It’s a cool, pleasant but hazy day. I grab a cup of Nescafé, sit on the terrace overlooking date palms and dunes listening to doves cooing in the trees. Cooing good morning or good riddance?
The good news – we fly to our next destination: Oran. This eliminates a 600-mile drive and replaces it with a fast 5 miles to the Timimoun Airport. I feel relief. Possibly, I have been driven through enough Saharan landscape during the last couple years.
The M’Zab Valley is a striking and historically significant region, a UNESCO World Heritage site recognized for its unique combination of geography, architecture, and social organization. There consists a series of five towns, or ksour, in the oasis—Ghardaïa, Béni Isguen, Melika, Bou Noura, and El Atteuf. The valley is also famous for its palm groves, date production, and ingenious water management systems, including foggaras.
