Throughout history the Kerkennnah islands, 20km off the coast of Sfax, have been a place of exile - the Carthaginian general Hannibal, Roman outcasts, adulterous Muslim wives and Habib Bourguiba have all been sent here at one time or another. Now this isolation is an attraction for tourists. Conventionally promoted as the poor forlk's Jerba, the islands are distinctively quieter and make an ideal spot for doing nothing for a few days or weeks - even energetic swimming is out of the question as the sea is so shallow.
The islands were first inhabited by he phoenecians, which have left enormous traces, that have just been discovered and currently excavated at the region of the El-hassar. The islands were then called Cercina. The name Cercina came from the nymph Circe who, according to legend, imprisoned Odysseus here because she could not bear to let such a handsome man leave. The Carthagenian general Hannibal have used the islands as a base in his wars against the Romans. Since then, the only historical events interrupting the islands'calm were their 1286 seizure by Roger de Lluria, the Catalan ruler of nearby Sicily, their 1335 repossession by the Hafsids, and an attempt to occupy them in 1510 by the Spanish. At the same time, the Spaniards held Tripoli and felt they needed a back-up base. They tried to take Jerba without success, and felt four hundred men on Kerkennah to occupy it. Their base was the old fort of "Elhassar".
All Spaniards were dispersed, slowly. Local dialect includes many words derived from Spanish. Examples are: "zapatos" which means shoes, and pronounced "sabbatt"; "la galleta" pronounced "gallita" and refers to a type of bread locally made that is as hard a crackers. Local fishermen use "gallita" bread when they leave on a five to seven day excursion. Today, many of the islands' people understandably find the desert island atmosphere less appealing than do the tourists, and depopulation has been a problem for some years. In the early 1960s a company called Somvik was set up to exploit the tourist potential and revive the islands' fortunes, but this has done little more than bring a small strip of low-key hotels, so isolated that unless you're staying in one it would be easy not to notice them at all. The government has been so unwilling to take care of the islands, due to unknown reasons. The cost of building hotels there exceeds far more that of building them on mainland. The other island Jerba has been invested a lot more. Happily, there are signs that the economy is picking up, and the island people remain some of the most hospitable in the country. American investors are eager to install 45,000 beds on a peninsula part of the islands called Sidi - Fenkel. However the government thinks the islands can't support such quantity of tourists. The beach in this part of the islands is the most gorgeous of all.
Map Counties History Tourism Transportation Fishing Weather Festival La Sirene
Festival De Poulpes The Dream Souvenirs News Invest in Kerkennah Catalogue Music