LIBYA (officially "Al-Djumhurijja al-Arabijja al-Libijja ash-Shabijja al-Ishtirakijja"), once home of Moamar al-Ghaddhafi, projected mixed feelings to the visitor. Great landmarks leave behind a number of deep impressions, especially to the independent and selfsufficient traveller. On the other hand the vast majority of an impressive traditional architecture - among a multitude of other great traditions - is sacrificed to a misbeleave of progress, stucking halfway in a mass of often half finished average-style-houses built of concrete.
The arratically changing tourist and visa regulations inhibit long-time planning and bring therefore unnecessary obstacles to those people interested to visit the country. The community of indepemdent travellers ia carefully watching the new developments, hoping for a once again area of freedom after those severe travelling restrictions caused by Ghadafi.
4WD Expeditions
ALGERIA, once favorite aim of Europe's 4WD travellers, seemed to have just overcome a sad and war-like situation. Fundamentalistic terror activities in the north and Tuareg independence movement mixed with true criminal elements in the south had made a visit not too advisable for about 10 years.
Subsequently the situation was widely safe again, the people seemed even friendlyer than before, eagerly wellcoming the infrequent visitors. The Gendarmerie National was usually very helpful and alert to prevent any robbery in advance. Even school children were increasingly trained not to smash anylonger windscreens with their stones, once an odd but widely practiced hobby (or proof of "braveness").
But currently once again the innocence is gone for this paradise of the individual adventurer - several groups of travellers were reported to be missed since March 2003 in the south east of this great "sea of sand". The situation was widely unclear, but the fact of several individual - and usually well experienced - parties missing had showed rather early a first strong evidence towards criminal activities.
Due to the current USA assault on the Iraq the theory of the involvement of fundamentalistic terror groups had to be taken into concideration; on the other hand there would have been no obvious logic to select a few sparse travellers in such a remote area, if any organisation wants to focus for international attention, especially if neither confession testimonies would be published nor ransom claims would be demanded.
Off-public of course there was at this time already a different level of knowledge - a sum of more than 20 000 000 $US is now reported to be asked for by the criminals, connections with traditional gun-running routes are more than likely. The hidden presence of American intelligence department observers in connection with a reorganisation of Al-Qaeeda forces possibly in the remote wilderness of the Sahara indicate a further source of conflicts in this affair.
It is said to be proven now that this was the envolvement of one particular criminal terror group (which was for years the source of the fundamentalistic attacks in North Algeria). As they operate via multiple-crossing of the extremely-hard-to-control desert borders with Niger, Mali, Mauretania and Chad, the situation needed a lot of sensibility - and preferably this long line of off-public negotiations. (Other presumtions dealt with the attempt to destabilize the current government in respect to the next Algerian elections.)
The international community of people travelling individually to the Sahara had formed already in the begin an internet platform to collect their own investigation results, especially concerning the time and route schedule of those people missing and their mutual observations on their encounters on location. On the other hand there was pushed very soon the opportunistic initiative by a union of local tour organizers to mis-use these events to get rid of the individual travellers and try to force them by regulations into their own business , - despite of all their stated sympathy with the affected travellers a rather evident way of acting! The desired effect did not work out at all, as the tourism in southern Algeria ceised completely.
Heavy sand storms at this time of the year had diminished anyway the chance for a successful search dramatically, - tracks were blown away within minutes and especially helicopters could not always play off their advantage. The first accidential sightings of people around an unknown subterranean tunnel system by a Tuareg caravan showed once again the easiness to hide hostages from aerial searches.
The Gendarmerie National was said to act helpful in leading additional remaining traveller groups more or less safely out of the country by guarded convoys, but did not offer any solution towards the demystification of this still top-secret situation. Again there remained a number of questions with answers probably far beyond the officially published 'facts'.
Subsequently some media had reported several items to be found, including six trucks of the travellers, personal belongings and messages written on rocks and on pieces of paper. Facts - or fake to disinform the public? The existence of further informations was obviously likely, but these were kept back again for safety (or any other - whatsoever) reasons.
It was said that 13.5.2003 early morning the liberation of one part of the hostages was forced by a large Algerian military action north of Tamanrasset, including 5000 soldiers and 300 local Tuareg guides. Many absurdities and doubts expressed by insiders indicate the probability that there are much more and obviously well-hidden secrets behind this story. The sparse statements of the hostages could only report their life as more and more under steady flight conditions, as the 'terrorists' felt increasingly traced by the military troops; long hikes from one Wadi to another night by night had exhausted the group close to their physical limits. They had no chance to unveil what really happened around their coming free, and if this was in fact a fight.
After a long period of silence there was published a new sign of life in August 2003 for the remaining group of hostages - the 'terrorists' had moved with them to Mali where they hid in the hard to control boarder region with Algeria and Niger. A huge sum of ransom claim was reported to be asked via the Mali authorities, but there is no official ratification so far.
These hostages were alive and unexpectedly well, except one woman who had died already from exhaustion. The group finally came free by 19.8.2003 and has returned to Europe via Bomako, the capital of Mali.
The circumstances and the true background facts behind the events remain unveiled so far, as they obviously seem to touch several 'top secret areas'...
The most recent informations indicate indeed a strong involvement of the united states of the 'former land of the free', occupying large parts of Algeria's South in their questionalble fight against Al-Quaeeda, probably by even more questionable means in their 'first shoot and then perhaps think'-strategy well known from their assault on Iraq. The Algerian authorities are more or less limited to observing and unvolontary agreeing of the situation.
