Today is

By: Ikedi Ani-okoye

GHARDAIA

Ghardaia is an extraordinary collection of five stone settlements, carved into the hills around the M'Zab oasis, in the northern Sahara desert. In 1982 the entire valley was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as an example of traditional human habitation that is perfectly adapted to its natural environment. The houses, which are only two storeys high and painted white or blue, have their own terraces and courtyards and are built into the hillside in concentric circles, linked by narrow streets leading around and up to a single, crouming minaret.

Ghardaia is inhabited by Mozabites, a group of Algerian Berbers belonging to the conservative Ibadi Muslim sect. Banished in the 11th century, they elected to move to this remote and inhospitable place in the desert. Their life patterns formed a sensible, ecologically sound rule - when the population outgrew the prayer hall of the single, underground mosque, built against the heat, a new settlement was started on another hill, thus producing easily defended towns sited high above the palmerie, orchards and welltended
flelds in the valley below.

The Mozabites organrzed their water resources, sinking wells and dams. and building sluices and channels that ensure the maximum benefit from the water that comes from the occasional flooding of the M'Zab Wadi - every drop is used, stored or recycled. This turned the brown, stony, barren valley into the green oasis that it is today, proving that even the Sahara can be made fruitful. Today Ghardaia is a centre for date production and well known for its beautiful rugs and cloth. The simple, medieval architecture blends into the hills, and traditionally clothed men and women go about their business in much the same way as they have been doing for the past 1,000 years. The sense of harmony between man and nature is tangible.

POPUTATION: GHARDAIA

120,000 (2005) WHEN TO GO: october to April,

DON'T MISS: GHARDAIA

The daily souk. Beni lsguen. Bou Noura. El Atteuf. Melika.

YOU SHOULD KNOW: GHARDAIA

Ghardaia is under religious administration, and a guide is needed to visit Beni lsguen. Photography of women is prohibited, and permission must be granted for photography of men or children. Ghardaia was built around a cave inhabited by a revered holy woman named Daia, and she is still venerated by Mozabite women today.