Things to Do in Ennedi Plateau

Aloba Arch sunrise walk

You set off in the dark, boots scuffing frost-rimed sand, until the sky pales pink behind Aloba's 120-metre span. By the time you scramble onto the adjacent ridge the arch glows like fired clay and the desert floor throws back shards of mica-bright light. Ravens wheel overhead, wings creaking like old hinges in still air.

Niola Doa rock-art shelter

Crouch under the low ceiling and the painted ladies of Niola Doa stare back: hourglass bodies, conical hair, hips strung with cowrie-shell belts you can almost hear rattling. The guide passes a palm-frond torch so close the pigments seem to lift off the wall. Ochre becomes wet blood, white becomes fresh milk. A faint smell of bat guano mixes with the sweet reek of goat tallow the guide uses to fuel the flame.

Guelta de Bachikele swim

After a furnace-hot traverse across the Mourtcha erg you drop into the guelta and the air temperature falls ten degrees. The water is tea-brown, tasting of peat and desert iron. Tiny fish nip at dead skin while date fronds rustle like parchment above your head. Echoes of camel herders' songs bounce between rock walls, making the pool feel like a natural amphitheatre.

Ehi Mousgou volcano neck climb

The basalt plug rears 300 m above the plain, its columns so geometric they look hammered by giants. Hands on cooled lava, you feel sun-baked roughness give way to shade-cold slickness halfway up. From the summit the Sahara unrolls, a crumpled carpet of camel-thorn and bronze sand, while the wind carries a scent like hot pennies.

Ounianga Serir lakeside camp

At dusk the hypersaline lake turns metallic teal, its surface so still the Milky Way appears to pour straight into the water. You hear soft slap of waves against reed rafts and taste the briny breeze that crusts lips by morning. Bedouin tea brewed with smoky black cardamom steams in enamel cups while meteor streaks scratch the sky overhead.

Fada airstrip quarter - simple campement with reed huts and shared bucket showers, popular with NGO pilots

Guelta d'Archei overnight bivouac - sleep on sand beside the famous guelta, camels as bedside guardians

Ounianga Kebir village - family compound guest rooms, bucket of lake water for washing, millet beer on Fridays

Niola Doa base-camp - flat sandy spot under tamarisk, stars visible through mosquito net

Aloba Arch dry camp - no water source, purely for sunrise photographers, carry in everything

Faya-Largeau transit hotel - air-con relief after the plateau, rooftop breakfast of strong coffee and beignets