LIBYAN SOUP

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Leaving Tripoli, Libya.

23rd November
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Leaving Tripoli if you can fly to Sebha (Sabha) or possibly Ghat - this will save you a very very long dull journe

Leaving Tripoli if you can fly to Sebha (Sabha) or possibly Ghat - this will save you a very very long dull journey south. Our tour was a drive south and it was dull and overnight in Mizda was not nice, but a luxury compared to the return journey accommodation in Gariyat - which was like Abu Ghraib.

Hotels en route are virtually non existent as are guest houses. no places to eat at night either even in big towns like Mizda. Truck stops with concrete cell blocks are as good as it gets on this journey. Landscape is unremarkable too. Best to camp off road in the desert away from towns or settlements. But I recommend you fly to Sebha instead.

After Sebha , Drive on road to Old Germa to see an old mud town now destroyed and deserted.Or drive off road across Ubari Sand Sea.( or do this bit on return journey)

Ghat old town and castle worth a look (1 hour). Tuareg traders from Niger will be here selling nice trinkets (you can pay in euros or dollars). Not far south beyond Ghat the tarred road ends in a sand dune so 4x4s are essential from now on.

Acacus Mountains - Rock art and stunning scenery could spend weeks out there, but good to have 3 -4 days minimum down here camping in desert. Enter Acacus in far south over the Takhakhouri Pass and travel up to north and out at Awaynat (Al Uwaynat) (Awinat) - (everywhere in Libya has at least 3 or more spellings.)

Then cross over into the Ubari Sand Sea and visit the Lakes on the way back to Sebha or northwards and on to Ghadames.

Ghadames is in an awkward location out on a limb and it is worth making the effort to see if you like this sort of thing, but it does take time and perhaps you would prefer to stay out in the desert longer - if so I would say skip Ghadames and see Wadi Methkandoush or Wa al Namus before flying out from Sebha to Tripoli.

Ghadames is very unusual and beautiful but I prefer the desert so that is why I say miss Ghadames out and see more of the desert - you won't regret it.


The Greek ruins in Cyrene and it's port Apollonia is the ancient Greek bit of the Mediterranean coast and this part of the country can only really be done if you have 3wks instead of 2wks. The Roman sites near Tripoli are much better and should be a priority.


In 2wks I would do Tripoli, Sabratha, Leptis Magna, Villa Sileen, then fly Tripoli to Sebha drive 4x4 to Ghat and on down to southern end of Acacus and spend 3-4 nights in the Acacus then out at Awinat and see Old Germa then Ubari Sand Sea, Lakes, then Wadi Methkandoush and on to Wa al Namus then back to Sebha and fly back to Tripoli and out.

The company I traveled with - Exodus (although most tours end up being organized locally by an agency called Wings)

www.exodus.co.uk/
www.wingstours.com/
www.wingstours.com/main4.htm

The exodus tour we took was very good and I would recommend them.
(BTW I have no previous experience of traveling in a group tour, but this was the only way of seeing Libya so I had to. My wife and I where joined by only 5 others so it was a good size and luckily we all got along (2 USA, 1 Canadian, 1 Swiss, and 1 UK).

The tour we took in 2005 was this

www.exodus.co.uk/holidays/ayl.html

click on the trip notes link and save the 4 page PDF file - it is full of more details of this tour.

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