Dellys

Geography

The Dellys area presents a natural harbour in the form of a small bay sheltered on the west and northwest by the peninsula of Sidi Abdelkader (largely occupied by the town cemetery, along with a small lighthouse). This peninsula is the seaward extension of the mountain of Assouaf, looming over the town. Around this harbour grew the Casbah of Dellys. During the colonial period the town grew southwards, as the port was expanded; a technical school, the École des arts et métiers, was also built to the north, near the cemetery. Expansion further up the mountain was prevented by the preservation of the Bou-Arbi forest; instead, the town's growth after independence in 1962 was mainly concentrated in two "wings" on each side of it. To the south, former agricultural areas on the mountain slopes were built up with apartment buildings to form the new suburb Nouvelle-Ville, still surrounded by farmland on both sides. To the west, the relatively level Ladjenna (or "Les Jardins") area, with rocky coasts, consisted mainly of family gardens and small farms until the mid-twentieth century, but is now largely built up. It includes the tiny fishing port of El-Kouss; Cape Bengut, the northernmost land in the region, marked by a larger lighthouse; and the rock promontory of Sid El-Medjni. Further west, the village of Takdempt, at the mouth of the Sebaou river, remains marginally separated from Dellys proper. The municipality has a total of 678 hectares of forest, most of it accounted for by Bou-Arbi above the old town (74 hectares, Aleppo pine), Assouaf above the Ladjennna suburb (50 hectares, thuya and degraded maquis), Achtoub (290 hectares, brush), and an area around Takdempt (250 hectares, brush).

Most-observed species

• Ophrys fusca Link

  Ophrys fusca Link · Liliopsida
  42
• Sawfly Orchid

  Ophrys tenthredinifera Willd. · Liliopsida
  12
• Decollate Snail

  Rumina decollata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Gastropoda
  11
• Ophrys lutea Cav.

  Ophrys lutea Cav. · Liliopsida
  11
• Yellow-legged Gull

  Larus michahellis J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  11
• Squirting Cucumber

  Ecballium elaterium (L.) A.Rich. · Magnoliopsida
  10
• Bug Orchid

  Anacamptis coriophora (L.) R.M.Bateman, Pridgeon & M.W.Chase · Liliopsida
  9
• Naked-man Orchid

  Orchis italica Poir. · Liliopsida
  9