Just experienced something so amazing, I have to write about it before I forget! Back in the 9-10th century, an oasis was created out in a remote area on the way to the Sahara. Essentially an underground river was created by digging “khattaras”. From the outside they look like dunes, mounds or huge anthills. In actuality, the ground was dug until water was found – I naively thought it was a well. Oh no, it is much more. The first khattara, closest to the oasis, may have been 12 feet deep. When that dried another one was dug next to it but deeper and so forth. Underground, they are all connected – hence an underground river. People had to go down the holes regularly to remove soot, dirt, etc that may impede the flow of water to the oasis.
The source of water? River from mountains far far away.
Unfortunately, the khatarras have all dried up – allowing scenes from Mission Impossible 5 to be shot here.
If we were allowed to, would have loved to explore how far we could go into the “tunnel”.
