Center of the Sahara

Center of the Sahara
For February 5, 2025
Michael MacKuen

Our target is the middle of the vast Sahara desert. We depart from Boufarik AB near Algiers and climb south over the Tell Atlas and then the Sahara Atlas mountains to the desert. Then south over a kaleidoscope of hot sand and gravel to the Hoggar Mountains and finally Tamanrasset, the remote city at the “center of the Sahara.”  


Sahara in color

We begin with an early afternoon departure from Bjoufarik AB [DAAK]. This is the main transport airfield of the Algerian Air Force, located 12 miles south of the national capital and mega city Algiers. We follow a southward course climbing over the nearby Tell Atlas Mountains which shield Algeria’s coastal plain from the desert winds and help maintain a hospitable Mediterranean climate. We proceed over the “Hautes Plaines,” the semi-arid plateau between the Tell and Saharan mountain ranges. This is an agricultural region partially-sealed from the harshest of the Sahara climate. We land (or touch-and-go) at Laghouat [DAUL], a joint military-civilian airport just at the southern edge of the Saharan Atlas ridgelines.

Next we encounter the real desert when pass over a number of small historic towns before landing at Noumerat-Moufidi Zakaria [DAUG]. This airport serves Ghardaia, an old fortified hilltop city and provincial capital of 140,000. The ancient water system that links together underground wells now supplies a growing population and some 60,000 date palm trees. Looking to the future, the national government has invested here in solar energy research. Further south lies El Golea [DAUE], now renamed El Menia, which is an old oasis town and now growing in population. Here we are following the newly completed Trans-Sahara Highway (N1) which eventually passes through Tamanrasset and on to the Niger border.

Some 200nm further we visit In Salah [DAUT]. This is another oasis town that was historically central to the trans-Saharan caravan routes. The local water hosts date palm groves and vegetable gardens, though the nearby sand dunes are advancing on parts of the settlement. During winter, the days can be pleasantly warm but summers produce daily highs that can soar over 45 Celsius (113 F). In Salah is often named as one of the hottest spots in the world, with nearby Adrar and Reggane forming the “Triangle of Fire” – as the local inhabitants say.  

We turn southeast to see the beginnings of the Hoggar (or Ahaggar) Mountains. The rocky ridges and cliffs are comprised of black basalt and give the region a lunar landscape. (Unhappily, the Asobo algorithms have interpreted dark landscapes as forested areas. These rugged arid mountains are not covered in bright green trees!) We turn at Amguid Crater (a quarter-mile in diameter and 200 ft deep) that represents a meteor impact 100,000 years ago. Turn northeast over some 53 miles of very rugged hills to land at Amguid Airport – in the simulator this is labeled I-n-Salah [DAIA].

Then south along the edge of the Hoggar Range and the Ahaggar National Park. (Two-to-three hundred miles eastward are the Tassili N’Ajjer Mountains and National Park – where many first-class pre-historic cave drawings have been discovered.) We come to the prominent Mount Tahat, Algeria’s highest peak. (Note that the dark broken-stone mountainsides and peak are NOT tree covered!) Just south lies Ilamane peak, a sharp upthrust that suggests a “Devil’s Tower” of the Sahara.

Finally, we land at Tamanrasset Aguenar [DAAT]. This is a civilian airport with connections to Algiers and seven other national airports. And it is an active Air Force base with Sukhoi Su-30 fighters, surveillance aircraft, and combat helicopters. It is the center for coordinating multinational counter-insurgency operations in the central Sahara.

Tamanrasset (or “Tam”) is the main city of the region with 120,000 citizens. The high altitude (4,521ft) oasis was originally a stop on the trans-Saharan trade routes. It was only a century ago that the French established a fort here to assert their military rule and the town grew up around it. This is also one of the regional centers for the nomadic Tuareg people. For more than a thousand years, the Tuareg have inhabited the vast center of the Sahara with one of the main confederations of tribes living in this mountainous region. Along with normal nomadic grazing, the ferocious Tuareg also preyed upon the passing caravans as an “income supplement.” Throughout the region the Tuareg have been fiercely independent and resisted attempt to control their lives. In fact, it was not until 1903 that the French were able to complete their 1830 conquest of Algeria when they finally defeated the Tuareg in the Hoggar Mountains. (It turns out that firepower can defeat skilled swordsmanship.) Nowadays, Tuareg clans continue to constitute armed rebellions to reclaim their homelands – in Niger and Mali – which have been more-or-less successfully resisted by the national governments.

Historically, the Tuareg led a tough life in a multi-caste culture that cultivated massive slavery and valued violence. And yet, there is a popular strain in French literature that glamorizes the “blue men of the Sahara” – building a fantasy narrative of a noble independent people who have resisted the outside world’s attempts at colonization. Tamanrasset’s Tuareg museum is now a popular tourist attraction ... during the winter months.

Documentation
The flightplans can be found here.

Aircraft
This is a long-distance flight that takes us 972 miles from the green hills of the Mediterranean over the increasingly barren lands of the Sahara and finally into the remote mountains at the center of the desert. We shall want fast jets with a “fast cruise” of about 450ktas. Some pilots may prefer to fly at altitude and take in the grand vistas of the desert landscape. Others may prefer to fly low (and fast) to appreciate the changing colors and terrain that are apparent when flying near the surface. And other may choose some of both. Fast business jets will be fine. Fast military jets may be better. I’ll probably fly the IFE Tornado or the IFE F-35. As ever, please fly what you like.

Additional Scenery
All of the airports are in the default simulator. I recommend the following scenery for our final destination airport at Tamanrasset.

Recommended:
Tamanrasset - Aguenar [DAAT]. kari5963r
Thanks to the author for his talent and efforts. (This a MSFS2020 scenery ported into MSFS2024. Works well.)

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Wednesday, set the simulator at 2:00 pm local for February 5, 2025.
We typically prefer real weather.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Wednesday, February, 2025. 1900 UTC
RTWR Multiplayer Discord Channel
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!