|
Written by Gillian
|
Only the most adventurous travellers to Tunisia are likely to reach the coastal oasis of Gabes. All around this green town the Ksour region is a landscape of brown dusty hills only broken by a few green palms and some white-domed koubba buildings.
The town of Gabes was promoted by André Gide, the Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1947, who waxed lyrical about the ‘Gardens profuse with blooms, alive with bees, from which fragrance arose so insistently that they replaced both food and intoxicating liquor’. It was the town’s palmerie which covers 4 square miles (7 km2 ), and was obviously a welcome sight for Gide after his barren journey from Tunis.
The palmerie is certainly impressive and worth a stop for those who are travelling south. It contains a zoo and a crocodile farm along with some local village housing. Once it was the starting point for the horse drawn caleche drivers who did a considerable trade in giving visitors a tour of the town. All this has changed as Gabes has committed itself to the more lucrative industrial development of phosphates, sulphuric acid and fertilizer. Offshore oil fields are also being exploited here.
Gabes came to prominence as it controlled the Gabes Gap, used by caravan traders to pass from the coast to the inland through the mountain ranges. It was ruled by the Berber highwaymen who extracted gold, ivory and slaves from the unfortunate passing tradesmen in times gone by.
Gabes is of little significance today but it is a good base for those travelling to Kebili, Douz and Tozeur. It links the inland route from Matmata, with its underground dwellings, to the island of Jerba and the Libyan border. Although the roads are good, four-wheel drive jeeps are the most common form of transport in this remote region. |
