Adrar des Ifoghas

Someday we will visit Adrar des Ifoghas or begin to dream about going there! However, for now its not on our radar. Let us know in the comments if you think that should change!

The Adrar des Ifoghas is a large plateau in the eastern Kidal region of Mali covering roughly 250 000 square kilometers. Adrar is the Tamasheq word for mountain while Ifoghas is the name of a Tuareg clan which lives in the region, the French so named it to differentiate from their (long-held) Adrar in Mauritania. The area is home to a surprising number of animals, including gazelles, antelopes, hyenas, jackals, snakes, & lizards. It contains some very scenic desert landscapes, including granite outcrops, eroded sandstone, gueltas, rock paintings, petrified wood, and even an ancient river valley.

The Adrar des Ifoghas area is characterized by wide, shallow valleys and is strewn with piles of eroded granite blocks. The massif's valleys open to the Tamesna plain on the east, to the Telemsi fosse on the west, to the western basin of the Azaouak valley on the south and to the Tanezrouft on the north. Settlements of the area include Kidal, Aguel'hoc, Boghassa, Essouk and Tessalit.

In 2013, the rugged badlands became a refuge for Islamist fighters fleeing French intervention in the Mali civil war. On 22 February, a battle was fought in Adrar des Ifoghas, killing 25 Chadians, including Abdel Aziz Hassane Adam, the leading Chadian special forces commander in Mali, and 93 Islamists. On March 12, a battle took place in the village of Tigharghar, killing one Chadian soldier and 6 Islamists. The battle resulted in the Chadians taking the village.

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Gao