The cliff houses
Stone and earth on stepped ledges.
RaoofMameri — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY 4.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY 4.0 · Rachid Hamatou — CC BY-SA 4.0 · alioueche mokhtar — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Ghoufi Balconies are cliff ledges above the canyon of the Oued El Abiod, Ighzer Amellal in Chaoui, in the southern Aurès mountains. For 3 to 4 km the river has cut a gorge with walls of about 200 m in places, and on its ledges stand the empty stone-and-earth houses of Chaoui (Amazigh) hamlets, above a ribbon of palms and orchards. The houses are said to be about four centuries old; the last residents left in the 1970s. Each bend of the cliff held a hamlet, among them Ath Mimoune, Ath Yahia and Ath Mansour, built of rough stone in earth mortar with tree and palm trunks, around a multi-storey communal granary. Algeria listed the site as national heritage in 2005; since 2025 it has been on the country's UNESCO Tentative List within the oasis systems of the Ghoufi and Oued El Abiod gorges. From the roadside terraces you see the tiered houses, rock strata well known to geologists and the palm grove below. Stone stairs and paths, steep and rough in places, drop to gardens of palms, figs and pomegranates. Local guides offer to lead the way, and craft stalls by the viewpoints sell pottery, silver jewellery and geodes. Ghoufi lies in Ghassira commune on the Batna to Biskra road via Arris, about 90 km by road south of Batna; Biskra is 46 km south-west as the crow flies. Come in spring or autumn, as summers are very hot. Timgad and Lambaesis lie about 56 and 50 km north as the crow flies.
Stone and earth on stepped ledges.
Palms, figs and pomegranates below.
Rock layers cut by the Oued El Abiod.
Ghoufi village, Ghassira commune, on the Batna to Biskra road
Not yet, but they are on Algeria's Tentative List: first within the Aurès park entry of 2002, and since April 2025 within the oasis systems of the Ghoufi and Oued El Abiod gorges, which also take in Menaa and El Kantara.
By car from Batna or Biskra; shared taxis and minibuses run only in stages, so a driver hired for the day is simpler. The viewpoints sit right beside the road.