We headed south towards Qibili, and drove across the Chott El Djerid, the largest salt pan in the Sahara (7,000 km2). The lake was virtually dry with small amounts of ground water trickling in during the winter months, which quickly evaporated. There was a salt production plant in the middle of the lake.
The scenery was impossible to capture on my iPhone camera. The flat landscape stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. It was both barren and beautiful with the muted colours of purples, pinks, beiges and greys – sprinkled with sparkly salt white. The road was a bit of a tourist route with souvenir stalls at the roadside. We met a convoy of friendly Italians on a guided tour in their camper vans.
Later that day the twenty or so Italian travellers turned up at the camp site where were were staying. They spoke little English and, of course, we knew very little Italian – (although my Italian son-in-law taught me his word for “mother-in-law” which sounded suspiciously like “sorcerer”) – so we didn’t understand much of what our fellow travellers were talking about but we enjoyed listening to the Italian voices reverberating around the camp site as they sat chatting under the palm trees watching the sun go down – transporting us to warm evenings in Italy with an Aperol spritz.
