Gaberoun ( ar, قبر عون, alternate spelling ''Gaberoun, Gaber Awhn, Gabr Awhn, Gabr Own, Gabraun'') is an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

with a large lake in the

Idehan Ubari The Ubari Desert, Idehan Ubari, Idehan Awbari (''Idehan'' means ''fine sand'' in Tamasheq) or Ubari Erg is an erg in the hyper-arid Fezzan region of southwestern Libya with a surface of approximately 58,000 km². The area of the Ubari desert has ...

desert region of the Libyan Sahara. Administratively it is located

Wadi al Hayaa District Wadi al Hayaa ( ar, وادي الحياة ''Wādī al Ḥayāh'') is one of the districts of Libya. Its capital is the city of Ubari. As of 2006, it had a population of 72,587, area of and a population density of 2.28 persons per square kilomete ...

of the Fezzan region in southwestern Libya. Lake Gaberoun (5282881127)

A rudimentary tourist camp is located on the northeastern shore, including an open patio, sleeping huts, and a souvenir shop (attended by a

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Al ...

in full costume) in the winter. The lake is very salty; swimming can be pleasant despite the salt water

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s. Mosquitoes are abundant, especially in the summer. October to May is considered the best time to visit as the climate is milder.

History

A small tribe inhabited the oasis; the ruins of their settlement are scattered between the palms at the north-western shore of the lake. It is said that one of their sources of subsistence were the worm-like

s they fished from the salty lake. They were moved in the 1980s to a new location outside the

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s, in the ''Wadi Bashir'', south of the

erg The erg is a unit of energy equal to 10−7joules (100 nJ). It originated in the Centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS). It has the symbol ''erg''. The erg is not an SI unit. Its name is derived from (), a Greek word meaning 'work' o ...

, a settlement of concrete apartments built specifically for the resettlement of this tribe. The old

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and Ar ...

settlement by the western shore of the lake has been abandoned, and now lies in ruins.

Access

The oasis is accessible from the Sabha-

Ubari Ubari or Awbari (Berber language: Ubari or Awbari; ar, أوباري, ‘Awbārī) is a Tuareg Berber–speaking oasis town and the capital of the Wadi al Hayaa District, in the Fezzan region of southwestern Libya. It is in the Idehan Ubari, a ...

road (150km west of Sabha and north in the sand dunes at the settlement of Qasr Larocu), by a 36 km

4WD Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

ride through the dunes of the

sand sea (also called Ramlat al Dauada).

Nearby attractions

Other nearby attractions are the El Mandara oasis (), the Un Almaa oasis (), Mafo Lake in the same sand erg (''Ramlat al Dauada'') and the museum in

Germa Germa ( ar, جرمة), known in ancient times as Garama, is an archaeological site in Libya. It was the capital of the Garamantian Kingdom. The Garamantes were a Berber people living in the Fezzan in the northeastern Sahara Desert. Garamantian ...

Games

The second mission from the game '' Sniper Elite III'' takes place on the Gaberoun oasis.

References

External links