Algeria is a large country in North Africa with the Mediterranean coast to the north. The Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria is the second-largest country in Africa.
However, more than four-fifths of its total area is covered by large swaths of the Sahara. The most fertile area is a narrow coastal plain, the Tell, which contains most of the country's arable land and is the country's most densely populated. Behind the plains are the hills and mountains of the High Plateaux, the Tell Atlas, and the Atlas Sahara Mountains.
Beyond this lie large parts of the Sahara, cut in the southeast by the mighty massifs of Hoggar and Tassel-n-Ajer, reaching an elevation of 3,003 meters, or 9,852 feet. The Chelif, at 724 kilometers (450 miles) long, is the country's main river, rising in the Tell Atlas and flowing into the Mediterranean.
80% of the southern land of Algeria is in the Sahara Desert and is almost completely uninhabited. The northern half of the desert is less arid than the southern half, and most of the region's oases (any fertile land in the midst of wasteland) are found here. The southern part of the Sahara is almost completely arid and mostly rocky.
Its most prominent feature is the Ahaggar Mountains, which rise in the southeast. If you are intending to go to the Ahagga mountains, get mapquest driving directions to move easily to Ahagga
