Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Lamia F
Published on 2024-04-13 13:53:58
Brezina is a municipality in the wilaya of El Bayadh in the west of the country, at the gates of the desert. It is an oasis located on the Saharan foothills. It holds a rich heritage, including prehistoric remains.
Located 80 km south of the capital of the wilaya of El Bayadh, Brezina is among the first cities of the great Sahara. Throughout its history, Brezina has always been a relay for caravans heading towards Gourara, Metlili, Ghardaia, and El Golea.
A rich region
The wilaya of El Bayadh derives its name from the Arabic word for whiteness, referring to the winter snow. It is located at an altitude of over 1300 m, where winters can be very harsh.
Brezina alone has significant natural and archaeological tourist attractions, a series of monuments dating back to prehistoric times, rock engravings (Hjar Berrik), caves, and dinosaur footprints that are of interest to both scientists and tourists.
Ksar and legend
Bent El Khass is a Ksar, linked to an ancient legend that is very present in the memories of the city’s inhabitants. This princess, whose eponymous ksar has been renovated, completely dominated all the traffic of caravans from north to south through all the interior cities of the west, from El Menia, Gourara, to Tlemcen.
She even waged bloody wars with Sultan Lakhel according to the legends passed down by the region’s elders. Fortifications dating back to that time can be observed along the route to the caves of Khechine, Bounogta, and Brézina.
Rock paintings
There are no less than sixty rock art sites in the region. Through the expressions and sculptures on the rocks, locally known as “El mektoubate”, these sites allow us to learn more about the history of our country.
The Saharan Atlas is full of rock engravings that testify to human presence in the region since antiquity. Prehistoric man made North Africa a vast territory for hunting and habitation. Since then, the immense heritage of its history has been left to us through engravings. Without them, we would not have known that the region was inhabited for a long time by species such as the Atlas lion, the rhinoceros, the elephant, and the bubalus anticus.
El Gour
The Gours are natural towers of reddish rocks with strange shapes that resemble the timeless landscapes of the American West or the craters of the planet Mars.
This area, which borders the old ksar of Bent El-Khass, has a historical and civilizational charm and is a preferred destination for tourists due to its proximity to the palm grove of Brezina and the Larouia dam. These breathtaking landscapes, worthy of the best Hollywood panoramas, give Brezina the nickname of the Algerian Arizona.
Read the original article(French) on Algerie 360
