Père Faucault Hermit in Assekrem
The south of Ghardaia offers you many adventures, such as the Tassili N’Ajjer paintings in the vicinity of Djanet, or crossing the Sahel in camels to get to Niger.
Based in Tamanghasset while waiting during two weeks for a Niger visa (which finally was denied and I was forced to cross the Sahara in trucks selling dates from I-n-Salah to Gao, in Mali), I spent two days in an extraordinary place, the hermit of Père Charles Faucault, in the peak Assekrem of the Ahaggar. He lived there like an ascetic preaching to the Tuaregs from 1905 until 1916, when he was assassinated.
Hitchhiking is bad possibility to get up there because of the few cars in that road.
Never ask for a ride to the jeeps with tourists in a programmed tour; they never help. They think that they are real travellers because they paid a lot of money in a so called “Travel Adventure Agency” and will look at you with disdain.
Finally I rented a motorcycle and spent a wonderful night there, à la belle étoile.
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