The "red oasis" of the Gourara: earth-built ksour, a vast salt lake, ingenious foggara irrigation and the haunting Ahellil chants, at the edge of the Grand Erg Occidental.
Timimoun is the main town of the Gourara, a string of oases on the southern edge of the Grand Erg Occidental. Its buildings of red earth, decorated with pointed merlons inspired by Sudanese architecture, earned it the nickname "the red oasis". Around it, dozens of ksour overlook a great sebkha (salt lake) and palm gardens watered by foggaras.
The Zenata communities of the Gourara preserve the Ahellil, a form of sung poetry inscribed by UNESCO, and celebrate the Sbuâ, a week-long annual pilgrimage to the zawiya of Sidi El Hadj Belkacem, also on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
Timimoun is offered as a tailor-made trip — ask us for a proposal.
Timimoun
Our longest cultural journey: seventeen days from the Mediterranean to the great dunes, with Roman cities, Constantine, the Aurès, the M'zab, El Goléa and the Gourara oases of Timimoun.
Timimoun
Nine days walking with a camel caravan through the red dunes and palm-grove villages of the Gourara, around the oasis of Timimoun.
Timimoun
Fifteen days that use domestic flights to cover the whole country: Algiers, Timimoun, El Ménia, the M'zab, Timgad, Tiddis, Djemila, Oran, Tlemcen and Tipaza.
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Share your dates, group size and what draws you here. We reply with a personalised itinerary and a clear price — free, with no obligation.
