Algeria is the breathtaking, crowd-free alternative to busy Morocco

Dunes for days: Dom Tulett was astonished by Algeria’s vastness - (Untamed Borders)

My guide gestured across a tumble of Algerian dunes that stretched out to the horizon, the saffron sand glowing under the setting sun.

“In that direction,” he said, his eyes straining for emphasis under the dark blue band of his Tuareg headscarf, “it is just sand. Five hundred miles to Mali.”