Map & Weather

Djanet
Coordinates: 24 ° 33 'N, 9 ° 29' E

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The oasis city is located in the south-east of Algeria, less than 100 km from the Libyan border and a good 200 km from the Niger, in the middle of the Tuareg region.
Surrounded by the mountain ranges of the Ahaggar in the west and the north-east located Tassili n'Ajjer, the vastness of the Sahara opens up in a southerly direction.

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Thanks to this geographical position, Djanet has developed into an important hub in the network of trade routes leading in all directions. After their month-long journey, the oasis offered the exhausted caravans the opportunity to regain their strength, to purchase lost pack animals and supplies for the next stage. Most of the caravans in Djanet hired local people and Tuaregs as guards.

The oasis was also the starting point for freshly equipped caravans, which started their journey to distant destinations from here.

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In the 19th century, Djanet was for most Europeans - if they had ever heard the name - on the edge of the known world.
Today, however, not only an asphalt road to Illizi connects Djanet with the outside world, but also the Djanet-Tiska airfield, 50 km further south. That makes Djanet a center of administration, military and tourism.

And as then as now, Djanet is the meeting point and starting point for caravans that do not set out to trade, but to bring desert travelers to the sights of the immediate and wider area.

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In addition to the impressive landscape, this includes the many rock paintings and engravings that are more than ten thousand years old, including

the famous "La vache qui pleure" (the weeping cow); the Erg d'Admer with its very high belt of dunes.

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For those interested in culture, we would like to point out the ten-day Sebiba dance festival at the beginning of the Islamic New Year's month, which provides an impressive insight into the culture of the locals.

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                                                                                      Text: E. Fehlau