Douz and Chott el-Jerid

Covered in a thin white layer like a snow-covered landscape, the Douz region offers the easiest way into the desert. Strings of dunes and graceful clusters of palm trees line the tracks carved out of the sand. The pale white immensity of the desert is there, within your grasp. Douz is inhabited by the Mrazig, nomadic farmers who even now occasionally leave their permanent homes to spend some time in a tent. Not far from Douz, the vast palm groves of Kébili and Deggache are lovely, shaded places to stay in the date palm forests. In contrast, the sandy villages of Sabria, Nouil, El Faouar and their little oases seem lost between the sandy desert and a huge expanse of the shimmering salt lake, Chott El-Jerid.