Beni Abbes

Beni Abbes sits in the Saoura valley between the dunes of the Grand Erg Occidental and the stony hamada, a town of white buildings above a dense palm grove with a large dune rising immediately behind, which is where people walk in the evening for the view over the oasis. A spring feeds the gardens. The hermitage built here in 1901 by Charles de Foucauld, who lived at Beni Abbes before moving south to the Hoggar, still stands and is visited. A Saharan research station established in the twentieth century keeps a small museum of desert geology, plants and animals, including a modest enclosure of desert species.

History

Neolithic rock carvings at Marhouma, studied since 1863, show that people lived here in prehistoric times, and Berber names of places, palms and mountains survive from before the Arabs came; the first Arab settlers, of the Beni Hassan tribe, built two ksars, Ghar el-Diba and Haresse Lil, and left for Saguia el-Hamra and Mauritania in the 12th century. Local legend credits the holy man Sidi Othman with the spring that turned the valley green, and the ksar of Oulad Mehdi was founded by Mehdi Ben Youssef, who brought palm trees from the Draa, with Ali Ben Moumen of the Arib tribe; the name comes from the Bani Al Abbas, as the traveller El Ayachi wrote in 1662. More settlers came in the 14th century, the Moroccan rebel Abu Mahali settled here in 1593, and the town has been a district capital since 1957 (Wikipedia, Béni Abbès).

The landscape

• A dune above the palm grove - the sand rising straight behind the town.
• The white oasis town - buildings above the irrigated gardens.
• The Foucauld hermitage - the small chapel built in 1901.
• The Saharan research station - the museum of desert natural history.

When to go

November to March; summer temperatures are extreme. A day or two. Sunset from the dune is the fixed evening activity. Nights are cold in winter.

What to expect

It is a long way from anywhere and the road from Bechar takes hours. Accommodation and food are limited. The research station museum is dated and its animal enclosures are basic. Travel further into the desert needs authorisation.

Nearby

Taghit is north; Bechar lies beyond it.