Chott el Djerid

Chott el Djerid is a large endorheic salt pan in southern Tunisia that forms a broad, flat basin in the Saharan transition zone. It is one of the most extensive salt flats in the region and is noted for its white salt crusts and optical mirages.

Across the basin visitors encounter vast stretches of salt-encrusted ground, occasional shallow seasonal pools and a stark, open landscape that changes dramatically with weather and light. The surface can be hazardous to drive off established tracks when wet but is a familiar destination for guided excursions and photography.

The chott is a geological feature formed by evaporation in an inland basin that fills intermittently; it is not a permanent lake but a seasonal salt flat with saline soils and halophytic vegetation on the margins. The basin has long influenced local settlement patterns and routes through the southern Tunisian plain.

Chott el Djerid lies in southwestern Tunisia, spanning a large area of the Tozeur and Kebili regions in the Sahara’s northern edge, with the town of Tozeur and other desert settlements on its periphery.

• Seasonality: The salt pan floods seasonally after winter rains and otherwise presents a hard white salt crust that produces strong mirage effects on hot days.
• Film location: Has been used as a backdrop for film productions because of its otherworldly flat salt surface and broad horizons.