El Meniâa:
Located 240 kilometers south of Ghardaia, El Meniâa is a stop on the southern road that leads to Tamanrasset. On the outskirts of the city, one can see the ruins of Ksar which was built on a rocky peak during the 9th and 10th centuries. Its large palm grove – which produces the Deglet Nour date – is irrigated by artesian wells dug in the bed of Sougueur wadi.
At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, the oasis inspired many French painters who adhere to the orientalist style. In the city center, a small museum houses a collection of geological and palaeontological pieces discovered in the surrounding area. Next to the Saint-Joseph church is the tomb of the father of Foucauld, who has been here since 1929.
Palm trees, a wadi, a city … from one end to the other of the North Sahara, one finds the same images and scenes of life. And yet there are no two similar oases. The scenery – mountains, dunes or gorges – is specific to each site and the color of the soil, the architecture of the houses, the historical heritage, the irrigation processes define the identity of each oasis.
