Khazroun, Sedghiene and Guecheine are the kinds of names that appear on a heritage dossier and nowhere else, and they refer to zones of the island's countryside that make up one part of the World Heritage listing. Djerba was inscribed by UNESCO in 2023 as a cultural landscape, and the list names several zones, each a patch of the traditional pattern in good condition.
They lie in the east-central part of Djerba, a few kilometres from the town of Midoun, in a flat, dry, farmed landscape with sandy soil. The pattern is the same everywhere: a scatter of family compounds, each walled, each with its well and cistern, olive trees, palms, small fields for barley and vegetables, and sometimes a small private oratory. Lanes wind between the walls, edged by prickly pear and agave, and every few hundred metres stands a whitewashed mosque or a shrine to a local holy man, a marabout, with a small dome.
What strikes the visitor is how quiet and orderly it all is. There are no big towns in the countryside, only a loose weave of homes and gardens, held together by shared water, shared markets and shared mosques. In the past, the men of Djerba often migrated to work as traders in other parts of Tunisia and abroad, and women ran the farms, which helped to shape the island's culture. The traditions of weaving, pottery and olive oil, along with the Berber language, which is still spoken by some communities, survive in the island's villages.
For riding, the lanes are flat and slow, shared with scooters and the occasional goat. Midoun has fuel and food, and the island is small enough that nothing is far away. Sand blows across the tarmac, so take care on bends. Summer heat is intense, and August nights stay warm. Spring and autumn are better.
Try the island's lamb, slow-cooked with spices, and the sweet pastries made with dates and honey. A cup of tea, thick with sugar and mint, is the standard welcome.