The mountain range of the Jebel Akakus is located in the Fezzan, a vast desert province covering Libya’s south-west quarter, close to the Algerian border. The Akakus region was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1985. It offers spectacular desert and mountain scenery with landscapes varying from differently coloured sand dunes and dry wadis to mountain arches and gorges, spires and towering rock formations.  
     
      
  As a testament to past civilisations that inhabited the area in more fertile times, the Jebel Akakus contains some of the most significant rock paintings and engravings in Africa. These were first discovered in the 19th century and studies were carried out through the 1950’s and 1960’s by Italian researchers. There are literally thousands of these art works found in grottoes and by watercourses depicting wild animals and human figures and dating from 12,000 BC t0 100 AD.

The paintings and carvings of animals such as giraffes, elephants, ostriches and cattle are witness to the fact that the rocky plains of the Sahara were once grassy savannah. Men and woman are also depicted in various daily life situations such as hunting and making music. Thanks to these ancient artists, we are able to follow the massive changes in the flora and fauna of the region as well as the varying lifestyles of populations that succeeded one another in this area of the Sahara.
 

An ancient oasis town located on the edge of the desert, 650 km southwest of Tripoli, close to the borders of Algeria and Tunisia. Over the centuries it has been a place of primary importance where caravans stopped en route to ports of the Mediterranean. It was the meeting point between black African populations and merchants from the Mediterranean coast and also the centre of an important slave market. 
      
 The old town was inhabited until the 1980’s and is now a world heritage site of UNESCO. It is particularly fascinating and renowned for its desert architecture. A multitude of whitewashed mud-brick houses lean against each other and the town is traversed by an intricate labyrinth of alleys covered by ceilings of palm beams and earth that allow the city to maintain a constant temperature despite the outside temperature which is extremely hot during most of the year. Narrow corridors open into small squares with benches to rest and meet as a refreshing shadowiness filters through the streets of the town. Sandy winds blowing in from the desert are prevented from entering by the zigzag plan of the long, narrow alleys. The internal architecture of the houses is also very suggestive with white walls decorated by multicoloured geometric designs of Berber origin where red dominates, adorned by small mirrors and brass bowls. Close by is the desert where a breathtaking view of the sunset can be enjoyed from the peak of a sand dune or a desert rock formation.
 

Halfway between Tripoli and Ghadames, the town of Nalut is situated on the peak of an escarpment with a grand panoramic view towards the east. The mud brick old town is especially interesting for its fortified Berber granary or qsar, rebuilt over an earlier structure in 1240 AD. This strategic position was well chosen as the qsar served not only to store but also to secure valuable foodstuffs.
 
      
 The ancient granary has one single entrance that opens onto the most defensible point where a guard stood on watch. Inside, the qsar comprises tightly packed chambers with doors made of palm tree trunks. These cells are stacked one on top of the other up to six levels in some places. The construction seems to have grown organically from the rock with cells being added as required. Each chamber belonged to a family and was used to store grains and oil. The qsar was finally abandoned as recently as the 1960’s. Also of interest are two old olive oil presses and the historic Alala Mosque rebuilt in 1312.