Andante Travels

Intro

This adventurous tour will travel through the amazing desert landscapes of south-western Libya, camping under skies unpolluted by street-lighting, and discovering the carved and painted echoes of the wildlife which once roamed here.

After first travelling through the territory of the Garamantes, a desert civilisation, we will explore the prime mountain areas of painted and engraved rock art, along with neighbouring sand sea landscapes. Previous participants have found this to be an exhilarating experience.

Many people are surprised to discover how relatively recently the Sahara desert formed - at a time when the first monument was being constructed at Stonehenge. The rock art in what is now arid sand and rock-scape, shows the big game which still roam further south, such as elephant and giraffe, as well as scenes of domestic pastoralism - milking cows, herding sheep, hunting with dogs.

All this is hard to imagine in the current inhospitable environment. It is now one of the harshest desert regions in the world, with two major sand seas separated by a rock plateau. Human activity is limited to a few more favoured points in the landscape, and shows the attempts to adapt to changing conditions and to seek out new sources of water or novel ways of tapping into dimishing aquifers.

For the fortunate modern traveller, however, the empty spaces, sinuous sand dunes and millions of stars are unforgettable.

Itinerary

Drive to Wadi al-Ajal and Jarma, to see hillforts, cemeteries and rock-art of the late prehistoric and protohistoric periods. This is an area of spectacular oasis landscapes, and was the centre of Garamantian civilisation, which lasted from c. 900BC to AD500. This long period saw the development of urbanism in the Sahara, the evolution of a heirarchical and probably slave-using society, the adoption of a written script for the Libyan language, the expansions of agriculture and animal husbandry, and an increase in population which was not equalled again until the last 40 years. How did they do it?

Day Three
Further sites in Wadi al-Ajal, including some foggara, excavated to get to the water beneath the desert. David recently reported on the foggara extending for hundreds of miles in the Garamantes area near Jarma in Current Archaeology, issue 112:

"The channels were generally very narrow - less than 2 feet wide and 5 high - but some were several miles long, and in total some 600 foggara extended for hundreds of miles underground. The channels were dug out and maintained using a series of regularly- spaced vertical shafts, one every 30 feet or so, 100,000 in total, averaging 30 feet in depth, but sometimes reaching 130."

Drive via Wadi Awis to Wadi Teshuinat in the heart of the Akakus mountains. Camp in the desert.

Day Four
Wadi Teshuinat, the main area of painted rock art and rock shelters in central Akakas. Camp in the Erg Wan Kasa sand sea.

Day Five
Drive to Messak Mellett and to the Messak Sattafet area of engraved rock art. Camp in Murzuq sand sea.

Day Six
Wadi Mattendush and Messak Sattafet to see engraved rock art.

Day Seven
Journey into the Ubari Sand Sea, visiting relict oasis lakes and palaeolake sites with worked stone scatters (above). Extraordinary sand sea landscapes. Afternoon return to Sabha, evening flight to Tripoli.

Day Eight
Morning visit to National Museum in Tripoli, afternoon flight to London.

Please note: This is a physically demanding, but exhilirating tour.  Long hours of off road driving will be compensated for by reaching some of the most astonishing rock art in the Sahara and by the raw beauty of the desert landscapes we traverse.  Come prepared for an absolutely unforgettable experience, but don't expect it all to be easy going.  We travel a long way and have to live a rather basic existence.

Included

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Flights Scheduled flights from Heathrow to Tripoli; Domestic flights Tripoli/Sabha; Sabha/Tripoli
• Transfers private coach provided to coincide with group flights
• Local Travel Private a/c coach in Tripoli and 4x4s in the desert region
• Meals All meals included; water is provided; alcohol is prohibited.
• Guide Lecturer Not to be confused with "guest lecturers"!  The guide lecturer will be with you from breakfast to supper, and probably even a drink in the bar afterwards.  There is the occasional site where they may not be allowed to guide because of local regulations (we normally manage to circumnavigate these) but otherwise the guides are just that.  They will have been chosen because of specialist knowledge and their ability to communicate and interest you.  After 24 years of making tours worldwide, we are highly appreciative of the attributes of a good guide, and intensely critical of people who do not possess them.  If you would like to know more about Professor David Mattingly, please click his name.
• Tour Manager We never know how best to call the very special people whom we choose to accompany you on your tour.  They are usually employed in this capacity only by us, and have been trained to do things in the Andante way - unobtrusive, friendly and quietly efficient.
• Local Guide
• Fieldnotes written for the tour
• Entry & tips Entry to all sites in programme; tips included.

The infrastructure for tourism is still in its infancy, but the astonishing ancient sites, the sense of discovery and the friendliness of the Libyan people make this an immensely rewarding holiday.

Flights & Visa

Scheduled flights with BA

BA898     London Heathrow / Tripoli     09:20 / 13:55
BA899     Tripoli / London Heathrow     15:20 / 18:05

Visa and Passport Requirements (for British passport holders only)

Note: Passport must be valid for 6 months after your return home. The Government of Libya currently refuses entry to holders of American and Israeli passports and those containing entry stamps to Israel.

