The Saquia el-Hamra ( lit. The Red Saturater) is a

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 ...

and intermittent river which rises in the northeast of

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

, some southeast of

Farsia Farsia (, ), is an isolated village in Western Sahara, situated within the Moroccan-occupied territories. It was occupied by the Moroccan military on October 31, 1975, after Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ...

. The wadi continues west, passing close to Haouza and

Smara Smāra (also romanized Semara, , ; ) is a city in the Moroccan-controlled part of Western Sahara, with a population of 57,035 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census. It is served by Smara Airport and Smara bus station. History The largest city in ...

before joining with the intermittent Oued el Khatt just south of

Laayoune Laayoune or El Aaiún (, Latn, ar, al-ʕuyūn , , ) is the largest city of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, with a population of 271,344 in 2023. The city is the ''de jure'' capital of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, though it ...

on the Atlantic coast. The wadi gives its name to the Saquia el-Hamra region. In February 2016

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

s aboard the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

photographed the area around Laayoune, with Saquia el-Hamra rive
clearly visible

References

Rivers of Western Sahara Wadis {{WesternSahara-river-stub