Tanezrouft slope

Warning sign at the beginning of the Tanezrouft slope in Algeria

The Tanezrouft piste is a north-south route for vehicles through the largely flat and uninhabited Tanezrouft area of ​​the Central Sahara .

Location and condition

The Tanezrouft slope connects Reggane in Algeria with Gao in Mali and runs for 1,337 km unpaved and over long stretches only weakly marked through the Tanezrouft desert. The fuel supply is uncertain along the entire route and even in the few oases .

Within Algeria, the Tanezrouft piste is identical to national road 6 . So-called Balises solaires are set up there to mark the route at a distance of 5 km . These are signal masts that have solar- powered lamps and flash for orientation at night.

In Mali, the Tanezrouft piste runs as an unpaved national road N19 or N18 . Between Tessalit and Gao it is very difficult to navigate during the rainy season from June to September.

history

Citroën half-track vehicle (Autochenille) from 1924

Camel caravans for the Trans-Saharan trade already crossed the Tanezrouft in the Middle Ages . The city of Timbuktu south of the Tanezrouft was the most important trading center in the Sahel at that time .

In the 19th century there was a plan to build a railway line - the Trans-Saharan Railway - from Bechar in northern Algeria to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso . However, this plan was never realized.

The Sahara was first crossed with automobiles in 1922 as part of the La traversée du Sahara expedition initiated by André Citroën , albeit on a route east of the Tanezrouft in the Hoggar region . Two years later, another, longer expedition - the Croisière Noire - crossed the Sahara via the Tanezrouft from Adrar to Gao . Both expeditions used half-track vehicles type B2 10HP (Kégresse) of the brand Citroën .

In 1936 the Sahara researcher Théodore Monod crossed the Tanezrouft for the first time on foot.

Until the beginning of the Tuareg revolt in the early 1990s, the Tanezrouft piste was a popular route for tourists to cross the Sahara. Among other things, the route was used to transport used cars from Europe to West Africa and sell them there. There was particular demand for vehicles from French manufacturers, especially the 404 and 504 models from the Peugeot brand .

Current situation

Because of the ongoing conflicts in northern Mali , the border between Algeria and Mali is closed and the Tanezrouft piste is no longer accessible to tourists, at least in the border area.

Feeder roads

The Tanezrouft slope has the following feeder roads:

• From the north: National road N6 from Oran in Algeria.
• From the northeast: National road N51 from El Meniaa in Algeria.
• From the east: Tamanrasset slope
• From the southwest: Route National RN15 from Mopti in Mali.
• From the southeast: Route National RN17 in Mali and National Road N1 from Niamey in Niger

Route

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Beginning of the Tanezrouft slope south of Reggane (1990)

Trucks on the Tanezrouft runway north of the border town of Bordj Mokhtar

Tanezrouft slope in Mali

Signpost on the Tanezrouft slope in Mali

Slope and oasis south of Tessalit (1982)

Slope between Tessalit and Gao (1982)

Reggane to Bordj Badji Mokhtar (660 km)

• The Tanezrouft slope begins on the southern outskirts of Reggane. This is with a stone Monument 26 ° 42 '28.2 "  N , 0 ° 10' 29.4"  O marked.
• The Motel Agoudil 25 ° 1 '45.5 "  N , 0 ° 35' 3.6"  O is achieved at kilometer 200th
• Poste Weygand 24 ° 34 ′ 6.5 ″  N , 0 ° 44 ′ 17.2 ″  E at kilometer 250 is a French base that has been abandoned since 1960.
• The Tropic of Cancer is passed at kilometer 400 and is marked with a metal plaque.
• Bidon V or Bidon 5 , formerly Poste Cortier , 22 ° 19 '14.8 "  N , 1 ° 7' 3.6"  O at 530 kilometers is an abandoned French base. In 1935 an approximately 30 m high radio and lighthouse in the form of a steel lattice mast was built here. The name (French for "barrel 5") refers to the numbered empty barrels that were set up in 1923 at a distance of 100 km from the route marking.
• The Algerian border town of Bordj Badji Mokhtar (formerly also Bordj Perez and Bordj Le Prieur ) 21 ° 19 ′ 57.6 ″  N , 0 ° 57 ′ 12 ″  E is reached at 650 km. Bordj refers to a small fort in Algeria .

