Libya's cave paintings are between a rock and a hard place

Thousands of cave paintings and carvings, going back up to 14,000 years, have made Libya's Tadrart Acacus mountain massif famous and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The art, painted or carved on rocks sandwiched by spectacular sand dunes, showcase the changing flora and fauna of the Sahara stretching over thousands of years.

Highlights include a huge elephant carved on a rock face as well as giraffes, cows and ostriches rendered in caves dating back to an era when the region was not an inhospitable desert.

But many paintings are now destroyed or damaged by graffiti sprayers or people carving in their initials.

Tourists who have stayed away from Libya's hot spots over the past four years are even less likely to return now that one of the country's treasures is being defaced and in some cases, destroyed.

TRT World 's Alaattin Kilic has more. 

Painting over history

Tourist officials in Ghat, the nearest large town, say the rock art vandalism started around 2009 when a former Libyan employee of a foreign tour company sprayed over several paintings in anger after he had been fired.

But the destruction has accelerated since the 2011 civil war which ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi and then plunged the sprawling North African country into widespread armed anarchy.

The entire town of Ghat remains deserted, its many beauty spots empty and neglected. Jobs are scarce.

With tourist and archaeologists staying away on safety grounds, hunters have taken over the Acacus massif, shooting much of the wildlife across the arid, rugged landscape.

Weapons are available anywhere these days in a country where the central government based in Tripoli on the northern Mediterranean coast exerts scant authority and the nascent armed forces are no match for armed tribesmen and militias.

No one knows how long it will be until these mountains will play hosts to tourism again.