Algeria trip organisation

Algeria

Trip Organisation and General Information

Standard Trips

Djanet Based Trips
The trips are run in an identical manner except that night 1 is immediately in the desert. The last afternoon and evening is based in a Djanet hotel with rooms and hot showers.

Food
Fresh food, vegetables and fruits are readily available in most settlements. Breakfasts in the desert are generally fresh bread (local bread is excellent) with butter, cheese, jam or honey. A choice of hot drinks is available. Lunch is a mix of cold vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, onions, olives, tomato and beans with tuna or sardines and cold boiled eggs. Fruit juice and tea are also provided.
After an evening coffee or normal tea with nuts and biscuits comes a three-course supper of soup then a meal of potato, rice, kus-kus or pasta with vegetables and meat (often camel meat). Vegetarians would be provided with extra beans. Lastly some fruit salad and tea are served. One and a half litres of bottled water per person is provided every day.
Green tea making in the desert is a ritual which takes place at all possible occasions. It is likely you will have some fresh Tuareg bread made on one or two evenings using the hot embers of the wood fire.

Daily Programme
Breakfast is generally served just after sunrise, then while the vehicles, camels or donkeys are packed you will set off walking. On 4x4 tour trips this is optional and you will be picked up after a morning walk to continue to your lunch spot. On trekking trips the morning's walk is about 4 hours which includes short stops at sights of interest. Then there is an extended lunch break by the transport if possible but on just a few days you may have to carry lunch with you to less accessible places. On 4x4 tours you will again have an opportunity for a short walk after lunch before being picked up, trekkers will trek for another 2 to 3 hours in the afternoon to the next campsite.

Equipment
You do not need to bring out a heavy load of equipment with you. First of all you will not need most of it, secondly it is tedious to pack and unpack large amounts of belongings and finally we do have limited amounts of space in the vehicles. We recommend the following basic equipment which should be carried in a sports bag or hold-all (not a suit case). small pack for day walks,
sun hat,
woolly hat (in winter),
sun cream and sun glasses,
t shirts,
long sleeved shirt,
fleece jacket or warm jumper,
wind proof jacket,
waterproof jacket,
long cotton trousers,
shorts,
long skirt,
sandals,
light trekking shoes,
socks and underwear,
towel and wash kit,
personal first aid kit,
torch,
water bottle,
toilet paper and matches,
camera,
insect repellent,

Staff and Tips
We pride ourselves in an excellent group of local guides, cooks and muleteers or camel drivers. They are mainly Tuaregs from the Tamanrasset and Djanet areas who work together very efficiently providing a very friendly and high quality service. Each group will be accompanied by a local guide who will speak good French - English speaking groups will be accompanied by a local guide with reasonable English. Scheduled trips with 4 or more in the group will be accompanied by an EWP guide familiar with Algeria and experienced in desert travel.

Tips are much appreciated by the staff who accompany you. How much you give is your personal decision. We suggest that mule or camel staff, drivers and the guide will be happy with 20 euro per weeks work. The cook should receive about double the tip given to the others.

Responsible Tourism
The desert environment is in some ways very forgiving as fresh sand blows over to cover our prints, but it is easy to abuse it and bury rubbish - sand also blows away to reveal buried rubbish. Great care must be taken to remove all rubbish apart from uneated food that will be disposed of my the numerous animals only too keen to have our left-overs. Our staff will assist with rubbish disposal.

When going to the toilet make a small hole for excrement and burn all paper. Cover the excrement. It will rapidly degrade and become harmless.

Great care must be taken visiting cave art sites the following guidelines are paraphrased from thevirtualtourist:

1. Don’t touch the rock art. Natural oils and acids on your skin will harm the images, they accumulate to cause staining and other damage. Touching the images also simply wears them away over time.
2. Don’t move or remove any artifacts or even (apparently) ordinary stones you may find at a site. Any objects, plants and animals associated with a site are an important part of the site.
3. Don’t add graffiti or otherwise deface the images.
4. Don’t walk or climb across rock art to get to get closer views. Also avoid unauthorized trails that are easily established and with repeated use erode and can irreparably damage sites.
5. Don’t make rubbings or casts of petroglyphs. Rubbings and casts cause damage to images by abrading them, by leaving behind residues of the materials used, by damaging the patina, or by taking off small particles.
6. Don’t use chalk or other materials to outline images. This is vandalism, besides which it is unsightly and can cause permanent damage to the rock art.
7. Don't throw water on the paintings to enhance them. The result is often worse, and it makes the paintings gradually disappear.
8. Leave no rubbish and help by also carrying out trash that others have carelessly dropped.
9. Take only photographs, drawings and memories. Leave only footprints.