El Meniaa

المنيعة El Meniaa
Coordinates	30 ° 36 ′  N , 2 ° 54 ′  E Coordinates: 30 ° 36 ′  N , 2 ° 54 ′  E
Basic data
Country	Algeria
province	El Meniaa
height	377 m
Residents	15,000
El Meniaa, the city of 100,000 palm trees. View from the steep step of the Transsahara road

El Meniaa, the well-kept city in the Central Sahara

El Meniaa, in the immediate vicinity of the city rise the "sand mountains" of the western Great Erg (sand desert)

El Meniaa ( Arabic المنيعة, DMG al-Manīʿa ), formerly El Golea ( Arabic القليعة, DMG al-Qulaiʿa ), is an oasis city in the Sahara in Algeria with around 15,000 inhabitants on the Trans-Saharan road Algiers - Tamanrasset at 377 m altitude. It is the capital of the province of the same name . The city with a botanical garden and its own airport is 270 km south of Ghardaia and is known as the "city of one hundred thousand palm trees". In addition to date palms , fruits, vegetables and grains are grown. Artesian wells secure the water supply for people and gardens.

Coming from the north, the Transsahara road suddenly reaches the break of the steep step. The view becomes clear to the city below with the huge palm groves and the high sand dunes on the eastern edge of the western Great Erg on the horizon.

The old name El Golea means “little citadel” in Arabic.

Persons connected to El Meniaa

• Charles de Foucauld (burial place)

Web links

Commons : El Meniaa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Holger Reineccius: African picture book: El Golea (travel report from Algiers to Agadez)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alain Sebe: moula-moula. In bird flight over the Sahara. Schillinger publishing house, 1981