ANCIENT WATERWAYS BENEATH THE SAHARA: The Khettaras of Fezna
LES ANSLEY
I have just returned from a desert horse-riding trek through the Moroccan Sahara - long days in the saddle, endless horizons, and the kind of silence you only find far from everything.
Y et what caught my attention most was a strange pattern etched across the landscape: evenly spaced, mole-like mounds stretching for tens of kilometres across the desert floor. Curiosity got the better of me. I asked our guide what they were. What I discov- ered was remarkable. Beneath the arid deserts of southeastern Morocco lies a hidden marvel of engineer - ing: the khettaras of Fezna. These ancient underground aqueducts, some stretching
for tens of kilometres, have sustained oasis communities for centuries. Dating back to around the 11th century, these systems were inspired by earlier Persian and Yemeni designs, adapted to the North African landscape. Rather than transporting water above ground, khettaras draw it beneath the surface, protecting it from sun and evaporation. Each system begins high in the foothills, where a deep “mother well” is sunk - often 20 to 60 metres or more - until it
reaches a sloping underground aquifer. This aquifer, a layer of water held within gravel and sand, angles downward away from the mountains. The khettara tunnel intercepts this water source and follows a gradient, allowing water to flow by gravi- ty towards the oasis. Along the route, a series of vertical shafts - typically 5 to 20 metres deep and around a metre wide - punctuate the landscape in a straight line. These shafts were essential during construction and
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