The remote mountains of northern Mali - perfect for guerrillas
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21326831
"Journalist Andy Morgan describes the remote mountains in the deserts of northern Mali, where Islamist rebels are believed to have fled after French-led forces chased them out of the region's main towns, possibly taking several French hostages with them.
Lost in the middle of Tegharghar mountains in the far north-east of Mali, Esel is a an eerie and magical place.
It is dominated by a vast, smooth boulder, as high as a five-storey building and as long as 10 double-decker buses, that sits on top of a warren of caves................."
Nice little story that should be slipped into somebody's area study folder.