plateau and soon found the first site, a group of small figures that was copied by the 1957 Lhote mission.
The two most interesting sites of the area, both known from Lhote copies, are a few hundred metres beyond. The first shows a panel with a group of elephants (and some goats which Lhote took to be addax), the second a "boat", or rather a two headed serpent fought by archers, somewhat similar to the one we saw at Tissoukaï (and at Tin Tazarift)
As we started making our way back towards camp, we found a large shelter that contained a number of interesting paintings, not copied by the Lhote missions and apparently not reported to my knowledge.
Not far away we found another undocumented shelter, with a couple of very faint roundhead figures, and a better visible Iheren style figure very much resembling Napoleon in his hat.
As we made our way back to camp, we made another strange find. In a rock crevasse we found a carefully hidden cache of heavy tent frames, clearly quite ancient. Possibly these were the equipment of one of the Lhote missions, stashed away in anticipation of returning, which never happened after Algerian independence.
Day 14. – Tamrit - Akba Tafilalet - Djanet
Originally our plan was for the camels to descend on the Akba Tafilalet, which they can tackle downwards but not up. However with the rains the trail has deteriorated to the point that this plan would hve been rather risky, borderng on the reckless. It was agreed that a troupe of donkeys will meet us at Tamrit to take our luggage down, while the camels will take a longer and safer route on a pass to the north of Tan Zumeïtak. The donkeys did arrive the previous afternoon on schedule, so after packing we said good bye to our camel crew, and accompanied by Abu Bakr we started with the donkeys towards the top of the pass.
This time we took the longer donkey path rather than the usual short cut, so see some of the sites reported by Lt. Brenans at the top of the pass, which are usually missed by the tourist itineraries. We only had time to see the most accessible ones next to the trail, but there are several more in the area, to be seen on some future trip.
The pass proper started just beyond the last rock art site, from here it was a continous descent with a short lunch-break to the bottom of the pass, where we met the cars to take us to Djanet
To be continued...
We plan to return to the Tassili n'Ajjer again in October 2025, to revisit the broader Tissoukai, hopefully finding sites missed on this last expedition. The trek will be followed by a visit to the central part of the Tassili, with an exact itinerary to be decided as departure time draws closer. Please check the News page periodically or "like" the FJ Expeditions FaceBook page to receive notices of news and updates.