Tunisia Guide
The far south
Of all Tunisia, the far south, the region that dips down towards the border with Libya and Algeria, is the most exciting and remote. In the Middle Ages, Arab travellers avoided the area because the tribes were notorious for their lawlessness and banditry. When the French invaded in 1881, they too gave the region a wide berth. It was many years before it was fully integrated, and remained under military administration until 1956.
Transport is the greatest problem you'll face in travelling independently. The road network is sparse, and joins modern French towns like Zarzis, Medenine and Tataouine, rather than the more interesting villages. Buses are few and the louage service is less dependable than in the north, so you may have to hire a taxi, arrange a lift or hitch. Transport is always more frequent in the morning and often dries up completely by the afternoon, so the earlier you set out the better. But there's invariably some way of getting where you want, and the effort is generously rewarded. Having your own vehicle massively increases the accessibility of the more obscure sights.
Highlights
1 Metameur A lovely old fortified granary (ksar; plural ksour) just outside Medenine, beautiful in the moonlight.
2 Memory of the Earth museum One of the country's most interesting museums, with fossils and prehistoric cave paintings.
3 The Maztouria loop A 48-kilometre circuit taking in some of the oldest, most interesting and best preserved of all the ksour, worth spending a couple of days exploring.
4 Chenini The most picturesque and most visited of the troglodyte Berber mountain villages, with its white mosque and rugged fortress.
5 Douiret The only one of the Berber mountain villages with tourist accommodation, and the only one that has been properly restored, with a subterranean mosque, ancient oil presses and, in the near future, a museum.