Riddled with caves, Kabylia is ideal country equally for ambushes and for guerrillas to melt away when hunted. In many ways it could be called the Scotland of Algeria but, in contrast to most highland or alpine countries whose villages crouch for shelter in the valleys, Kabylia's white-walled and terracotta tiled douars perch defiantly atop razor-backed ridges. They are a reminder of a turbulent history when safety from raiders, floods or landslides often lay in the high ground — as well as providing the traveller with one breathtaking panorama after another, since the tortuous roads follow the line of the villages.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 147