Nefta (rear RTL نفطة) is a city Oasis Jérid located at the south-west of the Tunisia.

Attached administratively to the Governorship of Tozeur, it constitutes a municipality of 20.308 inhabitants.

Wedged between the Chott el-Jérid and the Dune S of the the Sahara, its Climat is soft and dry in Hiver (20°C). On the other hand, the be is hot and the Sirocco often blows there.

The city was formerly a Roman city numide then and finally Arabic where it becomes a high place of the Soufisme. The Confrérie soufist of the Zaouïa Kadria, to which Isabelle Eberhardt is affiliated, is known in all the the Maghreb. The influence of this religious current remains present until our days. The city also shelters a hundred marabouts whose Sidi Bou Ali celebrates it which releases it from the ibadhites and converts it with the Islam sunnite in XIIIe century. Founder of an influential religious brotherhood, it is the second holy Lieu today of Tunisia after Kairouan. A Pèlerinage is thus organized around the zaouïa of this saint.

Called “basket of Nefta”, the oasis extends on 300 Hectare S and account nearly a half-million to date palms. It is fed by water coming from 152 sources. The architecture of its houses is typical: just like with Tozeur, the walls are made of brick S of ocher color. The roofs as well as the doors of the houses are manufactured starting from Bois of palm tree.

It is not by chance if this place inspires a big number of Cinéaste S which turns there of films such as the English Patient , partly turned in its streets, and celebrates it Star Wars whose sequences are turned in the desert not far from there.

The city is connected by the road to Tozeur and the Algérie (36 kilometers of the city). The International airport of Tozeur-Nefta is with 22 kilometers.

References

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