Day 4- Izlmatdn-Tabarkhacht-25 Klms

We head SW to Timatigait then South past Ait Said and have lunch at Ifar.

Here I learn more about `La Source’ from Berber folklore. They call it `Daain’ (pronounced `aahine’ in French). This word literally translates to `the eye’ and in their lore is the source of water on the body and a sensory organ indispensible for finding same.

The connections between ecology, culture and practices become very clear. They plant, reap, work and eat according to the seasons. They have created elegant, well-insulated dwellings from mud brick that lasts over 300 years. Even brick-making is done according to the season that provides enough water and sun to dry them. This sage simplicity loses its gravitas, as we move to higher populated cities. The conscious connections to an integrated ecology are lost.

I find the diet very agreeable and my health has improved.

We camp overlooking an oasis, which is flanked by a mud-brick stockade. A mentally handicapped man is foraging by the stream. There are no institutions here, for such people, but the most human. The guides are the first to offer him the shade and hospitality of our tent. I am touched by their compassion. Later, a nomadic shepard appears with his flock. Again the guides offer him bread. Something very Biblical about such acts, in such places.