Three mountain oases in one day: the spring at Chebika running down its gorge, the mud-brick ruins of old Tamerza, and the rim of the Mides canyon, right up against the Algerian border.
On request
Duration
A full day out from Tozeur or Nefta; the departure time is settled with you in the quote.
Who it suits
Occasional walkers and families after big, honest landscapes — gorge, waterfall, canyon — without a long hike or a group departure.
Price
On request
A day in the mountains north-west of Tozeur, where water still comes out of bare rock in the middle of the desert. Chebika's spring in its narrow gorge, the collapsing mud-brick lanes of old Tamerza, and the canyon at Mides on the Algerian frontier. Each stop means a short walk over uneven rock, so proper shoes make the difference.
Pick-up
Collection in Tozeur or Nefta, from your hotel, guesthouse or rental. You can also set off from Gafsa, Metlaoui, Kebili or Douz: the drive is longer, so the order of the three oases is reworked with you in the quote.
The order of the stops shifts with your start time, the traffic and how long you want to spend at each place.
Chebika — the spring and the gorge
Chebika clings to the foot of the Djebel el Negueb, facing the salt lake, in a landscape of ochre stone with not a tree on the horizon. You leave the vehicle below and walk up beside the spring, between oleanders and young palms, to the pool and the fall at the back of the cleft. It is a short path but a rocky one, with uneven steps and a few wet sections. Above it, the ruins of the old village — abandoned after the floods of the late sixties — look out over the palm grove and the drop.
Tamerza — the abandoned village and the waterfall
Tamerza is the largest of the three oases. The present village sits down in the valley; the old one, built of mud brick, was emptied by the same floods and is quietly melting in the sun, lane by lane, its mosque and several walls still standing. You walk through the ruins when the ground is dry, then move on to the waterfall, which drops into a shaded pool and draws a crowd at weekends. The flow varies a great deal with the season: the place is worth it as much for the cool air as for the fall itself.
Mides — the canyon on the frontier
Mides sits on the edge of a narrow canyon cut by the wadi, which marks the Algerian border at this point. The old village, abandoned like the others, stands directly above the gap: you follow the rim, with no railing, a few paces from the edge, looking straight down onto the rock strata and the palms still growing on the floor. The ground is uneven, a mix of slabs and rolling gravel, so you go slowly and pick your footing. It is the last stop of the day, and usually the one that stays with people.
Not a great deal, but there is walking. Each site takes twenty minutes or so of climbing or picking your way over uneven rock, with a few steps and some slippery patches near the water. Nothing technical, no exposed section you are obliged to cross, and you can always stop halfway: the vehicle and the driver are waiting below.
On paper, yes, but the day turns into a race and the mountain oases are exactly what gets squeezed. We would rather run two separate outings, or reshape the loop so that the sites you care about most keep their time. That is a conversation we have with you at quotation stage.
The flow depends on rainfall and season: it is usually strongest from winter into spring and can be down to a trickle by the end of summer. The gorge, the cool air and the ruins are worth the trip regardless, but we would rather say so plainly than let you picture a torrent.
The Jerid in a single day, arranged around the light: Tozeur's palm grove and ochre brickwork while the air is still cool, the Chott el Jerid when the mirages are working, and Ong Jemel for the last of the sun on the sand.
Where the tarmac gives out: Douz market and its arcaded square, the first line of dunes on the Grand Erg Oriental, and the causeway that runs dead straight across the salt of the Chott el Jerid.
Four days that string together Tozeur's palm groves, the mountain oases of Chebika, Tamerza and Mides, the salt crossing of Chott el Jerid and the dune edge at Douz — nobody in the vehicle but your own group.
Give us the date, how many of you are travelling and your pick-up address: we reply with a quote drawn up for this day out.
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Every journey is quoted individually: no price is shown before your own quote.
