Discovering the Tozeur oasis

Situated on the edge of the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert, Tozeur is the largest of the five oases of the Jerid, a vast desert region that includes part of Algeria and Libya. It's not quite sand dunes yet, but the Tozeur oasis still opens onto a desert landscape. The capital of the eponymous governorate, Tozeur was built around its palm grove, the largest and most beautiful in Tunisia, with 400,000 palm trees! The town lies 300km west of Djerba and 450km south-west of Tunis. Its medina, with its raised brickwork, is unique in Tunisia. This is the Ouled-el-Hadef district. If you love art and culture, head to Planet Oasis. This cultural centre houses a huge Berber tent where traditional banquets are held, as well as several galleries. Every evening, an amphitheatre hosts a sound and light show retracing the history of Tozeur from ancient times to the present day.

For its brick-built medina, in the old Ouled el Hadef quarter, and of course for its palm grove with its 400,000 palm trees! You can explore it by bike with a guide. Don't miss the Chak Wak trail in the palm grove, an odyssey through the evolution of species, from dinosaurs to man, the great religions and ancient Tunisian history. Also in the palm grove is the Eden Palm museum, which houses a conservatory garden. Tozeur is also home to a superb museum, the Dar Cheraït, next to the eponymous palace, five minutes from the airport and the town centre, in the tourist area overlooking the Tozeur oasis. Here you can admire Tunisian and Ottoman works of art dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

Set on the imaginary planet Tatooine in the film, it is actually in the middle of the desert, 38 kilometres from Tozeur. Watched over by guards, the sets are well maintained by the Tunisian Tourist Office. After the first film was shot in 1977, the site was used again for Episode II and Episode III, 20 years later. The same goes for Sidi Bouhlel, 20km north-east of Tozeur. These spectacular gorges were used for a number of scenes in Episode IV, and especially the mythical module race scene in Episode I, The Phantom Menace, which earned the site the nickname "Star Wars Canyon".

Chotts are vast stretches of salt water that are as surprising as they are bewitching. At 5,000 km², el Jérid is not only the most famous of Tunisia's chotts, but also the largest in the whole of the Maghreb. It stretches for around a hundred kilometres from east to west, a handful of kilometres south of Tozeur. The horizon-less expanse of the arid Chott el Jerid is a veritable sea of salt. A spectacular site that also features in the Star Wars saga. The exterior shots of Owen Lars' farm were filmed here. Chott el Jerid is said to be the mythical Lake Triton, the birthplace of the goddess Athena in Greek mythology. It is the rare rains that irregularly feed the chotts. Mirages are the magic of the chott. On the road from Kebili to Tozeur, it is not uncommon to catch a glimpse of an oasis receding into the distance as you approach, or the silhouettes of a Bedouin caravan.

Where do you sleep at Chott el Jerid?

Opening in December 2019 in southern Tunisia opposite the Chott El Jerid near Tozeur, the Anantara Tozeur is a top-of-the-range resort that plunges visitors into an atmosphere of the Thousand and One Nights. It's not cheap, but it's the price of luxury! Every detail highlights Tunisia's rich heritage: marble floor patterns, inlaid wooden screens, traditional lighting, works of art and handicrafts. The lobby pays homage to Moorish architecture with a series of keyhole arch-shaped spaces, an infinity water feature and a chandelier. The veranda overlooks the three swimming pools, with the magical backdrop of the Chott el Djerid.

The Red Lizard is one of the excursions not to be missed during a stay in Tozeur. This train with half a dozen carriages was a gift from the French consul to the bey of Tunis at the beginning of the 20th century. Furnished as it was originally, with lounges featuring leather or tapestry armchairs and a wood-panelled bar carriage, this luxurious little Belle Époque train travels along the line that leads to a phosphate mine from Métlaoui station. The Lézard Rouge crosses the gorges of the Oued Selja in the foothills of the Atlas mountains, in a breathtaking Wild West setting of striated rock and streams of green clay. These sumptuous canyons are otherwise inaccessible.

An hour's drive north-west of Tozeur, after crossing the el-Gharsa chott (salt lake), the mountain oasis of Chebika clings to the side of desolate rocks. Made of stone and earth, the houses have been abandoned for more modern breeze-block constructions below. Water, in the form of springs, is an essential element in the establishment of any Tunisian village, enabling a palm grove to flourish at the foot of the ancient houses of Chebika. As the sun sets, the contrast between the green tops of the palm trees and the surrounding ochre peaks is striking.

Just 15 km south-west of Chebika, not far from the border with Algeria, lies Tamerza, a fortified village on the banks of a wadi at an altitude of 600 metres. The immense bed of this watercourse, which dries up except in winter, is strewn with pebbles that show just how powerful the river can be when the rain falls suddenly on the massif. The rest of the year, this Berber village takes on the colours of the landscape: pink ochre in the morning, pewter dust at midday, glowing red at dusk. A magical moment: a 5,000-candle dinner under a starry sky in the ruins of the Berber village!

The setting for the desert scenes in the film The English Patient, the Midès canyon features astonishing layers of stratified rock shaped by erosion and the impetuous course of the wadi that winds its way between the stone walls. Ochre and pink, this mineral landscape blazes at sunset, making the contrast between the bare rock and the meagre clumps of palm and acacia vegetation even more striking. An enchanting site some sixty kilometres north-west of Tozeur.