Before breakfast time at our Farm Stay accommodation, Corinne spent some time inspecting the animal life in the farmyard pens. Amongst the wildlife were ostriches, Guinea fowl, camels, horses and domestic hens. The 350 dairy cows were further afield and not seen.
Horse, Farm Stay
Camels, Farm Stay
Guinea fowl, Farm Stay
Chickens, Farm Stay
We then commenced our 600 km road journey to Timimoun with the Sahara on either side of this very busy North African transport highway. After an hour we stopped for coffee and an opportunity for Adlene, our driver to have a refreshing drink and a cigarette. The petrol station/café we stopped at was a popular resting point for transport drivers as indicated by the car park being packed out with trucks of every imaginable size.
Our morning tea stop with the truck drivers, en route from Ghardaia to Timimoun
The barren and desolate Sahara occasionally throws up surprises such as a lone stunted tree in the middle of nowhere or a small stony flat-top mesa in an otherwise level desert. But it was equally surprising to suddenly come across a number of 300 m radius, rotary irrigation booms watering green pastures or grain crops. Inevitably, there were the occasional clusters of camels eating the sparse and dusty vegetation along the roadside.
Irrigation boom, en route from Ghardaia to Timimoun (haze is sand storm)
Rocky hill en route from Ghardaia to Timimoun, (haze is sand storm)
Mesa & hill en route from Ghardaia to Timimoun
Lone tree, highway between El Meniaa & Timimoun
Another disturbing issue is the sight of illegal refugees from Niger and Mali walking/hitch-hiking up the N1 hoping to reach Algiers and to get a boat ride to Italy. The only beggars we saw in the Ghardaia market square yesterday were women from Niger.
After the first 200 km on this main north/south highway we made a stop at El Golea (or El Meniaa) and visited the National Public Museum of El Meniaa.
Street in El Meniaa en route to Timimoun
In 1958 Father Ronnie Le Clerk, a Catholic priest teaching in a local school began collecting geological specimens and antiquities of all kinds from within the local area. This important and originally school based geological end ethnological collection has, since Le Clerk’s death, been converted into a museum in recognition of Father Le Clerk’s extraordinary efforts in searching for and classifying the enormous number of exhibits.
For us it was pleasing that most specimens were labelled in English as well as Arabic. The items are displayed in an appealing fashion using excellent lighting and with attached detailed descriptions of their origins and points of interest.
Exhibits that particularly caught our interest included the fossilised skeletons of an eel-like Hypodus fish and an exquisite and tiny Hippocampus sea-horse. There was much to intrigue those of us with a paleontological interest and of particular note were the fossilised 150 million year old vertebrae of a Diplodocus from the Jurassic period.
Fossilised skeletons of an eel-like Hypodus fish, National Public Museum of El Meniaa
Hippocampus sea-horse, National Public Museum of El Meniaa
Diplodocus, National Public Museum of El Meniaa
There were many items on display from early Neolithic times through to more recent human occupation of this North African region. Stone tools and arrow-heads of various shapes and sizes were impressive.
One particular exhibit that caused great interest was a large (~50 kg) white sandstone rock labelled ‘Pierre de ben baror’. The rock had a very well worn or eroded waistline and we were all intrigued to know what this was all about, as the only information available was not in English.
‘Pierre de ben baror’ rock, National Public Museum of El Meniaa, El Meniaa
We were told that the story of this rock involves part truth and certainly a good deal of myth. Apparently, a camel owner in the very, very distant past had his camel drag this rock by a rope across the desert from El Meniaa to Niger (1000 km away) to mark out (or plough?) a trail for traders from southern lands to follow and find the caravanserais along the way. The camel must have reacted badly to this excessive workload we’re told, as it eventually killed its owner.
After the museum we visited the Catholic Church of Father Charles de Foucauld in El Meniaa.
Catholic Church of Father Charles de Foucauld, El Meniaa
Inside Catholic Church of Father Charles de Foucauld, El Meniaa
Charles de Foucauld was a French soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, Catholic priest and hermit who lived among the Tuareg people in the Algerian Sahara.
His inspiration, writings and evangelical work with the desert Berber people led to the founding of various religious communities including the Little Brothers of Jesus. He was accused by the French government of being a spy and assassinated by beheading in 1916 at the age of 58. His remains are in the graveyard adjacent to the Church. After nearly one hundred years of wrangling, Charles de Foucauld was eventually canonised as a saint by Pope Francis in May 2022.
Tomb, Catholic Church of Father Charles de Foucauld, El Meniaa
Graveyard, Catholic Church of Father Charles de Foucauld, El Meniaa
Our next stop was at the base of a small but prominent limestone hill where on top are the remains of the Fortress (Ksar) of El Meniaa.
Fortress (Ksar) of El Meniaa, El Meniaa
This fortified hilltop village was built in the 10th century AD by the Zenata people, an Amazigh tribe and one of the largest Berber confederations. This fortress was attacked and partly destroyed by the French invaders in the 17th century. It has been unoccupied for the centuries since that time and is progressively turning into rubble.
After a quick perusal of some tourist souvenirs in an expensive shop, we had a late lunchtime bowl of soup and then continued southwest through the rolling dunes and lunar landscape of the Sahara. We arrived at the ‘Red City’ of Timimoun at around 17:30 after a monumental driving effort of 600 km by wonderful chauffeur Adlene.
Trucks on the highway between El Meniaa & Timimoun (haze is sand storm)
Occasional sign showing a bend in the road, highway between El Meniaa & Timimoun, (haze is sand storm)
We have accommodation for the next two nights at the hotel Dar el Yamama and we are the only guests. The management is about to close the hotel until mid-September because the weather becomes unbearably hot with temperatures even exceeding 50°C. When we arrived at 18:30 the air temperature was 36°C.