Béni Abbès

Province

Beni Abbes is an oasis city with approximately 12,000 inhabitants in the west of Algeria. Located at the edge of the sandy desert Erg Great Western and is located in the province of Bechar ( Wilaya de Béchar ). The nearest large towns, to which there are direct connections, the 247 km distant provincial capital Bechar and the 350- km away Timimoun.

In Beni- Abbes is a Sahara museum and a research center with Sahara remains of a Zoological and Botanical Gardens. From touristic value is also the municipal swimming pool, which is fed from a source. There are old fortifications (Ksar of Beni Abbes ) in the middle of the palm plantation. The Hermitage was founded in 1901 La Fraternité, Charles de Foucauld lived for four years in, has a chapel and is still inhabited by a few monks. In the neighborhood some nuns live.

The new town of Beni- Abbes is located on a plateau above the valley of Oued Saoura at 500 m above sea level. M. Surrounded is the level of sand dunes, which can be directly closest to your location (at the Hotel Rym, La Grande Dune ) extend nearly 40 m above the surface of the plateau. Other dunes reach more than 80 m height.

Beni- Abbes was founded in the 11th century and initially consisted of four independent fortified settlements ( ksars ). Sidi Mohammed ben Abdeslam united then in the 15th century to a single place. During the Algerian War of Independence, the old Ksar was vacated in 1957 by the French, because it was suspected resistance fighters here. The first residents moved into houses on the edge of the palm and the slope to the plateau, and later the New Town was built on the plateau. The old Ksar expires since then, but will set again and again in parts repaired.