The largest salt lake area in the Sahara

The salt clay sinks in the northeast of the Sahara are the largest contiguous salt lake area on earth. It stretches almost 350 km from El Hamma near Gabes to Biskra in Algeria. The Chott-El-Fedjadj begins at El Hamma and merges seamlessly into the Chott-El-Djerid, the largest of the salt lakes. To the north of this is the Chott-El-Gharsa, which reaches up to the mountains around Chebika. Millions of years ago what is now the Sahara region was covered by ancient seas.

When the mountains unfolded, most of the water flowed down to the Mediterranean Sea, only in depressions with no drainage to the sea remained water. This is how the chotts - the salt lakes - came into being. In later rainy seasons they were replenished with fresh water, which is now available in immeasurable quantities in the lower layers. After the end of the last ice age around 10.000 years ago, only a tough crust of salt, sand and clay remained due to the high level of evaporation in this hottest zone in the Sahara. In ancient times the Chott-El-Djerid was known under the name Faraoun, which is derived from the Egyptian word Pharaoh.

The Chott area is absolutely hostile to life, not a blade of grass grows on the salty plain, not a bird flies over the mostly waterless lake, there is an almost eerie silence.

Today table salt is mined industrially on the Chott-El-Djerid, but the people around the salt lakes have always obtained their own salt requirements there.

A peculiarity of nature can be found on the edges. Dissolved gypsum crystallizes into bizarrely shaped sand roses that can be up to a meter high. Selling adds a little to people's livelihood.

Often one can observe deceptive Fata Morganas on the white glittering surface of the Chott, which simulate nearby palm oases, surrounded by shimmering lakes. So it is not surprising that the salt desert has already attracted science fiction filmmakers. The Chott-El-Djerid already served as a filming location for the Star Wars trilogy.