The Libyan Authorities require an Arabic translation in your passport, as well as a visa. The cost for this has been included in the tour price. Visas will be arranged for you by Andante Travels and will be administered on arrival at Tripoli International airport. The translation needs to be done beforehand and to facilitate this you will need to send us your passport at the time of balance payment (approx. 2 months before your departure date) so that we can arrange the translation in good time. Translation can take up to 14 days to arrange but we will return your passport by special next day delivery.

Hotels

Comments

What Did You Enjoy Most About This Tour?

Finding a Palaeolithic hand axe, 4x4 desert driving, sleeping on top of a sand dune, painted rock art, having explanations from David.  Guest, October 2008

The rock art, the archaeology, the landscapes, and the company of David and Fares and the rest of the group. David’s knowledge is encyclopaedic and his enthusiasm infectious.  Guest, October 2008

Focus on archaeology giving a context to and understanding of what you are seeing. Excellent lecturer- outstanding. The tour manager was, at all times, excellent with a great sense of humour.  Guest, October 2008

The rock art, David’s lectures and all the desert scenery. I would happily do it again. I enjoyed the experience very much indeed.  Guest, October 2008

It was a most fantastic way of experiencing the most wonderful and, where we went, almost wholly unspoilt terrain with minimum discomfort. In fact, there was just enough discomfort with the camping to remind one of a time when one was younger! The art exceeded expectations. Our local staff and, where we met them, other locals were simply nice which makes one feel good. Guest, October 2008

It was the first time I had been outside of Europe or America so it was quite an amazing experience to visit a place like Libya – I was strongly affected by it and hope to re-visit someday.  The people really made the tour for me – I met so many fascinating, inspiring, kind people – both Libyans and fellow guests.  I learnt such a lot about such a lot and will keep the memories forever! Guest, October 2006

Stopping in the dune corridor or in the rock desert and walking a few metres and finding remains of prehistoric man just lying there where he dropped them many thousands of years ago. Guest, October 2006

Where to start?  It was all so good.  Travelling and camping in the desert – its vastness; the rock art/lithics and David’s lucid explanations; watching for shooting stars on a sand dune; wandering (not too far!) in the moonlight; the company of the group and the hospitality and friendliness of the Libyan people, both our tour staff and, more surprisingly, ordinary people in the Tripoli medina. Guest, October 2006

Reading List

This list is no more than a guide to some books that you may find useful to read in advance of the tour. Talks given on the tour will attempt to fill in the background to what we are seeing, so no prior knowledge or pre-tour cramming is expected or needed. In many cases, we expect that you will find some of these books even more interesting and useful to read once the tour is over.

Please note: We shall be providing you with a set of field notes to accompany your study tour. These will be sent to you before departure with your air tickets and final travel details. Some volumes are hard to obtain.

Travel books

We recommend to you a publishing company with a mission to keep the classic works of travel literature in print. Eland and Sickle Moon Books produce an excellent catalogue of travellers' literature, old and new.

0207 833 0762 - www.travelbooks.co.uk - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Archaeology books

Oxbow Books, based in Oxford, are suppliers of probably the biggest range of archaeology and history books. They produce a quarterly catalogue, and can be contacted on

01865 241 249 - www.oxbowbooks.com - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

General

Darf Publishers Ltd - specialises in good quality facsimile reprints of out-of-print and rare books written in the 18th and 19th centuries, predominantly books on the geography, culture, history, literature and theology of the Middle East and North Africa.  0207 431 7009 www.darfpublishers.co.uk

Fazzan

Rock art in the Fazzan by Dr Tertia Barnett

The Sahara has been described as the greatest gallery of prehistoric art in the world. A substantial quantity of the images are beautifully and painstakingly executed. They are generally well proportioned, naturalistic and full of life; they appeal to our aesthetic sense and our appreciation of the natural environment. Furthermore, they represent an altered world; a landscape teeming with large savannah animals and birds and a richness and proliferation of human culture that is incongruous - and untenable - in the desert of today. This enigma of ‘accomplished’ art in a barren landscape perhaps explains not only our fascination with the images today, but also the early kindling of interest in them.

Awareness of the existence of this rock-art began to filter into the western world in the 19th century, with the first European explorers, and there were some expeditions in the 20th century whose aim it  was to make a record of what was there. Currently British archaeologists are continuing this work, both to record the art and to protect it from threats such as the wrong sort of tourism (removing the art and carrying it away) and exploration for oil. David Mattingly and Farès Moussa (who will be accompanying you) and Tertia Barnett, who also leads tours for Andante, are all closely involved with this work.

Fazzān contains two outstandingly rich areas of rock art - the Tadrart Akakus, which we visit on Days 3 and 4, and the the Messak Sattafet/Messak Mellet, which we explore on Days 5, 6 and 7.

The mainly painted repertoire of the Tadrart Akakus has links with art found in the Algerian central Sahara to the west, although it shares some themes with the engraved art of the Messak.

The rock-art of the Messak is considered to be the more typical of the Fazzān, and the Wadi al-Ajal lies on the north-east edge of this zone. A wide range of engraved scenes are depicted, including animals, ‘fertility’ imagery, human figures and animal-headed peoples or gods.

Book Now

Price and confirmed details for this tour will appear in our full 2010 brochure due out in October 2009.  You can reserve a place on this tour before October on payment of a deposit.  If you then change your mind, we will refund your deposit in full.