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WHERE IS TASSILI NATIONAL PARK?
Tassili National Park is in the Sahara Desert in
the southeastern part of Algeria.
SITE NAVIGATION
 The
Big Horn (Oudad) Tassili National Park logo link will always take
you back to the Tassili Home Page.
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 The
Delicate Arch logo will always take you to the home page of the Natural
Arch and Bridge Society (NABS).
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Each Index Page has arch information and
a thumbnail photo for each arch. If you click on the thumbnail it
goes to an Arch Page with a larger photo that also has the
same arch information. Therefore, you can browse the catalog by using
either the Index Pages or the Arch Pages and obtain the same information.
A navigation bar at the bottom of each page allows you to go at any
time to another Index Page, the next Arch Page, or back to the Tassili
Home Page (just click on the Big Horn logo). The Tassili Home Page
has links to each section of the site. A numerical
arch index page allows quick access to any arch by number. The
numerical arch index page can also be quickly searched (using control-F)
for any arch name.
MAPS
The sketch maps are not to scale. The map links open
in a separate window so you can keep a map open while you browse the
arch listings. Map 1 is useful
for all of the first 16 Index Pages. Map 1 will open in its own window.
Each other map will open in the same window (but a different window
from Map 1 or the arch catalog). If you want additional maps open
at the same time, RIGHT CLICK on the link and choose OPEN IN NEW WINDOW.
From the home page you can also download a set of higher-resolution
maps for printing.
BEST ARCHES
The author's pick of best arches to visit are marked
in red. There is also a page for the
author's pick of his top ten favorite Tassili
arches.
ARCH NUMBERING
The arches are numbered in the order that they were
recorded. Therefore, a group of consecutive-numbered arches are often
in the same locality, but often they are not. For example, when additional
arches are recorded in the same locality at a later date, they may
have considerably higher numbers.
The order of the arches on the website is, as much
as possible, in a logical geographic sequence. This site is basically
a guidebook to the region. Sometimes a long route description might
accompany a rather small arch if that happened to be the first arch
encountered along the way. Sometimes an arch in one named area is
found among descriptions of arches in a different named area. In such
cases that arch may be more easily reached from that different named
area. A numerical arch index is also supplied so you can track down
a reference to a specific arch.
This catalog is called "comprehensive"
because all known arches are included. This does not mean that there
are not many more arches that are unknown to us.
MEASUREMENTS
When it is indicated that arches are measured, this
was done with a steel tape. Hiking distance measurements (e.g. walk
300 meters) are estimates, so don't be surprised if they are off by
up to 50% or more.
GPS COORDINATES
GPS coordinates are UTM WGS 84.
BACKGROUND IMAGE
The background image is a dromedary from late period
Tassili rock art, found in the Ouan Bender area.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to the Tuareg people and friends of Djanet:
Mohkar (the elderly guide who led my first trips there), Mohamed
Bilali (experienced guide), Marmoud Karzika (enthusiastic donkey driver)
and the Zeriba
Agency for their logistics. The author would also like to thank
NABS members Tom Budlong and Daniel Putelat for their company on some
of my adventures in the Tassili. The author would also like to express
deep gratitude to the NABS webmaster, David Brandt-Erichsen, for his
encouragement on this project, for his HTML work and photo scanning
in creating these pages, and for his editing of my limited English.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 Guilain
Debossens lives in Vetraz-Monthoux, France, and is an avid canyoneer,
arch hunter, and lover of nature's wonders, especially in the Sahara
Desert area of Africa and the Colorado Plateau area of the United
States. In addition to creating the world's first catalog of natural
arches in Tassili National Park, he has cataloged over 300 natural
arches in France.
Contrary to first impression, natural arches are
not an obsession of the author. They are rather a great excuse to
get to such wonderful places as Tassili. As David Brandt-Erichsen
was quoted in New Man magazine, "Having an arch as a goal
at the end of a hike is just the frosting on a very good cake, and
this has led to a greater interest in knowing where more of them are."
Also, if you like exploring on your own in Tassili, arches are good
landmarks in this maze of rocks. Therefore, the author proposed this
unique "arch by arch" hiking guide to Tassili National Park.
In 2006, Guilain led a Natural Arch and Bridge Society trip to Tassili. A Journal of this trip, with over 60 photos, is available on this site. You can also see Guilain in this panoramic photo in the Tadrart region of Tassili National Park.
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