Berber Villages and the Rocky Sahara

Leaving the salt flats and sand dunes of western Tunisia, our next destination was the mountains to the east, or, as the locals call it, the Rocky Sahara.

After the death of Muhammad in 632 CE, his followers quickly spread out from the Arabian peninsula into Northern Africa and beyond. By the 8th century, they had conquered most of Tunisia. The local people, called Berbers, were no match for the invading Arab armies. Many of them, rather than fleeing, went into hiding in the mountains.

To avoid being detected, the Berbers built entire towns that were hidden into valleys and blended into the rocks. They also built homes that were dug out of the sides of the mountain and were nearly invisible. These dwellings are called Troglodyte homes and we saw many examples of them in the villages of Matmata, Chenini and Ksar Hadada.

The rooms of the Troglodyte houses usually had no windows and only a small opening in the front to enter and exit. However, there was often a central courtyard to allow for outdoor living. The courtyard was completely invisible from outside the house.

In the town of Medenine, we visited what was once a community granary. Within this structure, each family had a storage space for their grain and other crops, along with a living space immediately below. We saw several of these in Berber villages, with the largest one holding hundreds of these storage bins.

Another interesting feature we saw in several towns were election walls. To make it easier for everyone to vote in their local elections, pictures of the candidates are placed within the grid on these walls. To vote for your candidate, all you have to do is remember the number of the box where their picture appears.

Our final stop in Tunisia was the resort island of Djerba. Djerba is a popular destination for European tourists, with many Western-style resort hotels along its shores. Being in Tunisia, though, there is also a central souk where you can shop for many local arts and crafts.