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Algeria’s Djanet Oasis Captivates Visitors with Unique Charm

Men perform a traditional dance during the Sebeiba Festival, a yearly celebration of Tuareg culture, in the oasis town of Djanet in southeastern Algeria, July 29, 2023. (AFP Photo)
Men perform a traditional dance during the Sebeiba Festival, a yearly celebration of Tuareg culture, in the oasis town of Djanet in southeastern Algeria, July 29, 2023. (AFP Photo)
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Algeria’s Djanet Oasis Captivates Visitors with Unique Charm

Men perform a traditional dance during the Sebeiba Festival, a yearly celebration of Tuareg culture, in the oasis town of Djanet in southeastern Algeria, July 29, 2023. (AFP Photo)
Men perform a traditional dance during the Sebeiba Festival, a yearly celebration of Tuareg culture, in the oasis town of Djanet in southeastern Algeria, July 29, 2023. (AFP Photo)

The Algerian oasis of Djanet has attracted an increasing number of foreign tourists who have come to explore a unique desert landscape that brings inner peace and ultimate relaxation.

According to local media, since the authorities started granting visas on arrival in 2021, over 4,000 foreign tourists visited Djanet, 2,300 kilometers by road southeast of Algiers, and the Tassili n’Ajjer, a charming landmark enlisted as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

Known for its lunar-like landscape with eroded sandstone and orange and black rock forests, the Tassili n’Ajjer National Park has become a photographers’ favorite at sunset.

“Once you come to Djanet, you have to return... I’m here with two friends, and all they want is to come back as soon as possible,” 57-year-old French tourist Karim Benacine, who works for Universal Music Group, told AFP.

Another visitor from Paris, Antonine De Saint Pierre, 49, said: “I want to come here regularly so I can recharge. I will need that. Now that I know this place, I think I’m going to do this regularly.”

According to UNESCO’s website, the region of Tassili, a vast plateau of more than 70,000 square kilometers, houses “one of the most important groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world with over 15,000 drawings and sculptures from 6000 B.C. to the first centuries of the present era.”

These “record the climatic changes, the animal migrations and the evolution of human life on the edge of the Sahara.”

Last year, over 2,900 foreigners of 35 different nationalities, mostly Westerners, stayed in Djanet, compared with 1,200 in 2021. Algerians also find solace in their own national treasure, with 17,000 local visitors recorded last year.

Samira Ramouni, a 41-year-old psychologist from Algiers, believes that Djanet provides “inner peace and complete relaxation,” and helps to “disconnect, seek calm, learn new things, and rejuvenate, so you can recover the strength you need to face life challenges.”

Abdelkader Regagda, who runs a travel agency in Tamanrasset in southern Algeria, around 700 kilometers west of Djanet, sees that the authorities had opened “a great tourism route from Europe to the south of Algeria.”

The guide, who now organizes excursions in the Djanet area, says that “the trails are many and diverse” in the region.

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Varieties

Chinese Tea Hub Branches into Coffee as Tastes Change

A worker raking coffee beans during the drying process at the Xiaowazi, or Little Hollow, coffee plantation in Pu'er - AFP
A worker raking coffee beans during the drying process at the Xiaowazi, or Little Hollow, coffee plantation in Pu'er - AFP
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Chinese Tea Hub Branches into Coffee as Tastes Change

A worker raking coffee beans during the drying process at the Xiaowazi, or Little Hollow, coffee plantation in Pu'er - AFP
A worker raking coffee beans during the drying process at the Xiaowazi, or Little Hollow, coffee plantation in Pu'er - AFP

At a mountainside cafe in southwestern China, Liao Shihao brews handfuls of locally grown beans into steaming cups of coffee, a modern twist on the region's traditional drink.

For centuries, Pu'er in Yunnan province has given its name to a type of richly fermented tea -- sometimes styled "pu-erh" -- famous across East Asia and beyond.

But as younger Chinese cultivate a taste for punchy espressos, frothy lattes and flat whites, growers are increasingly branching out into tea's historic rival.

"People are coming to try our hand-drip coffee... and more fully experience the flavours it brings," Liao, 25, told AFP.
"In the past, they mostly went for commercialised coffee, and wouldn't dabble in the artisanal varieties," he said.

Liao´s family has run the Xiaowazi, or Little Hollow, coffee plantation for three generations.

Nestled in a shady valley, spindly coffee trees line its steep hillsides, their cherry-like fruit drying on wooden pallets outside.

When AFP visited this month, clusters of tourists sipped boutique brews in the airy cafe overlooking its verdant slopes.

"It's very good," said Cai Shuwen, 21, as he perched on a bar stool lifting sample after sample to his lips.

"Even though some beans are more astringent than I imagined, others have exceeded my expectations."

- Brewing success -

Every year, Pu'er's plantations sell tens of thousands of tons of coffee to major Chinese cities, according to government data.

In metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai, a thriving cafe scene has emerged in recent years, driven by people aged between 20 and 40.

To Liao, a trained roaster and barista, coffee from his home region possesses "a creamy flavour with a silky, viscous mouthfeel".

Modern commercial plantations only sprang up in Pu'er in the 1980s, and the area is still better known for its centuries-old tea trade.

Liao's grandfather, Liao Xiugui, said "nobody knew anything about coffee" when he arrived in Pu'er a few decades ago.

At the time, the older man was one of very few people in China who had studied coffee cultivation.

But the region's relatively high altitude and temperate climate were well-suited to the unfamiliar crop, the now 83-year-old told AFP.

"The quality of the coffee we plant here is strong but not too bitter, floral but not too heady, and slightly fruity," he added.

Free from artificial pesticides and interspersed with other species for biodiversity, Little Hollow yields about 500 tons of raw coffee fruit per year.

Liao Xiugui himself drinks two or three cups a day, and credits the caffeinated beverage for keeping him spry in his advanced years.

"Drinking coffee can make you younger and healthier... and prevent ageing," he smiled.

"Also, everyone is tired at work these days... and they want to give their brains a boost."

- Richer pickings -

China's coffee output has risen dramatically in recent years, though it still lags far behind traditional powerhouses such as Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia.

Yunnan, near three borders with Southeast Asian nations, accounts for virtually all of China's coffee production, much of it concentrated in Pu'er.

On a visit to Yunnan last month, President Xi Jinping said the province's coffee "represents China", according to state media.

Keen to further expand the sector, officials have rolled out policies to improve production, attract investment and boost exports, according to government statements.

They have also merged coffee production with tourism, dovetailing with a central government push to increase domestic consumption.

Longtime farmer Yu Dun, 51, said she had opened new income streams with plantation tours, homestays and a restaurant fusing coffee with the cuisine of her native Dai ethnicity.

Her prospects were bright, she said, adding that she also earned "10 times" more revenue from her beans since learning to process and roast them herself.

"We used to say only rich people could drink coffee, but that's all changed now," she said.