Tozeur old town

We got up bright and early to see a clear blue sky, ideal for visiting Tozeur old town where all the buildings and walls are decorated with small hand-made sandstone bricks. Apparently all new buildings must have this finish as it keeps local family businesses very happy!

A few palm trees to set the scene!

and the local minaret

Here you see the beautiful patterns made with the bricks

Children played at throwing stones into the spaces left in this pattern!

Lots more examples. Hope you're staying awake!!

To finish, a couple of doors, the left hand knocker for a male visitor, the top right for female and the bottom for a child. Each knocker made a different sound!

Tamerza

Next stop, Tamerza, the largest mountain oasis in Tunisia.

This shepherd has a precarious job!

The canyon cut into the desert with magnificent strata patterns

Lots of dates

This section shows the old village, abandoned in 1969 after 22 days of flooding

Couldn't help but think of Matt's beloved Bradford City here!

Fresh water - a precious commodity in Tunisia

 For film buffs, scenes from 'The English Patient' were shot in this area.

Chebika

The weather was a bit disappointing but the journey across the desert in a 4X4 wasn't! Our destination: Chebika, an oasis near the Algerian border in the eastern Atlas Mountains

In the middle of nowhere, water provides a reason for building a settlement.

The original village was abandoned in 1969 after two successive floods. The people now live not far away in a safer zone.

That's the desert in the background - nothing for miles and miles.

The tree-line follows the water-course.

I think this woman was stalking me!

Two very excited children after Tine showed them a frog in the pool!

Here we have one of the water sources, straight out of the mountains.

Like in Madeira no water is wasted but channeled for use in the village and in the plantations.

Chott el-Jérid

Chott el-Jérid is a salt-water lake which often has water in the winter months but we saw very little. The temperature can reach 50ºC in summer: thankfully not the case for us! This means that natural evaporation takes place and salt is harvested, mainly for use on European roads in winter. There is a long, very straight route across the lake along a causeway. Apparently in the hotter weather it is renowned for its mirages.

The first two photographs, taken from the coach, show hot water towers where naturally flowing water reaches the surface and is cooled for agriculture & home consumption.

Next we have 'rose des sables' or desert rose, a naturally formation that you see for sale everywhere.

Sometimes they're coloured, not naturally of course.

There are a few roadside cafés in the middle of nowhere

Previous customers?

Very welcoming toilets!

Did I say the road was straight?!

So here's the salt I mentioned

Various constructions to remind us that some scenes in the original Star Wars were filmed here

Same dried lake on a sunnier day!