in http://www.sahara-overland.com/Sfiles/street.htm
El Golea/El Mineaa:
The section of the Trans-Saharan connecting this oasis town with Ghardaia is well-maintained. There are a couple of hotels: the Vieux Ksar is meant to be cheaper but is far from the center; and the Boustan, a state-run place about 5 minutes from the taxi station. A single in the Boustan costs 5 euros, and the staff are helpful and speak English. The town, on the eastern edge of the Grand Erg Occidental, boasts a lovely palmeriae, an old fort (the Vieux Ksar), a church and the grave of Charles de Foucauld. There is a tea place in the center with a small collection of exotic birds and other animals, which the staff are proud to show to visitors. There is a bar in the Hotel Boustan.
Getting out of El Golea/El Mineaa is a bit confusing. Although there are specific days for foreigners with their own vehicles to join convoys south, the independent traveller is an oddity and not necessarily tied to this schedule. Go to the police station on the road into town, about 300 meters north of the Hotel Boustan and ask for a laissez passer to leave by shared taxi or bus. Neither are inclined to take you without this document. Recent events may have restricted the relative freedom of the solo traveller.
Taxis leave from a dusty square a couple of blocks west of the Hotel Boustan. The road divides south of town, going south to In Salah (400 km) and west to Timimoun (350 km) and Adrar.
