This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Ancient Rome pierces under the Muslim cities of southern Tunisia. One more reason to visit this luminous destination, where the outdoors meets history.
“See Tozeur and relive it,” wrote Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in his correspondence written during the Second World War. The aviator-adventurer, sick and weakened, was picked up in the desert by the Berbers of the Saharan Atlas region, south-west of Tozeur. He will keep from this episode a strong attachment to this people and this region. In these two thousand hectares of semi-desert vegetation, palm trees and date palms thrive thanks to the runoff from providential springs that tumble in cascades from the surrounding mountains.
It is this water, combined with the passage of caravans of dromedaries loaded with grain and dates, which has created over time these luxuriant oases, in the middle of the desert, where generations of Berbers have settled, or Amazighs (“free men”), as they like to call themselves. Tozeur, the largest oasis in the Maghreb, and the second largest producer of dates in the world, is the result of this hazardous collision between nature and the caravanserai route.
A canyon to explore
Direction Chebika, one of the three mountain oases that we reach after crossing the Chott el-Gharsa, the now dry salt lake at the gates of a deep canyon. Most of this lake is indeed here, but extends westward to Algeria. This salt desert creates, under the effect of daylight, astonishing mirages because of the thin saline layer that is deposited there. By absorbing the morning dew, the surface clay allows the salt to filter through, shimmering under the light. It is this inexhaustible resource of clay which, over the centuries, has been used as a building material to build houses and walls in Tozeur and other towns in the south, and which gives them this distinctive sandy hue.
You would have seen it a million years ago, the lake was still very much alive. Proof of this is the multitude of shells and fossilized trees that make up its rocky surface. To show all its beauty, Bouchagraoui Bougema, a Berber guide, takes you to the folds of the Chebika canyon, for two days, to explore its meanders, bathe in the clear water of the springs and observe the celestial vault while spending the night under the stars.
Southern Roman cities
Tozeur, Kairouan, El Jem, these Muslim cities contain a history “sedimented” in superimposed layers. The proof: these blocks of stone cut in Antiquity and reused, over the centuries, for the benefit of Arab-Muslim buildings. Moreover, it is not necessary to dig deep to excavate the great Roman cities under the minarets and the medinas built after the Muslim conquest of the VIIand century AD. AD, like Carthage (near Tunis).
Same observation in Kairouan, the holy city of the Maghreb (going there four times is equivalent to a pilgrimage to Mecca), and undisputed capital of weaving. Here, the succession of civilizations is reflected in the architecture: the great mosque, the oldest in the Maghreb (from the 6thand century), built from limestone taken from Roman sites, the Moorish embrasure of its ancestral houses or, again, the medina and its Arab-Muslim style which is on the list of World Heritage Sites.
It is here that we find the basins of the Aghlabids which carry water via an aqueduct from the high steppes, about thirty kilometers upstream. These are considered the most remarkable hydraulic works in Muslim history.
A few kilometers away, Sbeitla (better known as the ancient Sufetula, named after the battle that marked the beginning of the Muslim conquests) is a jewel of Roman archeology (IIand century AD. AD) set in the high steppes composed of olive trees, prickly pears, cypresses and almond trees. Witness five centuries of Roman supremacy in Africa over fifty hectares, along the through romana : individual houses with private courtyard, fountains, amphitheater, public baths and Arc de Triomphe. The public square adjoins the capitol, the seat of religious power, which includes three temples dedicated to the veneration of Juno, Jupiter and Minerva. A few stray cats jealously guard access.
The door to the Sahara
To reach Douz, the city in the South, you have to take the road that crosses the immense Chott el-Jérid, the other salt lake in Tunisia. The region is still subject to the predominance of car rally tourism – 4 X 4 enthusiasts and enduro motorbike enthusiasts flock there, especially from Italy, France and Spain – but ecotourism, more sustainable, is l one of the avenues favored by the Kebili Region Tourist Office. “A third of the subsidies relate to investments for alternative, green and sustainable tourism, assures Mohamed Essayem, regional tourism commissioner of Kebili.
About 20 current projects include camps, wooden dwellings and activities such as walking, cycling, camel riding, participatory tourism and agricultural tourism. Here, as in the rest of the country, we are ready to welcome visitors after two years of pandemic which have caused considerable damage to the tourism industry.
stone desert
Heading east, towards the Gulf of Gabes: between Matmata and Tataouine, the mountain range of Jebel Dahar contains Berber “camouflage villages”, built between the VIIand and the XIIand century to serve as a bulwark against the Arab invasion. In Matmata, a hundred Amazighs still live in traditional troglodyte houses dug underground on the principle of “negative architecture”, according to the established expression: these houses include several windowless rooms facing a circular courtyard. Cool in summer, warm in winter: the air conditioning is 100% natural. We live there in self-sufficiency thanks to a microculture of barley, honey and fruits: almonds, olives and dates. An ingenious rainwater recovery system and a small solar panel are enough to supply the house with water and energy.
Like at Touffic and Khdija, who receive us in their 300-year-old troglodyte house around an almond tea, a traditional bread (tabouna), an egg ratatouille and fleshy green olives with a slightly bitter taste.