The Ajdir oasis in the heart of Algeria’s Middle Maghreb has survived for some five hundred years by growing gardens watered by wells that now tap aquifers some 49 feet below a field of migrating dunes, a rare functioning example of ghout irrigation. In this view from Steinmetz’s paraglider, the wind is driving the dunes from right to left, slowly burying the oldest palm trees, while the younger and more delicate crops are planted downwind. The traditional hydro-agriculture system known as a ghout oasis was developed during the fifteenth century. It involves digging a crater in the soil and planting a date palm at the bottom, near the groundwater level, with sand fences made of palm fronds placed in the dune crests to protect the gardens and slow the movement of sand. Vegetables, fruit trees, and even olive trees are planted under the palms, and watered with hand-dug wells. The introduction of electricity spared villagers from having to bring the water up by hand, but over-pumping has made the water level in the aquifer drop significantly, endangering this ancient system of agriculture that survives in one of the world’s most extreme environments.
