Guide Lines

Press, 4 October 1977, Page 43

Guide Lines

Algeria and the Sahara: A Handbook for Travellers. By Valerie and Jon Stevens. Constable. 300 pp. Index. $13.10. *

(Reviewed by

Naylor Hillary)

‘ “If you are going into real -desert, study sand. Look at the stretch ahead when you camp. ?Try to guess its texture and then walk over and check by stamping your feet on it. No better test. On foot you would never be caught by variations in sand. The feel, the sound it makes. The signs are more reliable than with snow'.”

“The desert is not all sand/ Fivesixths of its surface is either reg, rock, or mountain. The reg (or hamada) is wonderful driving. It is like nothing so much as a flat beach covered with small, thin stone flakes. These regs will be miles and miles wide. This is as safe a surface as you will find. The only traps are isolated rocks or tufts of vegetation. Under favourable conditions you could tip your truck over if you hit one at speed. “Sand you will learn as you go along. Young dunes really do move forward en masse at (geologically speaking) a fair speed. They engulf a village or an oasis and may uncover them again a century or two later. Treat sand with respect.” Exploring the Sahara Desert surely remains one of the great travel adventures. These authors write from extensive first-hand experience and the result is a book loaded with practical wisdom and common sense. Desert travel, they say. is still not a holiday to be undertaken lightly, but it is a good deal safer than those brought up on tales of the Foreign Legion might imagine.

Sealed roads reach into the Sahara now from the north; the nomadic Tourareg are not unfriendly; petrol supplies have appeared in many villages and oases. Apart from the awesome desert itself, the region offers visitors curious rock paintings and carvings, sections of enormous fossil trees, and the possibility of discovering stoneage weapons and artefacts for those

who venture off the beaten tracks. But risks remain: heat, thirst, insects, snakes, sunstroke, heat exhaustion, breakdowns, getting stuck, getting lost, suffering from the effects of contaminated food and water. The authors offer reassurance that care and adequate preparations can reduce the risks; the risks cannot be eliminated. And the desert peoples still require special consideration. The authors are at pains to remind would-be travellers that beliefs and customs must not be taken lightly in the Sahara.

Not that this is a handbook only for those planning to explore the world’s greatest desert. It is also a general guide to Algeria which still has miles of uncluttered Mediterranean beaches, a wealth of ancient ruins, the legendary city of Algiers, and some of the most obstructive officials in the world.

The book describes about 40 major routes for travellers throughout a country eight times the size of New Zealand. The authors conclude: “Algeria is a wonderful country and the Sahara something special.” But a final warning for liberated times: “Algeria is a man’s country and is determined to stay that way. Occasionally there is an official statement about women which is a masterpiece of circumlocution, but which means that women have belonged to the hearth for a thousand years and it is hoped they will go back again peacefully.”

The authors also conclude sadly that Algeria is reverting to an Islamic isolation from fear of internal political dissension and fear of loss of religious faith among its peoples. Tourists are seen as foreigners and unbelievers. The campaign to encourage visitors has slowed down. “If you want to see the Sahara, if you want to see Algeria, we suggest you do not wait very long. It may be later than you think.”