Chenini sits on a ridge like something the hill has grown. Flat-roofed houses and cave dwellings climb the slope in steps, the colours are the same pale ochre as the rock, and above the village a white-domed mosque stands on the crest, easy to spot from the road below.
This is one of the best-known Berber villages of the Dahar, and a place where the old way of life is still partly visible. Many of the houses are cut into the rock itself, with rooms opening off narrow lanes, and the older part of the village includes granaries and an underground mosque. The people here have a reputation for adapting to hard terrain, and their language, Tamazight, has survived in small communities of the south for centuries. Some families still live in the village; others have moved to newer houses down the hill, leaving the old quarter to visitors and a few stubborn residents.
A short distance away is Douiret, another hill village, with its own hill-top ksar and a handful of restored guesthouses in former cave dwellings. Both are on the ridge that gave the district its name, and the walk between them offers views across a landscape of dry valleys and distant escarpments.
The ride is a pleasure, if a quiet one. The road winds through low hills, with the road surface generally good and the bends tight enough to keep you concentrating but rarely difficult. Heat is the main enemy in summer, and wind can fill the air with dust, so a clear visor and a bottle of water are useful companions. Goats cross at their own convenience, and locals are happy to wave you on or warn you of what lies ahead.
The village has a few small cafés and shops that cater to visitors, but Tataouine, a lively town of more than sixty thousand, offers the main supplies, fuel and accommodation. Come for the light in the early morning or late afternoon, when the stone glows and the shadows are long.