| ign="center"> | | | | off as a tourist ambush, though you won't find any of |
| Kerkennah Islands are a group of archipelago lying off | | | | the crowds of Jerba. Some of the traditional |
| the east coast of Tunisia in the Gulf of Gabes. The | | | | architecture is preserved, but it is generally run-down |
| Kerkena Islands are low-lying being no more than 13 | | | | and lacks the charm of the many different traditional |
| metres above sea level. The supreme Kerkenah | | | | styles elsewhere in the country. |
| islands are Kerkennah Chergui and Kerkenah Gharbi. | | | | Some travellers think that the Kerkennahs is the most |
| The Kerkennah archipelago has an area of 160 km2 | | | | enticing place on earth, tranquil and friendly. Others |
| and a population of 14,400 (2006).||Kerkena's main | | | | think that they must be completely nuts, that the |
| town, Kerkenna Remla (on Kerkena Chergui) has a | | | | Kerkennahs tip over in direction of ugly and boring. |
| population of 2,000. The population of Kerkennah | | | | I for my part, rank Kerkennah Islands as visually next |
| significantly decreased during the 1980s due to drought. | | | | to completely unattractive. But that may be because I |
| Kerkenna were unable to provide suitable irrigation | | | | am from Norway, a part of the world where islands |
| systems and, with clean water rapidly running out, | | | | and tranquility is found in abundance. And in a beautiful |
| many Kerkenna islanders were forced to leave for | | | | camouflage, too. Returning visitors to the Kerkennahs |
| mainland Tunisia, the nearest town being Sfax.||Kerkena | | | | seem to live all the year in a busy, big town |
| has a lengthy, but simple history. The natives of Tunisia | | | | somewhere in Europe. And if Kerkennahs give them |
| and Kerkenah originally settled there, but during the | | | | what they need, it is nobody's right to mind. |
| spread of the Roman Empire, Kerkenah was used as | | | | The low number of cars out here add to the quiet |
| a port and look-out point by the Romans, to keep note | | | | impression. Fishing and agronomy has seen little |
| of off-shore activity. However, after the collapse of | | | | development, and even today, fishermen use ancient |
| the Roman Empire, Kerkenareverted to the natives. | | | | fish traps made out of palm fronds, shaped into a |
| To this day, Kerkennah has been relatively untouched | | | | funnel, that ends in a trap. As the fish of Tunisia is |
| by modernization, and remains beautiful in its natural | | | | heavenly, try to watch this process. At the |
| state. | | | | Kerkennahs dream, mullet, sole, sea bass, rouget, as |
| Kerkennah is arid, as if desertification was imminent. | | | | well as lobster and octopus are caught. |
| Agriculture, therefore, is not a key industry of | | | | There are two main islands, plus 5 smaller ones. Taking |
| Kerkennah, the Kerkennah islanders rely more on a | | | | the ferry out here, you arrive at the least developed |
| self-sufficient basis, such as owning chickens and | | | | and least visited, the Gharbi. The two main islands are |
| goats for their own personal consumption. Fishing, | | | | connected by a causeway, dating back to Roman |
| including a lot of octopus fishing, is also a key industry | | | | times. On the larger island, the Chergui, you find the |
| of Kerkennah, where it is exported to mainland Tunisia | | | | tourist village of Sidi Fredj, the ruins of Borj el Hissar, |
| and other nearby countries. | | | | the largest village Remla and the small fishing port El |
| The archipelago of Kerkennah has to some extent hit | | | | Attaia. |