We used a company based in Algiers to do a tour of the gardens - yes, gardens! - of the Sahara. It was very tiring but brilliant fun. We had the idea when we were flying from Algiers to El Oued (in the Sahara) and we saw these great green circles in the desert when looking
out of the airplane window. They weren't crop circles but circular "fields" of potatoes! We then visited an English garden in a palace in El Oued before touring plantations and gardens in the furthest parts of the south - Tam and Djanet - before ending back in the beautiful private gardens of the Hotel St George in Algiers and the nearby botanic gardens. What a great time - and it gives a great theme to a desert holiday.
www.expertalgeria.com/saharagardens.html
or try Hullo Tours
Google map: bit.ly/hTqhcS
We've just done our second trip to Algeria with Expert Algeria and this time went down into the south. It's not complicated to organise - and they're about the only agency that ever bothers to reply to emails. The Algerian Sahara in this region is very similar to the Akakus in Libya, just more vast and more remote.
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