About 20km south of Tamegoute is Tinfou. It is famous for its dune and if you are sold a trip to the desert from Zagora this is where they will bring you although the real dunes are further south at Erg Lihoudi or Chigaga.
The dune at Tinfou is reputed to be there because there is a buried Kasbah underneath. It has been made a national monument to deter treasure hunters pending some future excavation but rumours of tunnels and fabulous treasure remain.
A more recent development at Tinfou is the local Kasbah Hotel being bought by a german (altough he has lived all over the world, Argentina, Australia, USA but never Germany) who is a keen astronomer. He has built an observatory on the roof and has 2 pretty high end optical telescopes. They take advantage of the clear Sahara skies and the absolute dark with no light pollution and the Sahara Sky Hotel is now a destination for astronomers woorld wide. We went there so that Beloved could participate but they wait until ablut 11pm to go up when the stars are fully risen and after driving he couldn't keep awake and was snoring away instead.
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