The Ahaggar Mountains ( Arabic : جبال هقار, Berber : idurar n Ahaggar), also known as the Hoggar, are a highland region in central Sahara , or southern Algeria, along the Tropic of Cancer. They are located about 1,500 km (900 mi) south of the capital, Algiers and just west of Tamanghasset . The region is largely rocky desert with an average altitude of more than 900 metres (2,953 feet) above sea level. The highest peak is at 3,003 meters (Mount Tahat). Assekrem is a famous and often visited point where The Pere de Foucauld lived in the summer of 1905. The main city nearby the Ahaggar is Tamanghasset , built in a desert valley or Wadi.
The Ahaggar Mountain range is chiefly volcanic rock and contains a hot summer climate, with a cold winter climate (temperatures fall below 0°C in the winter). The mountains are young—about 2 million years old. Rainfall is rare and sporadic. However, since the climate is less extreme than in most other areas of the Sahara, the Ahaggar Mountains are a major location for biodiversity and host relict species. The Ahaggar Mountains compose the West Saharan montane xeric woodlandsecoregion. It is also one of the national parks of the country.
In scat collections there are records of the presence elusive and very threatened Saharan cheetahs, unidentified Leopards, gennets,mongooses (species unresolved),wild cats and some cryptic and unrecognized forms (include 14 samples of unmatched non-african canid DNA, extracted from fecal analysis). There wasn't scats found as golden jackals, sand cats, fennecs or Ruppell's foxes
Charles Eugène de Foucauld
French Catholic religious and priest, Charles de Foucauld lived among the Tuaregs in South Algeria. Born in Strasbourg in 1858, he grew up in a French aristocraty family. After a difficult adolescence he went through a conversion experience. In 1901, at the age of 43, he went to the Algerian Sahara and lived a virtually eremetical life. He lived close to the Tuareg people and shared their life and hardships. He learned their language and worked on a dictionnary and grammar. He used the highest point in the region, the Assekrem, as place of retreat. He was assassinated in 1916 outside of the door of the fort (bordj) he built to protect Tuareg's people. He is considered by the Catholic Church to be a martyr. His inspiration and writings led to the founding of the Little Brothers of Jesus among other religious congregations.
Hermitage of Charles Foucauld, built in 1911, on the Assekrem (2780 m) in the Hoggar, 80 km from Tamanrasset in southern Algeria.
The Ahaggar massif is the land of the Tuaregs or Kel Ahaggar