Another amazing experience

Today we drove south stopping for coffee after 2 hours. Further on we went by a salt lake before having a quick visit to Im Medracen an important royal mausoleum from 3century BCE. It’s a National Heritage site but not UNESCO though one of oldest in N AFRICA. There is better one further west - this is about to fall down! The shape dates from 6-7th BCE. There were 60 columns all round with Doric tops. Now it is 60m diameter and 18m high with the Entrance from the east.

During the drive the guide gave us so much interesting information - below if of any interest.

70% of Algerian population is under 35. Unemployment official rate is 12%. However there is a parallel economy with people selling on markets but not paying taxes so they won’t qualify for pension. Due to Inflation the birth rate is not as high as before - 2 kids is preferred as that’s what they can afford. Retirement is 60 for men and 55 for women. If a woman has had kids she can get a year less for each child. Pension is 80% based on 5 years of best salary and number of years worked. The Army accounts for the highest budget. The country earns 247 billions of GDP from oil and gas (80%) then services and agriculture. The police are run by ministry of interior whereas the green vans and uniforms are gerndamerie part of Ministry of Defence.

The cost of livings makes life difficult for some. Average salary is €200 a month. Rent can be €120-800 per month. Most people don’t rent. They would be like the guide and live with parents to save for their own place. This is also cultural. The family is important. “Only bad people send their parents to homes”.

Algeria is almost self-sufficient apart from grain which was from Ukraine, now Mexico. They need to double up on manufacturing.

The government owns the gas and oil industry and export it, with pipes going to Spain and Italy. Enrico mattea. (ENE company) tried to stop the monopoly of 7 main companies. Sonatrach was created during the reforms in 70s. Before that the French had control of extraction and refineries. With independence the government nationalised it and got control from France. People went to Italy for training hence pipeline to Italy.

Relations with neighbouring countries can be complicated. When the French mapped the country they also had control of Morocco which resulted in Morocco claiming Algerian land is the SW after independence. Morocco invaded and Algerians had not had enough military training to win, despite input from Cuba and Egypt, to win. Later in late 70s Algeria worked to help Western Sahara get independence from Morocco as Algeria wanted access to the Atlantic. The dispute continues and the coast is still Moroccan controlled. Relations deteriorated further when a bomb exploded in 1994 in a Marrakesh hotel as they accused fundamentalist factions from
Algeria and the borders were closed.
Later they found it was a Moroccan so they wanted to reopen. However when in 2021 Moroccans got diplomatic relations with Israel Algeria used it as excuse to keep the border and airspace closed.

Despite all this, Algeria is culturally closer to Morocco because of the Berber language, dress, food and customs. customs.

No visa is needed between Algerian and Tunisia. The Libya border is closed because of foreign terrorist groups there.
The border is open to Mauritania.
Difficulties exist with both Niger and Mali - recently a missile drone from there was destroyed. Algeria closed airspace for Mali and vice versa. Mali stopped the 2015 treaty re Touaregs . Recently Russian troops are in Mali. )Mali and Niger have close relations).

This talk kept us quiet till we arrived at the Trajan Hotel in the small town of Timgad, where we got our rooms and had a tasty veg soup with French bread followed by a courgette stuffed with mince and served with rice. I got chips, rice and oily veg - there was no discernible difference in flavour between the carrots and courgettes. We finished with melon, dates, a peach and an apricot - delicious.

We met our local guide and walked up the street to the museum where we saw more fabulous mosaics - one was unusual in that the pieces were smaller than usual - and other Roman artifacts. Then we hit the UNESCO site at Timgad, called by the French archaeologists “the Pompeii of Africa”. The vast area was constructed under Emperor Trajan as a defence against the Berbers. After the Vandal invasion of 430 CE Timgad was destroyed.

It was 30 degrees as we were walked round the enormous site, a testament to Roman urban planning. We saw the usual buildings - central heating for the baths, gaming stones, the Lupinaria (brothel) with the phallus outside the entrance, the arch dedicated to Severus, the forum, public loos, temples, market - all the carvings showed what each stall would sell. Fruit, wine (oh those Romans knew how to live) etc. We visited the theatre and on the way out of the site, the baptistery, one of the finest. The streets had the marks of the chariot wheels and there were manhole covers to the sewers below.

My leg is holding up - walking isn’t as painful as standing. We walked over 3 miles today and had 6 different police escorts. The organisation is streamlined - as one car peels off another arrives seamlessly to take its place. I can’t recommend Wild Frontiers enough.