Charfia fisheries
Palm-frond fish traps in the shallows.
MenzM — CC BY-SA 4.0 · BAKRAOUI Bilel — CC BY-SA 4.0 · MenzM — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Noomen9 — CC0 · El Golli Mohamed — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Kerkennah Islands are a flat archipelago in the Gulf of Gabès, about 20 km off Sfax and nowhere higher than 13 metres. A 600-metre causeway joins the two inhabited islands, Gharbi and the larger Chergui, home to about 15,400 people (2024 census); Remla is the main town. Known in antiquity as Cercina, the islands appear in Livy: fleeing Carthage in 195 BC, Hannibal landed here, feasted the merchant captains in port under awnings made from their own sails, and slipped away by night. The charfia, a fixed fishery of palm fronds that steers fish into traps on the ebbing tide, joined UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2020. Farhat Hached, founder of the UGTT trade union federation, was born at El Abassia in 1914. Sparse palm groves and salt flats cover the land. Charfia fences line the shallow sea from the autumn equinox to June, and octopus, caught in clay jars from autumn to spring, is hung out to dry. Near Sidi Fredj stand the crumbling walls of Borj el Hissar, a listed fort on the presumed site of ancient Cercina; flamingos, spoonbills and cormorants winter on the shores. Sonotrak car ferries sail roughly every two hours from Sfax's maritime station, 1 km from the Medina of Sfax, to Sidi Youssef on Gharbi in about an hour. The main road runs about 40 km from there to El Kraten in the north-east, so a car or a hired bicycle helps. Hotels cluster at Sidi Fredj, by the few sandy beaches; a day trip works, but a night is more relaxed.
Palm-frond fish traps in the shallows.
Fort ruins where Cercina is thought to have stood.
Caught in clay jars, autumn to spring.
Kerkennah archipelago off Sfax; ferry landing at Sidi Youssef
Yes. The ferries carry cars for about 6 TND on the posted tariff, and a car place can be booked ahead on the operator's website at a higher fare, which is wise in July and August, when islanders living elsewhere come home for the summer.
Yes, though it is a ruin in poor repair: in 2024 parts of its walls had collapsed and there were no signs or explanations on site. Keep off the crumbling masonry and wear sturdy shoes.