ABOUT TUNISIA
What you need to know about your trip to Tunisia

Tunisia, the smallest of the Maghreb states, is located in the north of the African continent. It is separated from Europe by a distance of 140 kilometers at the level of the Sicilian canal.

With an area of ​​163,610 km², the country is bordered on the West by Algeria with 965 km of common border, in the Southeast by Libya with 459 km of border and in the North and East by the Mediterranean Sea with 1,298 km of coastline.

The Sahara desert occupies an area of ​​between 33% and 40% of the territory depending on whether it is defined by aridity or landscape features. The area of ​​agricultural land is estimated at ten million hectares, divided into five million arable land, four million rangeland and one million forest and garrigue.

Tunisia has a contrasting relief with a northern and western mountainous part, the Tunisian ridge, located in the extension of the Atlas mountain range; it is cut by the plain of Medjerda, the only watercourse in the country that is fed continuously.

The highest point of the territory is Jebel Chambi culminating at 1,544 meters. To the east, a plain extends between Hammamet and Ben Gardane, via the Tunisian Sahel and Djeffara.

The southern part of the country, mainly desert, is divided between a succession of chotts (Chott el-Gharsa, Chott el-Jerid and Chott el-Fejaj), rocky plateaus and the dunes of the Great Eastern Erg.

The coastline dotted with tombolos and lagoons covers 1,298 kilometers of which 575 are sandy beaches. Some islands whose Kerkennah and Djerba dot the coast.

The climate of Tunisia is divided into seven bioclimatic zones, the big difference between the north and the rest of the country being due to the chain of the Tunisian ridge which separates the zones subjected to the Mediterranean climate from those subjected to the typical desert and warm climate of the Sahara, the biggest hot desert of the globe.
Between the two, there is the warm semi-arid climate with characteristics common to the two main climatic regimes of the country.

Due to its geographical location, the Tunisian climate is influenced by various types of winds: the north coast is exposed to soft and humid sea winds blowing from the south of France, which causes a significant decrease of the temperatures and an increase of the precipitations , and the south of the country with warm and dry continental winds, such as the sirocco blowing over the vast desert and the plains, causing a sudden rise in temperatures and a clear drying of the atmosphere.

The country also benefits from a significant amount of sunshine exceeding 3,000 hours per year and reaching peaks in the desert south, near the Algerian and Libyan borders.
Temperatures vary according to latitude, altitude and proximity or distance from the Mediterranean Sea.

If it can be a few degrees below 0 ° C in the mountains of Kroumirie in winter, the maximum temperature often climbs to around 50 ° C in desert areas in summer.

Average annual rainfall also varies by region: from about 1,000 millimeters in the north to about 380 millimeters in the center and up to less than 50 millimeters in the extreme south.

Djerba, sometimes spelled Jerba, is an island in the Mediterranean Sea, located east of the eastern Tunisian coast. The largest island on the coast of North Africa, located to the south-east of the Gulf of Gabes, bordered by its eastern and northern coasts, Djerba closes the Gulf of Boughrara to the south.
The main cities are Houmt Souk and Midoum.

Formerly known as Gerbi or Zerbi, Ulysses would have crossed it, the Carthaginians there founded several counters, the Romans built several cities there and developed agriculture and port trade.

Passed successively under vandal, Byzantine and Arab domination, Djerba has become since the 1960s a popular tourist destination. It remains marked both by the persistence of one of the last Tunisian Berber dialects, the adherence to Ibadism of part of its Muslim population and the presence of an important Jewish community whose tradition brings back the coming to the destruction of Solomon's Temple.
The island is connected to the mainland, south-west by a ferry that leads from Ajim to Jorf and southeast by a seven-kilometer track, whose first construction dates back to the end of the third century BC. J. - C., between the locality of El Kantara and the peninsula of Zarzis.

The climate of Djerba is of Mediterranean type but with a semi-arid tendency because it is at the crossroads of the Mediterranean and Saharan air masses. The average annual temperature is 19.8 ° C, with monthly averages hardly exceeding 30 ° C or falling below 8 ° C.
In summer, the maximum average is 32.7 ° C but the heat in the sea breeze, while in winter the monthly averages are above 12 ° C.