The mouggar (a Berber word for the seasonal gathering of nomadic groups around a saint's tomb or a marketplace) of Tindouf is the principal cultural event of the western Algerian Sahara. Held annually in late winter or early spring, it draws musicians, poets, camel herders, and craft sellers from across the wilaya and from the neighbouring Sahrawi camps. The town's modest hotel capacity is overwhelmed, and visitors who arrive without a booking either camp on the outskirts or sleep in the homes of obliging local families.
The festival programme runs over several days: traditional Hassani Arabic poetry recitations, throat-singing competitions, camel races on the open hammada, guedra dancing, and a craft market selling Reguibat silver work, indigo-dyed textiles, and dates from the few oases of the region. The exact dates shift year to year and are not consistently announced far in advance; ask at the wilaya tourism office in Algiers in the winter before you want to come.