The trip was incredible. As you know, I had some qualms about traveling solo as a woman, but I felt completely safe and so well-taken care of by the team. Starting with arriving ill from the flight and being very well-looked after by Zaki and Moumen, as well as Walid and yourself via text. Just that experience alone made me so glad I had booked with Mosaic!
Even without the wonderful team with me, I would have felt so safe in Algeria. It’s just an incredible country, with warm and welcoming people and an astonishing history that is a joy to discover.
Every single one of my guides and drivers was excellent—although they were all different than in the email you sent me, with the exception of Brahim in Ghardaia. In Algiers, I traveled with Moumen and Zaki, both great guides and warm and hospitable individuals. I think Zaki is a bit underused as “just” a driver! He speaks excellent English and knows the info, too! He and I had a wonderful time driving to Djemla where I met up with Hani and Zinou. Hani was a stand out—he’s a wonderful guide, knows his stuff, and was the most accommodating with changing up the itinerary to match what I wanted to do. One example: I really wanted to spend more time in the casbah in Constantine, untouched as it is by tourism or, seemingly, the outside world, and he happily took me around for an extended time (to the consternation of Zinou, who was worried I was off the script. But being off the script is exactly what I prefer!)
There was some confusion about Hani…apparently the original guide in Constantine, Islem, had subcontracted to Hani instead of doing the tour himself and didn’t tell Walid. And then we ran into someone from Walid’s team. Walid was very concerned about this, but honestly I feel I lucked out because Hani was the best guide of the whole trip, and along with Zinou, we had a wonderful time!….
