Sefar... City of Jinn

It is said that anyone who has not visited Sefar has seen nothing of real importance, no matter how many places they have visited around the world. The history of Sefar, the City of the Jinn, stretches far back in time. Many unanswered questions hover over the city and add to its mystery. What causes this ambiguity? What lies within Sefar — the City of the Jinn, or, as some call it, the "Bermuda Triangle of the righteous"? This is what we will examine in this article.

Location of Sefar

The City of the Jinn lies in the heart of the Djanet desert in Illizi Province in southeastern Algeria. Sefar is described as one of the world’s largest rock cities and, according to some accounts, has never been entered. The site is said to cover an area of about 90,000 square kilometers within the Tassili n'Ajjer mountain range (Tassili n'Ajjer means "plateau of rivers"). It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982.

Most images of Sefar have been captured by drones because entering and exploring the caves is difficult. A European research team suggested in 2018 that the city might predate human habitation on Earth, arguing that the evidence indicates it was not made by humans and that jinn once inhabited it.

Discovering the City of the Jinn

Local traditions say Sefar was first found by ancient inhabitants, while a European named Henry Elliott later announced its discovery; his guide was Sheikh Jibril Ek Muhammad. Henry Elliott came with Sheikh Jibril, the two agreed to descend into Sefar, and they set up camp. Elliott visited Sefar during the French colonial period, when the military governor in charge at the time was a Russian colonel, the governor of the state of Gant.

The City of the Jinn is like a vast open-air natural museum, containing thousands of rock dwellings believed to have been inhabited for thousands of years. The site also reportedly contains more than 15,000 murals, sculptures, engravings and vivid paintings of remarkable colors, which some claim were made by jinn or even extraterrestrials rather than by humans.

Stories about the "Bermuda of the Righteous"

The enigmatic figures painted on the frescoes in Sefar include a mix of familiar and strange animals — horses, giraffes, and cattle — alongside depictions of humanoid figures seemingly flying through the air wearing what look like flight apparatuses, others in gear resembling diving suits, and images of cylindrical objects that resemble UFOs. There are also many unusual and rare stone inscriptions and drawings of figures that resemble aliens.

Some researchers have offered various interpretations of these inscriptions. One is the ancient-astronaut theory, which posits that extraterrestrials visited Earth in prehistoric times and communicated with early humans, leaving behind drawings of ships and figures that resemble astronauts, as seen on the cave walls.

Another theory links the site to the lost continent of Atlantis mentioned by the philosopher Plato, who wrote that priests in Egypt told him about a great continent near the Pillars of Hercules whose civilization reached a high level of advancement before disappearing. Adding to the mystery is a document in a British museum claiming that the only person who entered the city and wandered all its alleys was the famous occultist Aleister Crowley.

Some also call the site the "Bermuda Triangle of Algeria" because explorers have not reached many of its parts due to its vastness and difficult terrain. A legend says that Aleister Crowley entered one of its caves with thirty people, and none of them returned except him.

The bottom line

Whatever the rumors, stories, and theories, one fact remains: Sefar is a unique place with a deep, ancient history that is worth discovering. Its nicknames make it alluring and draw thousands of tourists who brave the difficult route to reach it; vehicles stop at the first part of the site, and the journey is completed on donkeys only.