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Explore the different citadels of Ghardaia

Experience the Roman world

GHARDAIA

ABOUT TIMIMOUN

Timimoun "The Red City" (in the wilaya of Adrar). Located between the Grand Erg Occidenal, in the North, and the Tademaït plateau, in the South, Timimoun is the main Oasis in the Gourara region. Located 1,500 km southwest of Algiers

The city built above the palm grove is famous for the color of its ocher-colored constructions. Its typical architecture of the region has inspired other cities in the Sahel such as Timbuktu and Djenné. The main elements used in the construction are clay, straw and the trunk of the palm tree. This completely adapted construction method, taking into account the extreme climate of the region. The most important cities in style are Adrar, Reggane, In Salah and Timimoun. All located around the Tademaït plateau.

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Timimoun is surrounded by a set of oases which border the large occiendental Erg. These oases are grouped in sub-regions: these are Tinerkouk, Swani, Tagouzi, Aougrout, Deldoul. The city overlooks a vast salt lake, the sebkha near which are built dozens of ksour (Messin, El Gasba, Tlalet ...) and whose casbahs cling to rocky escarpments. The sebkha that we cross to reach the large palm grove of Ouled Said is a salt lake 75 km long.

The landscape is the same as the other oases of Gourara: a village which overlooks the palm grove and which opens onto the sedimentary basin of the Sebkhra, offering a magnificent panorama over the southern part of the Grand Erg Occidental.

Ghardaia the dunes
Ghardaia hotel
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