Territory and Climate
Algeria is, with its 2,381,741 km², the largest country on the African continent.
To the north it is washed by the Mediterranean Sea for 1000 km of coastline, to the northeast it borders Tunisia, to the east Libya, to the south Niger and Mali and to the west and northwest Mauritania and Morocco.
Eighty-four percent of its territory is occupied by the Sahara desert and the remainder, to the north, by a strip with a microclimate and morphology similar to our Mediterranean area, with fertile plains, hills and a few peaks of up to 2,000 metres. Almost all the forests (2%) and cultivable land (about 3%, mainly wheat and cereals, orchards, vineyards, olive groves…) are concentrated here, separated from the Sahara by a first mountainous area, the Tell Atlas, and a second one further south, the Saharan Atlas.
The highest peak is in the south, Mount Tahat, which reaches about 3,000 m and is located in the volcanic desert mountain region of Hoggar.
The Algerian desert is mainly occupied by plateaus of over 1,000 m, small oases where date palms are cultivated, stone regs and sandy ergs. This makes its morphology very varied, with an infinite variety of breathtaking scenery, all waiting to be discovered. Its high altitude means that temperatures are rather low throughout the year, with lows dropping as low as 0° during the winter months, but also with wide temperature ranges and highs of 45° during the day in the summer months. The rest of the country is subject to the same climate as our Mediterranean regions, with mild winters and hot summers.
The Oued Chelif is the main river in Algeria, flowing out of the Atlas Mountains and into the Mediterranean after a distance of about 700 km. In the desert, however, the hydrography is mainly seasonal, when the numerous oued fill up as a result of rainfall (concentrated in the summer months only), or from some gueltas that remain productive all year round.
Flora and Fauna
The microclimate of northern Algeria is very similar to that of the Italian Mediterranean belt. Therefore, the flora and fauna are also very similar.
Between the Mediterranean scrub of strawberry trees, oleanders and mastic trees and the Tell Atlas mountains rich in grasses, the most common species are oak, Aleppo pine and cedar.
The orchard areas are vast, with lemons, almonds, apricots, cherries, figs, oranges and peaches. Hazel and chestnut trees are also widespread, and finally vineyards and olive groves are cultivated in the hillier areas, especially in Kabylia.
The main herds in the coastal strip are sheep, goats and cattle. As far as wildlife is concerned, it is easy to spot rabbits and hares, foxes and wild boars, macaques and numerous bird species such as pigeons and sparrows, storks and birds of prey, as well as typically Mediterranean species such as flamingos and seagulls.
As one moves towards the desert areas of the centre and south of the country, which receive the least amount of rainfall and only during the summer months, the flora thins out and only a few species can withstand the dry, hot climates and drought.
Of course, date palms and thorny acacias are very important. Today, the date palm is the main source of sustenance and income for desert populations. Its fruit is exported all over the world, and because of its high caloric and energy content, it has always been the basis of the diet of nomadic peoples.
But even in the middle of the desert, nature will surprise us by giving us even inflorescences, such as cistanche pelhipaea with its yellow, fleshy flowers and fungal form, purple diplotaxis acris or crotalaria saharae, a kind of shrub with small yellow flowers. The ubiquitous desert plants include calotropis procera, with its fat leaves that produce a stinging latex, and citrullus colocynthis, the bitter desert gourd.
When the rainy season is favourable, Mount Assekrem in the Hoggar region offers one of the most incredible spectacles of desert flora. Its barren, stony surface and steep slopes are intensely coloured with burgundy. This is a particular red inflorescence, rumex vesicarius, from the same family as buckwheat, which grows wild among the stony ground of the Hoggar Mountains and whose intense colour is occasionally muted by the glow of the Jericho rose.
For more than 2000 years, the quintessential desert animal has been the dromedary. Replacing the horse, no longer suited to the Saharan climate and advancing desertification, it was the salvation of the nomadic populations and even today most of the economy of the inhabitants of the desert regions revolves around the breeding of this animal and the cultivation of date palms.
