Taghit Travel Guide

 JLBG Says:  On top of the Grande Dune de Taghit, you have a magnificent landscape of the Grand Erg Occidental. The best time to view this landscape is either early morning or late afternoon. There are no roads and few camel trails that go a long way into the Grand Erg Occidental.... 

 JLBG Says:  Climbing the dune is exhausting so, when you go down, you must do it as fun. Actually, this is not very different from ski at the turn of the century (of the XIXth!): there were no ski lifts and you had to climb for, let us say, one hour and then slide for two minutes! In... 

 JLBG Says:  These two photos (especially the second) show well how dunes are built. The sand is blown by the wind and goes up, up and up until it reaches the sif. At that point, just behind the sif, there is no wind and the sand, blown as a cloud, falls down. Thus the whole is moving... 

 JLBG Says:  If you look closely to thesqe two photos, you will see that the dunes are asymmetrical. This is because there is a wind that blows almost always from the same direction. The slope of the dune is rather mild windward. The edge of the dune is called in Arab "sif", which also... 

 JLBG Says:  If you enlarge this photo, you will see that the parts where there is "living" sand (which means sand that move with the wind), nothing grows, while in the bottoms, bushes grow very well. They are mostly Tamarix (very close to the one we found in temperate climates close to... 

 JLBG Says:  Eucalyptus are trees that like a warm climate but they are not really desert trees. They grow only when they have plenty of water in the subsoil. The fact that this young Eucalyptus grow well tells very clearly that the water table is very close to the surface and that... 

 JLBG Says:  This photo offers the view from the Grande dune towards the south, showing the eastern part of the oasis. It shows clearly that Taghit is a valley oasis, opposed to "well" oasis that grow around one or several wells or to "spring" oasis such as Nefta or Tozeur, that grow... 

 JLBG Says:  When in Taghit, climbing the “Grande dune" is a must. Actually, visitors to Taghit are visitors to the “Grande dune". As it is almost 300m high, you have better make it in the early morning, when it is still cool. Even early, it is already more than warm (April)! Bring water... 

 JLBG Says:  Taghit is an oasis lying in a valley, the Saoura valley.The water table is close to the surface, which happens often with oasis lying in a valley. At some places, it even reaches the surface and there are some ponds of still water. Taghit oasis has plenty of water. 

 JLBG Says:  When driving from the south (Bechar), Taghit and its oasis appear suddenly. The landscape is stunning. At the bottom of the valley, the oasis follows the dry bed of oued Saouara.In the background stands the Grande Dune de Taghit (Great Dune of Taghit). It is one of the...