Red Oasis

About this place

Timimoun is an oasis at the heart of the Gourara region in southern Algeria, known for the red ochre colour of its buildings and so called the Red Oasis. It lies between the Grand Erg Occidental and the Tademaït plateau at about 288 metres, with a sea of golden dunes close by, and is among the finest towns of the Algerian Sahara. Oral tradition says a local holy man, Sidi Musa, gathered scattered houses into a walled ksar in the thirteenth century. It was the most active trading centre in the Gourara, where nomads exchanged wheat, tea and sugar for dates. Its palms rely on foggaras, ancient underground water channels that can run for tens of kilometres. Rock engravings in the region show much earlier settlement. You see crumbling red earth ksars around the town, among them Aghlad above the sands and Ighzer with its narrow lanes and walls set on rock. Behind the palms stretches the sebkha, a wide salt flat, with dunes around it that change colour at sunset. The town has red arched buildings and markets for local carpets. Timimoun is 1,216 km by road south of Algiers, with an airport about 5 km away. Winter is the time to come, as summer is fiercely hot. Foreign visitors to the south generally have to travel through an accredited Algerian agency and may have a police escort, so confirm current rules with the agency and the consulate. Dune trips may need an experienced driver. Bring warm clothes for winter nights. Take care of the earth ksars, which are fragile, and do not photograph people without asking.