We have arrived in the late afternoon at the Tiout Oasis, after registration with the local gendarmerie, we have parked behind the gate of Auberge Tiout (1000 DZD / night). The next day the receptionist arranged a local man (1000 DZD / 3 hours) for us, who guided us through the oasis surrounded by mountains. Tiout is located on the Saharan Atlas at an average altitude of 1000 meters around 10 kilometers east of Aïn Sefra. It is famous for its oldest known Prehistoric rupestrian carvings in North Africa, discovered in 1847. These paintings depict elephants, buffaloes, ostriches that lived in the area 7,000 years ago. Then we walked under the shade of palm trees to the Ksar from the 9th century, which lays on natural eight meters high plateau overlooking the oasis. It is built from clay and palm trunks and it has an old mosque, hammam, and three gates – Bab Sid Ahmed Ben Youcef, Bab Hlel, and Bab El Khmer. On the other side of the oasis is a dam, which is considered to be the first dam built in Africa before the 13th century.
Parking location – Tiout: 32.779204N 0.411846W (🚻)