A high mountain pass at 2,780 metres in the heart of the Hoggar Mountains, about 80 kilometres from Tamanrasset. Assekrem is famous for its sunrise — widely considered one of the most spectacular in the Sahara — and for the small stone hermitage built here by Charles de Foucauld in 1911, still maintained by a handful of monks.
The landscape is volcanic and otherworldly: jagged basalt spires, eroded rock towers, and vast views in every direction across the desert. The drive from Tamanrasset takes several hours on rough tracks and requires a 4x4 and a guide. Most visitors arrive in the late afternoon, sleep at a basic shelter near the hermitage, and wake before dawn for the sunrise. As the light comes up, the surrounding pinnacles of volcanic rock emerge from the darkness one by one — the effect is genuinely extraordinary.
The hermitage itself is a tiny stone building, barely more than a hut, perched on the edge of the pass. It is still a place of prayer, and visitors are welcome to look around quietly. The monks who maintain it live in remarkable isolation.