Gurara

group of oases and settlements in Algeria, in the Sahara, in the territory of Ain-Sefra, on the Trans-Saharan caravan route, south of the Grand Erg Occidental. Population 40,000 (1966). The chief settlement and commercial center is Timimoun (population, 15,300). The basic occupations of the settled population are the cultivation of date palms (395,000 trees) and grains and the production of handicrafts (especially drapery fabrics).