Hammam Meskoutine Things to Do

2 more images

On the first photo, in the background, the witnesses.

The second and the third photo show the whole bridal procession with the children in the background.

The sacrilege incestuous bride, the dishonest qhadi, the unfaithful witnesses, the impious friends and relatives, they all have been turned to stone, accompanied by the rumblings of hell, heard from time to time from the ground, and surrounded by fumes of sulfur coming from the ground.

4 more images

Arriving in Hammam Meskoutine from the main road (N20) Annaba-Constantine is unimpressive. First of all, the road sign says Hammam Debbagh and not Hammam Meskoutine. Are we mistaking ? Our friend from Annaba must not be wrong as he has asked his way from locals, but is it WHAT he wanted us to visit (he has not said anything about the place !)

The first photo (enlarge, please) shows the general sight with a dull plain without almost anything growing and in the background what looks like heaps of gravels !

The second photo allows a closer look to these molehills and if you enlarge the photo, you will see that it is a kind of football field.

It is also a playfield for children (third photo).

The fourth photo shows what looks almost like an abandoned roadwork. Not really worth the visit, till now !
On the last photo, a narrow channel (a gutter ?) stretches across the "roadwork". What is that ? Wow, the water is warm and even more than warm ! It is Friday (= Sunday in Algeria) and locals are relaxing, sat on the ground against one of the molehills.

Hammam means "bath", then no wonder if the Romans had built here hot bath. It was then named Aquae Tibilitanae because it was close to the city of Tibilis (8 km south) built on the plateau of Ras-El-Akba. However, there does not remain much of it : these few stones should be all what is remaining from the Roman bath, unless there is more to unearth. In the village, we were told there was a small amphitheater but could not visit it.

If you enlarge the photo, you will see that names have been carved on the cliff and on the soil. That is what these girls are doing. As everywhere else, they are the names of people who came here and want the world to know, they also can be the names of two lovers. Amazingly, though they are all local names, they are all (at least nearly all) carved in Latin fonts. Why ? My hypothesis is that it is easier to carve with a mere stone Latin fonts that are mostly made of straight lines than Arabic fonts that have more curves ! Any opinion ?

The man with the Polaroid camera proposed us to have a photo with the animals. As we told him that we had our own camera, he did not insist. He did not mind that we took pictures of the eagle and of the gazelle. I am sure that when there will be tourist coming to Hammam Meskoutine, they will have to pay, even to get close to the animals, not speaking of taking a photo !

While we were there, several families of locals had a family photo taken, such as this one.

1 more image

The dama gazelle (Gazella dama) lives in the northern par of the Sahara. It weighs 40 - 85 kg (90 - 190 lb). It stands 88 - 108 cm (34- 42") at the shoulder.. It lives 12 years. It can run as fast as 80 km/h for a few minutes. It is protected as it is an endangered species.

The dama gazelle was once one of the most numerous and widespread of Saharan gazelles from Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania eastward to the Sudan. It experienced a significant decline during the 1950's through the 1970's. By the early 1980's it still occurred over the same general range but was extinct in most areas within its range, though perhaps still locally abundant in some places. The world population is now estimated less than 2500. It is now thought to occur in the wild only in Algeria, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Sudan. It has been re-introduced in Senegal.

The gazelle shown on the photos is a young one, that seems to be between 6 month and less than a year.

The eagle is really impressive. It is the Golden eagle, Aquila chrysaetos. It is now very rare in Western Europe, much less both in Eastern Europe and in the Maghreb. It can be 80 to 97 cm tall and its wingspan can be from 190 to 130 cm. With its powerful bill (enlarge the photo), it can kill and tear off prey weighting several kilos.

2 more images

Enlarge the first photo. You will see that there is a man in a blue overall and with a Polaroid camera that owns an eagle, a "gazelle" from the desert and a "guerba" (a goatskin use to keep water for drinking.

The second photo shows better the eagle with the guerba underneath.

On the third photo, the photographer shows how the eagle can perch on the arm of someone for a photo.