The warm spring
A palm-shaded pool for a swim.
Jérôme Prax jeromeprax — CC0 · Bellyglad — CC BY 2.0 · veroyama from Meguro, Japan — CC BY 2.0 · Makrem Larnaout — CC BY-SA 4.0 · PawNui — CC0
Ksar Ghilane is a small palm oasis on the edge of the Grand Erg Oriental, the Tunisian Sahara's great sand sea, often called the country's southernmost oasis. At its heart a warm spring fills a palm-shaded pool where visitors swim. About fifty families of settled former nomads live from dates, livestock and tourism. True to its name, ksar meaning fort, the oasis has one: Tisavar, a Roman stronghold on a rocky rise above the first dunes about 3 km north-west of the palms. An inscription dates it to Commodus's reign, AD 184 to 191, when a detachment of the Third Augustan Legion guarded the Limes Tripolitanus, Rome's desert frontier. The palm grove is far younger: its warm water reportedly gushed from a failed oil borehole after the Second World War. The classic visit pairs a swim with a camel, horse or quad ride onto the dunes at sunset. Tisavar, whose arched east gate still stands, is about an hour's walk across the sand. Tented camps and a few cafés surround the palms, and a memorial column a kilometre east recalls General Leclerc's Free French troops, who held this position in early 1943. The oasis lies about 150 km south-west of Djerba's Houmt Souk as the crow flies. A paved road links it with Douz, some 145 km away, and with Matmata, each about two hours' drive; ordinary cars manage it with care. Tours from Djerba often add Matmata or the hill village of Chenini, and many stay the night. Come from October to April: summer heat is fierce, winter nights cold.
A palm-shaded pool for a swim.
About 3 km north-west across the sand.
By camel, horse or quad.
Edge of the Grand Erg Oriental, south-east of Douz, Kebili governorate
Visitor guides put the water at about 35 °C, pleasant for bathing in every season, and suggest coming early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
Yes: tours from Djerba run about 10 to 12 hours, as the drive takes some three hours each way, per visitor guides. A night in a camp adds the sunset, the stars and an unhurried walk to Tisavar.