Near to the boarder of Algeria and Tunisia, there are a series of mountain oasis’s -- where natural springs in the arid desert and rock have produced pockets of lush vegetation (mainly palm trees rich with fruit) and villages have settled around them for the past 2000 years. We drove out in 4x4 to the remote villages, that have now been bastardised by tourism, local villagers that have lived in these areas for generations were moved on to state build villages near by to make way for tourism. The displaced farmer’s now make a living running tours, souvenir shops, and their children beg by the photo opportunities. Quite sad what our interest in cultures and subsequent tourism can do to fuck up thousands of years of simple living. But hey I had a good time, sorry folks!

Luckily our tour company were locally based (not a western travel companies organised event), and they sped us off to the hill tops to some of the old villages, which were untouched and unlived in for hundreds of years. They wanted to show us the real country not just the tourist hot spots. It really is like another world in these small pockets of greenery and simple civilisation in the middles of a massive desert that seems to be never ending in every direction.