For many of our clients, traveling to the Tunisian desert is the real highlight of their tour. And that’s considering the country has many other attractions that could compete: Carthaginian ruins, modern museums, Berber villages, grand mosques… If you’re in the phase of designing your program and wondering what’s interesting about this option, it’ll be helpful to take a look at the following lines, where we analyze the strengths of this unparalleled region.
Tunisian Desert: Close and Complete
Before delving into the details of why travel to the Tunisian desert, it’s worth addressing two important reasons to travel here: it’s a very complete desert and, moreover, very close.
When we say that the Tunisian desert is very complete, we mean that it has the attractions that every traveler seeks in such places. First, the famous sand dunes, so characteristic of the Sahara, of which the Tunisian desert is only a small part.
Secondly, the oases, which provide an extraordinary counterpoint to the prevailing aridity in the desert. A third element of interest are the small villages, traditionally linked to nomadism and which retain picturesque characteristics and ways of life from other eras. And finally, other natural corners that are not oases per se but that capture the amazement of those who visit them… as we’ll tell you in the last point of this article.
And the other general but compelling reason to travel to the Tunisian desert is its proximity. That is, just a few kilometers from “modern civilization”, such as the holy city of Kairouan, we find the attractions mentioned above. And when we say “few” we mean “less than 300 km”, which means a journey of several hours by road, so the Tunisian desert can even be considered as a two-day getaway… although our tours can spend more time there, due to everything there is to see.
This is What’s most Interesting about the Tunisian Desert
As we mentioned above, the great attractions of traveling to the Tunisian desert have to do with its dunes, its oases, the picturesque villages, and a natural surprise: the chotts or salt lakes. We analyze them below, one by one.
Dunes: Seas of Sand by Dromedary
If you close your eyes and think of the purest desert, the image that will come to mind is that of a sea of dunes, with its hills of fine sand that change shape every day and in which feet sink with every step. And that is precisely the image that would correspond, for example, to the landscapes you encounter south of Douz, traditionally considered “the gateway to the desert”. To move through them, nothing better than the most traditional means of transport: the dromedary, although there’s also the possibility of riding “on” motor vehicles, such as quads. Whatever option you choose, the sensation is like traveling through an infinite place, where the stress of modern civilization has not arrived… nor is it expected.
But not everything is sand dunes in the Tunisian desert, far from it: some of its most beautiful corners extend across stone hamadas and among rocks of whimsical shapes. The best example of this is Ong Jemel, a few kilometers from Tozeur, a place so photogenic that it was chosen for the filming of Star Wars, as it captivated George Lucas himself.
Oases of Life and Vegetation
If the sensation in the desert dunes is one of extreme solitude and maximum stillness, all of this is broken upon arriving at the oases that appear almost miraculously across the terrain. The largest oasis in Tunisia is that of Tozeur, a lush palm grove of about 8,000 hectares according to some estimates. This explosion of vegetation also fosters an eruption of human life, emerging in the shadow of this unique forest, where the vast majority of Tunisia’s dates are harvested, largely destined for export.
But what’s surprising about Tunisia is that there are not only oases in the desert plain, but also mountain oases: areas of notable humidity located among the mountains in the west of the country, on its border with Algeria, which represent the southernmost foothills of the Atlas Mountains in the country. Three are the most famous names in this regard: Midès, Chebika and Tamerza, the latter famous for its waterfalls that refresh both the environment and the view, reaching nearly 5 meters in height when the water flow is at its most abundant.
Picturesque Villages at a Different Pace
In addition to the relatively vibrant cities that have emerged in the oases, such as the aforementioned Tozeur, traveling to the Tunisian desert will also allow you to find truly picturesque villages where time seems to have stopped forever. This is the case with Nefta, with its historic medina, brick and adobe constructions, and privileged views of the Great Oasis of La Corbeille.
Even more unique is the small town of Matmata, in a rocky environment that its inhabitants have taken advantage of by building troglodyte houses inside: they blend in so well that sometimes they are only recognizable by the lime and paint decoration arranged around the entrance door. Contemplating them from the outside is an experience in itself, but it’s fascinating to enter one of them and realize the climate control capacity of the natural rock, which keeps the interior at a constant temperature throughout the year.
A Natural Surprise: the Chotts
Lastly, traveling to the Tunisian desert allows you to discover several of the most surprising natural spaces: the chotts or salt lakes. These are endorheic lakes with no outlet to the sea that did have one in the past but, with subsequent climate change, became isolated inland. This, combined with high evaporation levels, causes them to remain dry most of the year, and mineral salts are deposited on the earth’s surface.
One of them is the Chott el-Gharsa, but undoubtedly the most important (in the entire country and the entire Sahara) is the Chott el-Jerid, where the white of the salt mixes with the ochre of the earth and where truly dreamlike images can be seen, such as boats stranded in the middle of the desert.
Additionally, in certain points of the chott, it’s possible to see small water deposits, like lagoons or ponds. And that means that, if weather conditions are favorable, true mirages occur in the landscape, an optical illusion difficult to match (in its perfection) in other parts of the world.
As you can see, traveling to the Tunisian desert is full of attractions and interest. Therefore, if you have few days free and want to discover it quickly but without giving up on the important things, you can choose one of our circuits that take you to the interior of the country. Get in touch with us if you need advice or if you want to start planning your route now, which we can customize to your liking.
