THE PALM GROVE OF DIKHIL

The houses of the city are arranged around a central square and a very old palm grove, which provides a welcome coolness. Trees and flowers surround a water reservoir dug in 1935. The palm grove is established on a spring, the inhabitants of Dikhil say it is several hundred years old. According to a legend, a group of Arab missionaries led by a sheik named Mandaitou, who came from Arabia, arrived in this region around the 15th century. When they ran out of water, the group rested on the site where the palm grove is located today, and Sheikh Mandaitou's horse, with a miraculous blow of its hoof, made the water gush out of the ground. Formerly municipal, it was bought by the owner of the hotel of the same name, on the other side of the road, who undertook its rehabilitation. Onions, corn, palm trees and giant mimosas are grown there. Everything is irrigated by a system of basins redistributed by underground pipes. Small enclosures shelter some buffaloes and ostriches. Sometimes you can see birds of prey or scavengers perched at the top of the palm trees, this oasis is a stopping place for migratory birds. In the surrounding aridity, the palm grove leaves an impression of happy fertility. At its end, however, a concrete tombstone, anonymous but signed "13 DBLE", is surprising. It is said to be the grave of a soldier of the 13th half-brigade of the Foreign Legion, who died from the bite of a snake during earthworks.