Because of its endurance and ability to drink only once every four days or so, it has been used since its appearance as a means of transport for caravan goods. Even today, with the virtual disappearance of the caravans, it continues to be bred, since it provides richer and more substantial milk than cows, its meat is very tasty and its coat makes valuable wool and tough leather.
Walking through the sands of the Sahara, one immediately realises that the desert is not a desert. On the contrary, it is inhabited by various species of fauna, albeit very shy ones! To realise that you are not alone, all you have to do is look in the morning at the numerous footprints and tracks left by jackals, fennecs (the beautiful, tiny desert fox with enormous ears), snakes, scorpions, hares, mouflons, gazelles, desert gerbos (small, athletic white mice) or the tiny footprints of the moula-moula, a black and white bird similar to the swallow. In the Tassili region, the last remaining specimens of the sand cheetah still exist, although they are increasingly rarely seen.
National Parks and Protection
“You don’t leave anything behind, apart from the prints of your shoes, you don’t take anything away“.
Algeria is one of the most environmentally diverse countries in the whole of Africa, as well as the world‘s second most important heritage site (after Italy) for Roman archaeology and perhaps the first in Saharan rock art. From the unique biodiversity of the Mediterranean coast, through the Atlas Mountains, the semi-desert central regions dotted with oases and rich in tradition, to the impressive desert scenery of the southern Sahara, Algeria should be considered in its entirety as a huge National Park, environmental or open-air cultural museum.
However, although there are 10 National Parks of landscape/environmental and archaeological/cultural interest, protection is left more to the common sense and respect of the individual visitor than to coordinated and efficient control by the authorities.
For example, the Cultural Parks in the desert areas of Hoggar and Tassili, a treasure trove of biodiversity, of breathtaking scenery in the heart of the Sahara and of the most precious things that have been handed down in the field of rock art, are practically abandoned to the mercy of visitors (fortunately still in small numbers) and, unfortunately, it is easy to come across works of vandalism on paintings and engravings that are thousands of years old, or the remains of bivouacs that have not been properly disposed of by previous visitors.
Kanaga Adventure Tours will provide advice and a kind of vademecum for respecting the areas visited.
Most of the protected areas are located in the north of the country, here is the complete list of National Parks:
Belezma National Park, established in 1984 and covering 7600 hectares in the province of Batna.
Chrea National Park, in the heart of the Blida massif, comprises 26000 hectares of forests and mountain landscapes.
Djourjoura National Park, 18500 hectares in one of the country’s wildest mountain areas, where a rare species of monkey from the macaque family still survives.
El Kala National Park, elected a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1990, comprises 80000 hectares with an ecosystem unique in the Mediterranean basin.
Gouraya National Park, a small area of about 2,000 hectares on the Bejaia coast, important for its archaeological remains and beautiful landscape.
Taza National Park, just 300 hectares of rare Mediterranean beauty on the Jijel coast.
Theniet El Had National Park, 3600 hectares of mountainous landscape in the Tellian Atlas Mountains.
Tlemcem National Park, an area in the north-east that is important for its archaeological and speleological sites.
Hoggar Cultural Park, 380000 hectares comprising the oldest geological remains on Algerian soil. A region of volcanic origin, with the highest peaks in the country, it is also unique in terms of its biodiversity and its thousand-year-old archaeological and historical remains.
Tassili Cultural Park, a desert area covering 100,000 hectares, including the ancient caravan town of Djanet and its 3 ksour. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve since 1986. This is where the most magical thing the Sahara Desert has to offer is concentrated, in terms of geological interest, biodiversity and cultural heritage, with its famous “Sistine Chapel of the Desert” and an infinite number of precious and sublime examples of rock art from many different eras. Certainly the main attraction of the whole of Algeria, but also the most fragile in its balance and deserving of special respect from the visitor.