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Introducing Timimoun
If you can stop at only one of the oases around the Grand Erg Occidental, make it Timimoun. It’s an enchanting place, full of distinctive red mud buildings studded with wooden spikes, and surrounded by ancient villages. The residents are very friendly and it’s one of the nicest places in the Sahara.
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Perhaps the best thing about Timimoun is its location – the town is built on the edge of an escarpment, and there are fantastic views out over an ancient salt lake to the sand dunes in the distance; on a bright, moonlit night the effect is magical.
The population of the town and the surrounding area is a real mix: the Haratine (non-Negroid Blacks), the Zénète Berbers, the Chaamba Arabs (originally from the east) and the Black Africans (descendants of Malian slaves). The predominant language of the region is Zénète, a Berber dialect similar to those of the Kabylie and the M’Zab.
Last updated: Oct 2, 2008
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