Club100 |The crossing of Chott El Jerid

Hi steemians,

Have you ever crossed the Chott el Djerid during a tour in southern Tunisia?

A lake of salt, sometimes water, sometimes mirages. You may have been told of an ancient inland sea or of entire armies engulfed in its vases...

A whole mystery around this wonder of nature, which I have tried to clear up over the years. If like me, you are curious, read on!

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The trip starts .. The crossing of the Chott El Jerid will not be long. Its immense expanse of sand, earth and salt combined will extend over eighty kilometres...

Leaving Tozeur, and still descending a little further south, we cross a vast desert area: the Chott El Jerid.

For many kilometres, there is nothing: it is just flat and white. No palm trees, no sand, no rocks. Nothing. In fact, we are in a vast depression, located nearly 20 meters below sea level. As a result, the entire sector will drain the waters from the area, and these waters will evaporate there. Similarly, during the rises and falls of the sea level, the water of the Mediterranean came to extend in the region, then evaporated there. As a result, the whole depression became a salt lake.

We therefore find a huge lake 100 km by 60 km, with 2 meters of water in winter, and dry in summer. A layer of salt covers the depression, it's really impressive:

In this desert region we were lucky enough to find craft shops that sell semi-precious stones and clothing specific to the Sahara called "Touereg".

The sand rose is an evaporitic rock formed by the lenticular crystallization of soluble minerals, and whose arrangement is reminiscent of the petals of a rose. The formation of sand roses comes from the evaporation of infiltrated water.

During this break at a vendor, he allowed us to wear several Saharan uniforms. Really he was very warm and kind to us, I let you see how beautiful these clothes are...

The Tuareg clung to their traditions for several centuries, especially in dress, as men always covered their faces when wandering outside. This tradition may be the result of the harsh conditions of the desert environment in which they live, but it has greater cultural connotations. The 'Litham' is called "Taklmost", as it is a shame for a man to show his mouth to others, and the length of the lid may reach four or five meters.