"Golden sand and blue sky" Henchir Hamrouni Chebika by gmg61

Golden sand and rocks, a perfect blue sky and the tall, slim silhouettes of the palm trees: this is Chebika when you approach it from Chott El Jerid or Chott el Gharsa.
Close to the algerian border, abruptely an oasis springs out in the middle of nowhere, under some hill burnt by the sun. Lying at the foot and slopes of the Djebel el Negueb, Chebika was once a Roman outpost and one of the mountain refuges of the Berber peoples.

View from the old village

You arrive at the new village, where the usual shopsstalls are waiting for the tourist. From there a walkway starts among the palmtrees and after a couple of curves you see a small river that even produces a waterfall: if you follow the path you'll arrive to the source if this short river that's the source of all the life around, and the reason why a village was built here.

The old village lies a bit higher than the odl one. It's abandoned because it was destroyed by heavy floods in 1969. Following the path after having reached the river source you can climb up to the hill where the ruins of the old village lie.

The old village

From the old village there is a magnificent view on the desert plain and the oasis. lso look carefully on the ground, because the soil is full of fossiles: this place was a seabed billions of years ago!