Chott El Jerid Off The Beaten Path

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Nearing the end of the Chott we turned off at a signpost for Dghoumes and about 2km in we followed a rough track to Sidi BouHlel. Here there are two marabouts pperched dramatically into the side of a mountain. These were the mountians we had seen in the distance crossing the Chott and they had looked pretty spectacular then. They were even better up close. Our car struggled on some parts of the road but we finally made it and parked at the foot of the mountain.

The initial reason we had come here was that the canyon here was used in fiilming Star Wars. It has been unofficially christened Star Wars Canyon by the film crew who shot the scenes where Luke was kidnapped by sand people and where R2D2 was ambushed at this spot. Even if you're not a Star Wars fan it is well worth coming here for the marabouts, the views of the mountains and the views from the top all the way across the oasis and as far as the Chott. I don't think there is any public transport so you'll have to make your own way here or hire transport.

We climbed to the marabout on the left - some of the rocks and paths looked just like what I remembered from the first Star Wars. A local family was visiting the marabout (I've no idea how they got here, perhaps they walked) while a group of farm workers came down the hill on a tractor and climbed back up the opposite hill at the other marabout, a climb that looked rather dangerous to me. We continued on up past the marabout until we were looking down int the canyon. It was spectacular. The views back to the Chott were great and the higher we went they got even better.

I would have loved the opportunity to keep climbing to the top and also to descend into the canyon but we left it at that and walked abck down to the car. Fair play to our Rough Guide for recommending this. we'd never have known about it otherwise and I've not seen it mentioned on any sights about Tunisia or any other guidebook.