I am very happy to let you all know that I have got back from Algeria, where my company Moto Garage & Diner participated in providing the awards for the 6th version of Elmenia Desert Rally. It was such a challenging trip, yet it was fun, where I had to fly to Algiers, and next day we drove by car to to Metlili- Ghardaia and next day continued to El Menia. the challenging part of this road was we had to drive through deep snowing sections on the mountain part of the route. It was also incredible that after being stuck for couple of hours in the snow, as there was no on road assistance, within an hour of driving, we moved from deep snow to dry desert, which is by the borders of Djelfa. there was one more challenge we have gone through, which was the old driver I have hired, a middle age 55 years old man who went completely blind the moment it went darker, I had to get involved and take over the driving part until we have reached Metlili.
Just on the middle of the way, I have got a message from a friend who lives in Laghouat, offering me to stop over as his farmhouse is on the way to Ghardaia, probably he saw my live video earlier. it was a great opportunity to stop over for a little tour to see his Dairy farm. Laala is a friend from Algeria who lived and worked in Qatar for 17 years, we met in Setif back in 2021 shortly after kicking off my Boarding Tassili tour, and since then we stayed in touch, we have stopped to check his products and enjoy an hour of touring around his farm, just before it got dark, we continued our road trip heading towards Metlili.
the real challenge has started when it got darker, driving through the curvy roads connecting Laghouat and Ghardaia, that was when I noticed that our driver started leaving his comfort zone as he was going faster and not handling the sharp bends properly, I decided to drive instead, until we reached Ghardaia, drove through it all the way until Metlili. We have met with more friends, my old friend Hamza Molai, who has hosted me previously when I stopped in Ghardaia, met with me again, and we had a feast of meat before heading further towards the desert of Ghardaia “Sebseb”.
we have had a wonderful night sleeping between the sand dunes of Sebseb, I have chosen to sleep next to the heater as it was freezing, which i could feel when walked over the sand on the way to my room. The room was cosy with 3 beds, a bathroom and a big heater! which was the most important part of the room facilities. being in such a room is considered luxurious in the middle of the desert. the owner of this resort is a 70 years old Algerian man who has spent all his career and life as a tour guide, he worked alot with the European tourists since the 70s where tourism was going on in Algeria. Right after a light breakfast and lots of tea, we kicked off towards El Menia on a horrible road, which took us around 2 and a half hours to reach.
The main part of this trip was being in El Menia, but to reach to the core mission, have gone through lots of activities, we have finally reached there, and as we arrived, it was already the time for the opening of the Rally, the 6th edition El Menia Rally. It was great seeing all the officials of the state attending to open a youth Rally with lots of shows, people on camels, others on horses and shooting in the air which is most traditional activity in Algeria that they call “Phantasia”! I was put into this situation where I had to give a speech to thank the host who invited me which went ok and I made sure that no talk should be made to media. We then went to find our hotel which was basic stay until next day when the kickstart of the Rally.
We have decided to make our way back towards Algiers the next day, I have provided the trophies of the winners to Edrees and headed back to Laghoat where we spent the night in the same farm where we stopped 2 days before, but before that, we did a wonderful sightseeing of Laghoat, then ended up having the best meal of the whole trip, Kuskus from Laghouat!
We woke up next morning and did more of a sightseeing of Laghouat, the old city and other attractions in the city, but most important was the meal we had before we headed towards Algiers, which was called “Mardood”! in other cities they call it “barkooks” except they add more beans and appricote to it, I guess we needed this heavy meal for the long snowy road back to Algiers!
finally, we ended up having more activities in Laghouat than El Menia and we have enjoyed around 1800 KM of drive. this is my news for now!