Some 30km/20mi south of Kebili (bus services from Gafsa and Tozeur) is the oasis of Douz, home of the Mherazig Berbers. Most of them have been settled in the oasis for several generations; only some 20 families still live a nomadic life all year round between the oasis of Ksar Ghilane in the southeast and Regim Maâtoug on the Algerian frontier. Four groups of dwellings lie round the center of the village, with the oasis extending to the north, south and west. The village has no tourist sights in the ordinary sense. Thursday is a busy market day, and at the end of December there is a Saharan festival, with dromedary and horse races, a representation of a traditional wedding ceremony and performances of music and dancing.
Tourism
Hitherto Douz has been little affected by the tourist trade, but a huge new tourist complex covering an area of 45 hectares/110 acres, with between 5,000 and 7,000 beds, is now in course of construction. In addition to the positive results in the way of providing employment and bringing in foreign currency which are expected from a development of this kind there are likely also to be negative consequences - particularly conflicts over the distribution of the precious water supply and damage to the environment. A foreign visitor, consuming an average of 300 liters/65 gallons of water a day, uses as much water in 26 days as an inhabitant of one of the towns on the coast needs in a year, and that water is lost to agriculture. To make good the deficiency existing wells must be driven deeper and new ones sunk. As a result the water table falls, and still deeper wells must be sunk. And in addition the new developments encroach on the land of the oases and threaten the environment.
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