Algeria

 Morocco Algeria's tourist industry all but disappeared when bitter civil war broke out in 1992. After a decade of conflict the situation improved slightly, and some access to the southern Sahara region has been possible in the last couple of years. However, independent travel without a vehicle is almost nonexistent, and after the tourist abductions of 2003 self drive travellers need to be very aware of the risks involved.This dearth of visitors is a great shame, as Algeria is one of the most fascinating countries in North Africa. In the dramatic Unesco-listed Tassili N'Ajjer and Hoggar regions, near the town of Taman asset, tribal culture is very much alive, and the day-to-day hassle common to many Arab countries is conspicuously absent. Algiers contains a vivid mix of tradition and modernism, its colonial past maintaining a presence. Timimoun embodies the storybook oasis town of the Sahara, and the welcoming town of IN salah is split in two by a creeping sand dune.Algiers ‘la blanche’, the white one, is what the French called the capital of Algeria A big, bustling, whitewashed city, with the Mediterranean out front, hills and rich farmland behind, Algiers is an exciting destination and the gateway to the country’s interior.Algiers was the most successful of all the Barbary pirate bases, especially in the 16th century under the most remarkable pirate of all, Kheireddin Barbarossa. It was also the most cherished of all French colonial centres. And since independence in 1962, it has been the political, economic and cultural hub of an extremely large and culturally and geographically diverse country.