Tozeur Things to Do

This museum was withing walking distance of our hotel in Tozeur and opened late, so we decided to have a look.

Because it was so late, the museum was empty except for the employees. It was nice because nobody was in our way, but the problem was, an employee decided to give us a private tour.

Still, it was interesting. The museum is mainly about history and customs (hammams and whatnot).

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This beautiful rock formations are located in Chott El Gharsa lake. A Yardang (found only in deserts) is a unique sandstone feature, the form of it depends upon the winds, and sometimes they form very unusual shapes. There are different types of Yardangs depending on the size. The Mega Yardangs as these ones we saw can be several kilometres long and hundred of metres high.

The landscape and the Berber architecture inspired George Lucas to film their Star Wars films here. Even if you are not a fan of the saga, you will be impressed by the city constructed in this part of the desert near Nefta.

This Chott (the french word Chott comes from the arab word Shat) is one of the Tunisian salt lakes lying south of the Atlas mountains at the northern edge of the Sahara, near the Algerian border. A Chott means a lake or estuary, now there are no water on these lakes, they are depressed areas of dried mud covered with an incrustation of salt.

Chott El Djerid is a an impressive dried up Salt Lake on the way down to the South of Tunisia towards Sahara Desert. When you get out of the car (or coach if you go that way to see the lake) You will see small formations in the salt from where small streams and water flow has dried out and the salt has remained. The Lake was in our 3 day trip, and I would recommend it to anyone because it's well worth seeing.

At the actual lake you will see people trying to sell you some of the dired up salt from the lake. We was told by people we was with that its best not to buy salt from by the actual lake, but the markets round by where you are staying because they will sell it a lot cheaper.

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Noen of the many mosques we saw in Tozeur were open to us but they were all worth seeing from outside. I lost count of the number of different mosques we saw, actually some times I was probably counting the same ones twice as we walked round in circles. Many of the mosques are built in the traditional Tozeur style, with intricate brickwork.

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As we explored the old town we ended up outside a large mosque, where a local man stopped and told us all about the mosque and the surrounding area. He accommpanied us for a bit, then asked did we want to do a bigger tour. We said no as Ruth couldn't speak French and it was getting late though really I was worried we'd end up having to pay for it. He seemed nice enough though and didn't mind at all when we said we wanted to explore alone. Unfortunately I can't remember what he said about the mosque as he spoke French with a strong Arabic accent and I could only make out some of what he was telling us. But he spoke for a long time about the mosque and the nearby medersa so I guess it has an important history.

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The old quarter of Tozeur is one of the highlights of the town. Houses in this area are built in the traditional brick style unique to Tozeur and Nefta. Rue Kairouan, in particular is fascinating. The whole area is like a mini medina, and it's easy to get lost in the narrow streets.

We passed quite a few people taking tours with locals, some lovely arches, doorways and wall and a small museum run by local people. As we were only out for a stroll we didn't stop at many of these places, vowing instead to return at a different point. As we went deeper into the old town, tourists became more scarce and we saw more locals. Most of them were sitting in doorways or playing football in the street squares.