El Kantara Gorge

El Kantara is a gap barely a hundred metres wide where the road, the railway and the river all pass through the last ridge of the Aures, and it functions as a threshold: north of it the country is mountain and cultivated plain, south of it the land opens into palm groves and then the desert, which is why the gorge has long been called the mouth of the Sahara. A Roman bridge crossed here, rebuilt in later centuries, and the old village of red stone sits among a large palm oasis on the southern side. Travellers have described the change of landscape at this point since the nineteenth century, and it still reads clearly from the road.

What you actually see

• A hundred-metre gap in the ridge - road, rail and river through one cleft.
• The change of landscape - mountains on one side, desert on the other.
• The bridge on a Roman crossing - the historic passage through the gap.
• The palm oasis and old village - red stone houses among the trees.

When to go

October to April; the desert side is very hot from May to September. Two hours as a stop on the drive south. Morning light is best on the gorge walls.

Honest expectations

It is a road and rail corridor with constant traffic and little room to stop safely. The village is poor and partly derelict. There are no visitor facilities. The gorge is short and the visit brief.

Nearby

Biskra is south; Ghoufi and the Aures lie north.