JABBAREN

The Jabbaren plateau lies some 30 km south of Sefar and 20 km from Djanet. A car usually drops us off at the foot of the plateau, and the rest - and this is no mean feat - is done with our legs (15 km). Jabbaren means "giant", and the climb to the top of the plateau convinces. From Sefar, the route, though longer, is easier, through a reg and along a few wadis alive with plants and animals.
The campsite is near a group of cypress trees, in a sheltered valley. To reach the Jabbaren site itself, follow the Oued Amazar eastwards to Akba Aroum. French explorer Henri Lhote (1903-1991) visited the site himself several times during the ^20th century, with Tuareg guide Jebrine ag Mohamed, to record the paintings and engravings. These were executed by a dozen successive civilizations on the walls of sandstone domes carved by erosion. There are over 5,000 of them, in a good state of preservation and in several styles, the oldest being the "round heads".
The most remarkable of these is traced on the inside of a rocky aplomb. It features a 6 x 3 m figure from the period of the round-headed men, named the "great god of the Martians" by Daniken, the explorer convinced of the presence of extraterrestrials. Other frescoes date from the Bovidian period, including a remarkable archer.