Tataouine, Chenini and the Ksour
A day among the fortified granaries of the south-east, in a vehicle kept for your group alone: Ksar Ouled Soltane, Chenini along its crest, near-silent Douiret and Tataouine itself.
Private excursion
Matmata, Tamezret and Toujane
Three villages, three ways of living on a dry mountain — Matmata below ground, Tamezret on its ridge, Toujane above its gorge — in a vehicle kept for your group alone.
On request
At a glance
Duration
A full day, somewhere between eight and ten hours depending on where you start and how long each village holds you.
Who it suits
Travellers who like vernacular architecture and bare landscape, photographers, families whose children are happy on their feet. The lanes of Tamezret and the terraces of Toujane ask for a steady foot, nothing more.
Price
On request
A day in the Berber south, out of Djerba, Zarzis or Gabes. Matmata, where the houses are dug down into soft rock and open onto a courtyard of sky; Tamezret, a stone village on its ridge with a terrace that looks clean across the Dahar; then Toujane on its slope, where the looms are still working. How long you spend in each is up to you.
Pick-up
From Djerba, Zarzis, Gabes or Medenine: we collect you at your hotel, guesthouse or a private address, at a time agreed with you in the quote. From Douz, Tozeur, Tataouine or the Sahel coast: the drive is longer, so we reshape the day with you before anything is confirmed.
How the day unfolds
The order of the stops shifts with your start time, the traffic and how long you want to spend at each place.
Matmata — the pit dwellings
The road leaves the plain behind Gabes and climbs into grey, rounded, almost lunar country. From the tarmac Matmata shows nothing at all: the houses are dug downwards. You walk in along a passage cut through rock and come out in an open courtyard, with rooms and store chambers hollowed all around it and often a fig tree in the middle. Some courtyards are still family homes, others open their door to visitors. Far better to see one properly than three at a run.
Tamezret — the ridge village and its terrace
A quarter of an hour further up, Tamezret is built of stone along the ridge: narrow lanes, covered passageways that hold the cool, a small museum of Berber life, and Chelha still audible in everyday conversation. From the café terrace the view runs out over the Dahar plateaux and, on a clear day, as far as the pale haze above the chott. This is where you sit down with no agenda for as long as a pot of tea lasts.
Toujane — the gorge and the looms
Back east, then down to Toujane: two stone hamlets split by a ravine, houses gripping the slope, dry-stone terraces stacked the length of the hillside. The looms here are still in use, the wool spun on site, the margoums and kilims carrying southern patterns. The road dropping back towards Medenine gives the last wide view of the day before we return you to your drop-off point.
What travelling privately changes
- The vehicle is yours alone: no other passengers to collect, no dawn circuit of other people's hotels.
- The start time and the order of the villages are agreed with you in the quote, then adjusted on the day for the heat and your own appetite.
- We stop where stopping is worth it: a pass above Matmata, a herd crossing the road, a view that opens all at once after a bend.
- Naceur Neffeti has worked in transport and travel since 1987 and has driven travellers since 2007. He speaks Arabic, French, English, German, Italian and Spanish.
- A licensed guide can come along for the day. That is a separate service from the driving, arranged in advance on request.
What is included, what is not
Included
- A private vehicle and driver for the whole day.
- Fuel, tolls and parking.
- Cold water on board during the drives.
- Collection at your hotel, guesthouse or a private address, and return to the agreed drop-off point.
- Waiting time while you visit: the vehicle stays with you, parked in the shade wherever there is any.
Not included
- Meals and drinks.
- Entry fees for the pit houses that open to visitors, the Tamezret museum and any site that charges admission.
- The services of a licensed guide, offered as an option and booked in advance.
- Craft purchases, including the rugs and margoums from the Toujane workshops.
- Personal spending, tips and travel insurance.
Practical advice
- Closed shoes with real grip: you go down into the Matmata courtyards through rock passages, and both Tamezret and Toujane are walked on loose stone.
- In summer the Dahar turns properly hot from midday to mid-afternoon. We start early, take a genuine break in the shade and go out again when the light softens.
- Shoulders and knees covered near village mosques and marabout shrines — it is simply what is done here.
- Some of the Matmata houses are lived in. Ask before photographing a courtyard or a person, and accept that the answer is sometimes no.
- A chèche or hat, sun cream, and a little cash: there is not always an open shop between one village and the next.
Your questions
Can you actually go inside a cave house?
Yes. Several Matmata families open their courtyard to visitors and the entrance is settled on the spot, directly with the household. You are given time to look at the sleeping rooms, the kitchen and the grain stores. Nobody expects you to buy anything, and if you would rather see a quieter courtyard, say so — your driver knows where to go.
When is the best time of year for this day?
From October to April the light is clean and walking is comfortable right through the day; winter mornings up here are genuinely cool, so bring a jacket. In summer the day is built around the heat: an early start, a long shaded break in the middle, then out again late afternoon. The shape of the hours is agreed with you in the quote.
Is a guide included?
No. Your driver drives, takes you to the right places and talks about the road and the region, but he does not commentate the sites. If you want a licensed guide for the day or for one particular visit, mention it in your enquiry and we will arrange it as an option alongside the driving.
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