Aïn Taïba was known to nineteenth-century explorers as the only water point in the Issaouane Erg (Grande Erg Orientale) dune massif.[1] It was therefore a necessary stopping place. Among others the oasis was visited by Fernand Foureau,[2] Ismaël Bou Derba,[3] Paul Flatters[4] and Gaston Méry.[lower-alpha 1]