Timimoun

Timimoun overlooks a salt depression at the edge of the Grand Erg Occidental, amid the oases of the Gourara. Its red earthen buildings stand above palm groves watered by foggaras, underground channels that bring groundwater to the gardens. The town was a centre for the surrounding oasis settlements and their Saharan connections. Ibn Khaldun mentioned the foggara system in the neighbouring Touat, and these waterworks also became characteristic of the Gourara. Their maintenance and the division of water linked the work of many households to the life of the oasis.