Under these premisses the kidnapping of the travellers and the pretended liberation action by the Algerian army has to be seen more or less as a big fake - the tourists just seemed to be too close to the US activities and were therefore removed. Subsequently the situation had to be solved somehow, in this case by staging something like blasts and fireworks. The captured Europeans had no chance at all to give later on an objective report what really had happened, - if one investigates carefully what they had said after their liberation. To what extend other groups were involved too is not published so far - the more than sad result is that one of the most fascinating areas of the earth is closed again shortly after it's reopening following years of a civil war. Travelling is very limited as it is strictly reduced to guided tours. But the hope of the locals to force some income money by this regulations has vanished soon - nobody of the travel community is interested indeed to these restricted mock of adventure.
(v.5.XII.2005. - Further updates according to the avaiability of new information)
Tuareg
EGYPT, a visitor's goal with a long-time tradition full of the orient's mysteries, is in it's majority exploited by an agency-based tourism industry. But there are still some edens to discover, not so much anylonger in the rapidly over-developed and destroyed Sinai peninsula, but f.i. in the Egyptian Desert, in the Eastern part of the great Sahara. Again there is some hope that the new freedom will include the liberty to independent travelling as well.
The major part of the SUDAN is a hot, dry place where nomads tend their camels and sheep. The dry Sahara part in the North and West allows most people to exist as pastoralists, depending on livestock for their living due to the desert environment and struggling their nomadic lifestyle. Further South this largest country of Africa becomes lush with forest; where there is sufficient rainfall, more people are settled farmers.
The people in Sudan are as varied as their environments, reflecting the country’s rich history. There are more than 300 tribes in Sudan, including Danagla, Gaalien, and Shaigia in the North; Bija in the East; Kababish, Humar, Nuba, Baggara, and Fur in the West; and Dinka, Newir, and Skeluk in the South. The people come from numerous different ethnic backgrounds, mainly Arab in the North, and Black African in the South.
Sudan’s "Whirling Dervishes" are famed throughout the world for their spell-binding dances, in which they are accompanied by rhythmic drumming, as they gradually work themselves into a trance. Dervishes are Muslim devotees. Traditional instruments include tom-toms, rababas (viol-like stringed instruments with a hide-covered body), and the oud (a lute).

Sudan is a land of culture, beauty, history and great people, yet it has had its share of bad times. It faces problems due to civil war, political instability, adverse weather conditions, hyperinflation, dropped remittances and unproductive economic policies. Religious fanatism worked as some source of a certain self-chosen isolation.

For centuries, this region consisted of a number of independent nations. In the early nineteenth century, Egypt conquered the Northern part. Mohammed Ahmed, the Mahdi (head of a religious group), started a rebellion in the South to gain control of the whole region. In January 1885, the Mahdists captured Khartoum, killing General Gordon, the British governor, in the process, and thus unified the Sudan. In 1899, British and Egyption forces, working together, regained control of the country.
1956 Sudan became fully independent, although a civil war was already in the offing because of unrest in the South about the growing political and economic dominance of North Sudan. An agreement giving Southerners more power eventually led to eleven years of peace, but in 1983, the government imposed the islamic sharia law throughout the country, including the mainly Christian south, and split the Southern region into three administrative provinces. Civil war broke out again, with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army playing a major role.
In June 1989, Brigadier-General Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir seized power, and in the early 1990s the Bashir regime began suppressing political opposition and stepped up the war against the "rebels" in the South.
This civil war continues till today, taking up most of the country’s resources. But the main sufferers are the people in the Southern Sahel, such as the Dinka, Nuba, or other tribes living a natural lifestyle, rich in their unique cultural expressions and well adapted to their environment. A severe lack of understanding and partly religion-based cultural supression forced them into a life in rags and slum-like poverty, well hidden to the global conscience by suspending most of the travelling access to foreigners "due to war reasons".
It was nearly an unexpected surprise that 2010 a peoples decision was possible which allowed the black dominated South to form an independent nation apart from the so far dominating muslimic North. The on-going process is a strong sign of hope for these so long supressed people; anyway a lot of the lost culture manifestations eradicated by the Arabic North, lacking any sensibility, seems to be gone forever.
TUNISIA, gateway to (4WD) heaven, is often underestimated to be just the runway into Algeria or Libya. But despite the tourist masses accumulated in the "zones touristiques" the country is surprisingly unspoiled and rich in cultural and natural variety, extending from the Mediterranean North to the true desert area of the Sahara in the South.
The increasingly offered "4WD tours" for the all-inclusive tourists bear the "true adventure" of being driven along an average dirt road to shuttle in the masses to the cultural sites of the countryside for a certain time. The locals see their chance of business, including even the youngsters asking for "cadeaux"; but besides that peak periods the people maintain more or less their own tradition and normal lifestyle.
Hidden by this positive image, especially compared with the neighbours far more supressed by traditions, an uproar against the autocratic despotism of Ben Ali culminated 2011 in a succesful people's revolution
CAM 3001 payed quite a number of visits to this largest desert of earth, lasting from the earlyer years of Super8 film making to the most recent time using digital video. Unfortunately the latter gear is extremely fragile to an exposure to a mixture of sand and wind, often causing breakdowns followed by excessive costs for repair and maintanance.
Clumsy action housings are not entirely a fully usable protection help, as they often limit down the features of the camera. The optical quality may diminish significantly, especially in back light.
Under water films were shot with special gear on the edge of the Sinai area, exploring the coral waters of the Red Sea , but even these enterprises included field trips to the mainland areas too; expeditions to the center of the Sahara focused on the various desert biotopes and their fauna, flora and people. Special vehicles allowed the access to some of the remotest parts, following the long forgotten traces of ancient caravans.
Trailer: Sahara
Slide Show: Sahara
(coming soon)
(coming soon)