The Hammada du Draa is the rocky plateau that fills most of Tindouf wilaya — a flat, ochre-and-black stone surface scoured of sand, broken only by the occasional shallow wadi and the tracks of the trans-Saharan trade. It is one of the bleakest landscapes in the Sahara, and one of the most beautiful, with horizons of unbroken stone running to a clean line against the sky. There is almost no vegetation. Daytime temperatures in summer push past 50°C; winter nights regularly drop below freezing.
Crossing the hammada requires four-wheel drive, an experienced driver, and (in the present security situation) an authorisation from the wilaya. The classic destination is the abandoned French fort méhariste at Hassi Mounir, some 200 km west of Tindouf. The journey is one of the great unsung Saharan road trips — but a serious undertaking that needs water, fuel, and political clearance arranged well in advance.