Bordj Badji Mokhtar to Tessalit (160 km)

• From Bordj Badji Mokhtar to the state border (49 km), the Tanezrouft piste is marked every 10 km with stone pyramids . The Sahel begins . A sheet of metal marks the border between Algeria and Mali.
• At km 733 a slope branches off to the east in the direction of Timiaouine .
• At km 774 a track turns east towards Timiaouine and Tamanrasset . This branch is marked by a metal sign.
• The Malian border town of Tessalit 20 ° 12 ′ 5 ″  N , 1 ° 0 ′ 49 ″  E is reached at km 780.

Tessalit to Gao (517 km)

• The village Aguelhok is located at kilometer 875 19 ° 28 '0 "  N , 0 ° 51' 0"  O . About 1 km south, a slope branches off to the east towards Kidal .
• The ascent to the Macouba plain begins at km 978 .
• The small town of Anéfis (also Anefis In Daran or In Daran ) 18 ° 2 ′ 24 ″  N , 0 ° 36 ′ 4 ″  E is located at kilometer 1068.
• The village Tabankort 17 ° 50 '54 "  N , 0 ° 19' 18"  O is located at km 1110. Other places in the south are Agamor and the left bank of Niger lying Bourem 16 ° 57 '10 "  N , 0 ° 21 '10 "  W .
• Bourem south of the Tanezrouftpiste extends along the banks of the Niger up to Gao 16 ° 16 '0 "  N , 0 ° 3' 0"  W . The Tanezrouft slope ends here at kilometer 1337.

literature

• Africa north and west. Publishing house for economic and cartography publications, Obertshausen 1989.
• Afrique Nord et Ouest. (Michelin map 953). Michelin Travel Publications, 2000, ISBN 2-06-700953-2 . (French)
• Uwe Karstens: dream trip to great adventure. In: GEO Special Sahara. Gruner & Jahr, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-570-01089-9 , pp. 139-140.
• Klaus and Erika Därr: Through Africa - route descriptions & GPS coordinates. 10th edition. Reise Know-How-Verlag, Hohenthann 2000, ISBN 3-89662-011-8 , pp. 92-94 and 311-315.
• Ariane Audouin-Dubreuil: La première traversée du Sahara en autochenille: Sur les pistes de Tombouctou. ISBN 2-7234-6581-0 . (French)
• George Estienne: Naissance de «bidon V». Publications du Comité de L'Afrique Française, Paris 1937. (French)

Web links

• Camions des sables: Les voies de communication au sahara on fondationberliet.org. (French)
• Les débuts de l'automobile au SAHARA on 3ème GROUPE DE TRANSPORT (French)
• Information on Bidon V (French)
• Forts du Sahara Central - Bidon V and Poste Weygand (French)
• Forts du Sahara Central - Bordj Le Prieur (French)
• Georges Estienne: NAISSANCE DE «BIDON V» (PDF, French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Afrika Nord und West , Publishing House for Economic and Cartographic Publications, Obertshausen, 1989.
2. ↑ Uwe Karstens: Dream trip into a big adventure in GEO Special Sahara , Gruner & Jahr, Hamburg 1992, p. 139.
3. ↑ Crossing the Sahara by car on doublechevron.de. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
4. ↑ Croisière Noire - The Black Cruise on doublechevron.de. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
5. ↑ Satellite image of the week: Shimmering Desert Spiegel Online. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
6. ^ Rainer Falk: Adventure Sahara Pietsch Verlag, Stuttgart 1988, p. 227. ISBN 3879434433
7. ↑ Security advice from the Federal Foreign Office , accessed on March 10, 2014.

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