Shanini Things to Do

In some part of the village, the houses are made of two parts. One is subterranean and is another troglodytic dwelling (though very different from Matmata) but outside the troglodytic part, they have build with the local stones "tunnel houses" that extend the inner part.

When we visited Douirat, it was already half deserted. I have been told that now, it is completely deserted. When you look at this picture, you understand how hard was the life in such a surroundings, which was a perfect shelter against enemies but were everything, including water is in the valley and has to be brought up by women.

The oldest part of Douirat is the highest. It is impossible to drive to this part and you have to walk. No need to insist on the fact that you must wear good walking shoes ! From here, the landscape is superb and changes with the course of the sun.

Two women are leading camels loaded with baskets. They are going to a spring to do the laundry. If you enlarge the photo, you will see on the right a red dot. That is a place where other women hare are already drying their linen.
You can see the trail. It is not very good but a regular 2x4 car with strong tires, can do it, driving slowly and with caution.

Children have often to walk several kilometers to go to school. Here, in the background, the school and in the foreground four children waiting the time to go to school. When there are not enough schools, half of the children go to school in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. Tunisia is trying to improve this, but in the poorest part of the country, I am not sure that there is now school all day long for everybody.

The minaret of the mosque is topped by a coupola built on a four way arched terrace. It is from this terrace that the "muezzin" calls for the prier, five times every day, saying verses from the Koran. Now, there is usually a loud speaker.

This is the cemetery around the marabout. Grave are completely unsophisticated, as required by Islam. The grave of a man is signaled by one standing stone, the grave of a woman by two standing stones. This part of the cemetery shows only men graves. In the foreground, a freshly dug grave, covered with stones. Along the time, plants grow on the grave and the standing stone is the only thing that can be seen.

This is a close up on the small building in the plain, seen from the village (previous tip). Even when you are close, it is small. It is one of this numerous "marabout" that you find in Tunisia. On a previous tip, 5 of them could be seen as little dots on the picture. If you enlarge the photo, you will see that it is surrounded by the cemetery. Each marabout is built to honor a saint. In the largest one, a family lives and takes care of the marabout, leaving on the donations given by visitors.