Tassili N'ajjer National Park - Algeria

Area: 72,000 km²

Inscribed: 1982

Criteria (mixed site): (vii) aesthetic; (ix) ecological processes; (Cultural criteria (i) and (iii))

Values: This vast area in the Sahara Desert is located on a plateau of outstanding scenic and geological interest, covered by ‘forests' of eroded sandstone. It is also a floristic and faunal island of Sahelian life in the middle of the desert, and harbours a relict Mediterranean cypress, one of the rarest trees in the world. From a cultural point of view, it has one of the largest and best preserved groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world, an immense gallery of neolithic art of international importance. More than 15,000 drawings and engravings record the climatic changes, the animal migrations and the evolution of human life on the edge of the Sahara from 8000 to circa 1500 years ago.

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Other International Designations: MAB Biosphere Reserve

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