Tassili n'Ajjer

Tassili n'Ajjer is a sandstone plateau the size of a small country, eroded into thousands of rock towers, arches and canyons that early travellers called a forest of stone. Its shelters hold one of the largest concentrations of prehistoric art on earth, with more than fifteen thousand paintings and engravings recording a green Sahara of cattle herds, elephants, giraffes and swimmers. Cypresses thousands of years old survive in the wadis. The plateau is reached only on foot with pack donkeys and Tuareg guides from Djanet, camping among the rocks, and it carries both cultural and natural UNESCO World Heritage status.