Moghrar () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Naâma Province Naâma Province () is a provinces of Algeria, province (''wilaya'') of Algeria named after its provincial Capital (political), seat, the town of Naâma. The region is dominated by a large sabkha. There is an airport in Mécheria. History The pro ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. It is the district seat the Moghrar District and has a population of 2,796, which gives it 11 seats in the PMA. Its municipal code is 4506 Two distinct oases are to be considered: Moghrar Foukani or higher Moghrar, on the Algerian National Highway number 6, the chief town; and Moghrar Tahtani or lower Moghrar located 15 km northeast of the first locality.

Postal codes

It has several postal codes for its various

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

: *Moghrar: 45230 *Moghrar Fougani (Upper Moghrar): 45231 *Moghrar Tahtani (Lower Moghrar): 45232

Geography

Moghrar is located in the Ksour Range, western part of the Saharan Atlas on the western borders of Algeria, near the Moroccan border. Moghrar is limited to the north by Djebel Cheracher; to the east by Djebel Boulerhad and to the south-east by Djebel El Haïmeur, and by Djebel Touzamet the limit to the south. The Moghrar valley has a large

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

draining the entire region of Ain Sefra. It has a dry Saharan climate (about 100 mm / year ) with a cold winter and winds that blow frequently from south-west to north-west. is in winter and spring. The vegetation surrounding the palm grove is a

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

Oases of Moghrar

The oases Moghrar Foukani and Moghrar Tahtani are characterized by regs, hamadas and

wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

s more or less dry. The two oases have more than sixty wells for the irrigation of the gardens of the palm grove. In addition, there is also the exploitation of the traditional system of foggaras sources (or foggara of Al Ain in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

) allowing a rational use of water. The foggaras are still functional and there are two of them.

Oued Moghrar

Oued Moghrar flows south and joins Oued Rhoubia which extends south to form Oued Namous with another tributary Oued Smar with many smaller wadis that arrive from the southern foothills of the Ksour Range.

History

Man has been living in the area for a long time. There is a rock station at Moghrar Tahtani. The ksar of this same city was the fief of an illustrious resistant to the French penetration in Algeria, Cheikh Bouamama.

Flora and fauna

The flora is represented by the varieties of date palms Feggous and Aghrass, well preserved here while they have practically disappeared elsewhere. These varieties have the ability to be naturally preserved, exposed to the open air for a year. We also note the presence of the following species: Hammada Scoparia, Retama raetum, Ephedra alata, Samolus valerandi and, at the edge of seguias or irrigation ditches, Adiantum capillus veneris. As for the fauna, it is a refuge zone for gazelles and outardes houbaras. Among the ornithological species that characterize theregion, we find: the Red crossbill Loxia curvirostra, the Common wood pigeon Columba palumbus, the Blue rock thrush Monticola solitarius, the Bee-eater Merops apiaster, the Hoopoe Upupa epops, the Short-toed snake eagle Circaetus gallicus, the Bonelli's Eagle Hieraêtus fasciatus, the Bearded vulture Cypaetus barbatus, and the Partridge Alectoris spatzi. The migratory species are Woodchat shrike (Lanius senator), Orphean warbler (Sylvia hortensis), Bonelli's warbler (Phylloscopus bonelli), Gray flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii), the

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

, the turtledove. According to the rock carvings of the region, the wildlife included Harte antelope, the

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . There are also seven species included in two further genera; '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third former subgenus, ' ...

, the antelope addax, the bee and the

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

Tourism

Tourism is currently underdeveloped but there is potential. In addition to the palm grove and its irrigation system by foggaras, and the secular ksars, there is a rock carvings station at Moghrar Tahtani, a modest museum of prehistory as well as the zaouia of Sheikh Bouamama.

References

Populated places in Naâma Province {{Naâma-geo-stub