DUE to its turbulent political situation, Algeria has been off the tourist map for many years. But now the Algerian government feels confident enough to develop its tourism potential and plans to invest $3 billion in new hotels. It hopes to have three million visitors a year by 2013.
This welcome move goes in hand in hand with proposed economic reforms and an extensive upgrade of the country’s long-neglected infrastructure. When the country decides to relax the stringent visa rules it applies to independent travelers, I will be one of the first to pack my toothbrush.
One of my personal aspirations is to return to Algeria, one of the most scenically beautiful and diverse countries in the world. Many think of it in terms of the Sahara desert — a fascinating moonscape in itself — but, in fact, it is also a land of white sand beaches, lush mountains, spectacular gorges, ski slopes, hot springs and ancient cities.
Algeria has much to offer the traveler who is fed up of so much of the planet looking the same, with cloned high streets and fast food outlets. Its whitewashed capital, Algiers, spread out over hilltops overlooking the Mediterranean, is a stunning gateway to this journey of adventure, a wonderful mélange of old and new, sophistication and simplicity.
In 1990, UNESCO, pronounced the city’s Casbah, once the refuge of pirates and more recently an insurgent stronghold, a “World Heritage Site.” This mish-mash of dilapidated French colonial buildings juxtaposed with traditional Algerian homes is to receive a makeover and will be extended down to the sea, where international cafés, restaurants, smart shops and an exhibition center are soon to open.
As one who remembers it when old men on donkeys negotiated the steep slopes and where dentists and barbers plied their trade in the open, I can only hope the Casbah will manage to maintain its unique mystique.
For history buffs, Algeria is a living museum. Along the coast is another World Heritage Site, Tipasa, once a Punic trading post conquered by the Romans. Nestling on a northern peak of the Aures is Timgad, built by the Emperor Trajan in 100 A.D.
To the capital’s west, toward the border with Morocco, is Oran, a conservative city, constructed by Moorish-Andalusian traders during the 10th century. In the east, toward Tunisia, is the Roman town of Constantine, split by a deep gorge, crossed by a spectacular ancient viaduct.
Algeria’s peoples, who are unfailingly warm and hospitable, are as diverse as its landscapes. The bustling town of Tizi Ouzou is capital for Algeria’s almost three million Berbers, whose historic homelands are the mountains of the Kabyle.
A non-Semitic people, the Kabyles, enjoy their own customs, traditions and language. The Berbers are passionate in their defense of the Tamazight language, related to ancient Egyptian and Ethiopian. This has led to clashes with the government.
Following a recital of Berber poetry in 1980, the then President Chadli Benjedid declared: “We are Arabs, whether we like it or not. We belong to the Arab-Islamic civilization and there is no other identity for the Algerian citizen.” It was a statement that sparked fierce protests.
Indeed, 98 percent of Algeria’s Berbers are Muslim and resisted attempts by the country’s former French occupiers to convert them to Christianity. The Berbers further showed their loyalty to their Arab compatriots by leading the resistance movements during the particularly bloody revolution that resulted in Algerian independence.
Perhaps the best known among Algeria’s Berbers are the Saharan warriors, the Tuaregs or “blue men,” so named because of the deep indigo dyes used for their blue veils. In a departure from custom in the rest of the country, Tuareg men are veiled while their wives are not.
The French decided to build a railway through the Sahara in the late 1880s only to be beaten back by Tuaregs. Such was their ferocity that the plan had to be dropped.
Now that there are no more wars to wage, male Tuaregs sadly spend their time being photographed by the odd tourist or brewing tea, while the woman do most of the work.
A lesser known Berber tribe is the Ouled Nail. They live under black tents around the desert town of Biskra and here again it is the women who are the breadwinners. At a young age, a girl is expected to don an elaborate costume embellished with ornate silver jewelry so as to dance in public. As soon as she earns enough for a dowry, she will retire to her tribal home to respectably settle down.
The most intriguing and secretive Algerians are the M’zabites, Saharan inhabitants of the M’zab’s five towns - Ghardaia, Beni Isguene, Bou Nouara, Melika and Al-Ateuf. Thought to be Kharijites, they are an insular people, whose towns are walled. Beni Isguene, where music, alcohol and smoking are forbidden, is considered holy and foreigners are discouraged.
M’zabite men traditionally leave home for several years to work in the cities so as to send money home for the upkeep of their palm groves, while the women of the Wadi M’zab are shy, often visiting one another by crossing from rooftop to rooftop.
Girls are forbidden from marrying outside their community and the bride and groom are not allowed to meet before the ceremony. However, a bride can demand a pre-nuptial agreement whereby her future husband must promise to refrain from smoking, drinking, gambling and tarrying on business trips.
In recent times, M’zabites have protested over the preservation of their cultural identity. Strict conservatives, they have always lived under the aegis of their own Islamic community but now they are controlled by a government-controlled wilaya (municipality).
Surely, such a variety of cultures and ethnicities only serve to enrich Algeria, especially from the point of view of tourists. And so instead of demanding assimilation, the government would do better to extol its peoples’ differences.
Nevertheless, after decades of bad governance by a succession of inept or repressive leaders Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika appears to be on the right track. I hope for the sake of his people who have suffered occupation, economic deprivation, an insurgency and prolonged civil unrest that there is at last a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. Until then, like the Tuareg, I will put on the kettle and drown myself in fond nostalgia.
