The desert is endless sands, where the lack of water is felt the most. For its inhabitants, the only source of this precious liquid is the oases. In addition, oases can be amazing natural attractions that amaze with their splendor.
Oasis Nefta is not an easy haven for travelers; it is a whole city, which is also one of the most important religious centers of Tunisia. According to legend, the first spring that gushed out of the ground after the Great Flood was here. Now the Neft oasis is located on the borders of Tunisia and Algeria.
Oasis Nefta and Korbei is an example of the joint work of nature and man. In oases, water accumulates in underground porous rocks, and then rises upward through faults and cracks in the earth's crust. The man, in turn, has built an elaborate irrigation system that distributes water across the date palm plantation. This tree is simply irreplaceable for the locals. It gives them not only delicious sweet fruits. Palm leaves are cut, dried, and various kinds of baskets and other utensils are woven from them. Date seeds are ground and added to animal feed. Wine is made from the sap of the tree. When a tree stops bearing fruit, it also benefits - it is used as lumber. Among other things, palm trees perfectly protect other plants from the scorching sun. In such conditions, the local peasants grow various agricultural crops.
Shott-el-Shergi is located in the south of the city of Nefta - this is an insidious and salty lake. In summer, it dries up completely, the bottom turns into a petrified crust, in the center of which evaporated salt gleams. In autumn, when the water level rises, the lake fills up again. And in the spring, the lake becomes a swamp of salty mud, as the water level drops again.
Before the highway was laid across the lake, travelers crossed it along a narrow path lined with palm trees. If someone left the path, then he could die. They say that a whole caravan once disappeared here.
Nefta is also the center of the Islamic Sufi movement. At the beginning of our era, Ibrahim ibn-Adham, he founded this current, came to the oasis to study the Koran and pray to Allah. After that, Nefta became a shrine, where thousands of believers aspire every year. Today there are 24 mosques in the old part of the city.
Nefta is a desert paradise. This is a creation of nature, which man has turned into fertile gardens and made his shrine.
