Beni Kedeche and Ksar Hallouf

A ksar (قَصَر) is essentially a fortified township, often situated (as this one was) in strategic positions on high vantage points. Ksar Hallouf was not the largest, but still of mind-boggling intricacy/complexity. It was also incredible to feel the efficacy of the shade and how comfortable they were in spite of the intense sunlight.

Our purpose for coming here, though, was not to visit the ksar but instead was to search for Uromastyx. As I said before, ksar are usually situated high up - and this one happens to be right next to some rocky cliff-faces which are supposed to be prime habitat for the Uromastyx.

One of the hypothesized influencing factors as to why we might be seeing less Uromastyx is the intense proximity to settlement this prime habitat exists. Standing on top of the cliff, around us are many homes and generally lots of settlement.

Maria scans the hillside for wildlife.

Maria and Doug had been here before, and historically, locals had (anecdotally) found Uros here in the past. We would use binoculars, or in my case my zoom lens, to look for them by just scanning hillside up and down, side to side.

Little pop of color

We spent a solid 45 minutes scrambling around the area, alas, we didn't really end up finding anything.

Our first glimpse into the Ksar from the direction we were coming from.

Coincidentally, we had spent quite some time discussing the lack of snakes they'd seen so far in Tunisia, and then Doug found one in the rocky structures of the Ksar.

Cute lil' guy :)

We put him back where Doug found him!

Homes in the Ksar were staggered like you see in the below picture - the stairs were often steep and narrow to get up into the higher sections, and those sections generally didn't go above two "stories."

Ksar Hollouf with grand views over the surrounding countryside.

The insides were usually deep with little alcoves for sleeping/eating/etc. You would also find vented alcoves for fires. It was so nice and cool within the strctures :)

A Doug for scale - this was on the flip side from the other group of strucutres. Between them was a large open area.

Many of the outward-facing homes had nice views of the surrounding areas

I think the Ksar can hold its own, but nonetheless I enjoyed exploring it very much. There was plenty of evidence of other human activity as well - kids might come up here to play at night, sit around a fire, etc.

Onward, we moved to that same spot we went with Mohsen out in the middle of nowhere to look for some specific GPS coordinates - coordinates of a recent Uromastyx sighting :D

Reminds you of a particular movie... Kinda looks like Tatooine, no?

So we mapped the coordinates and they were over a mile out and a mile back - we had our work cut out for use, but we wasted no time getting on our way.

Some lovely wild camels stoically, gracefully wandering through this pasture they call home. The coloration on the camels was a sight to behold - something I just wasn't really used to seeing.

This whole area really did have the potential to be primar Uromastyx habitat - the main issue with it was how out of the way it was, and its desolation. Generally speaking, if Doug, Maria, and Makenna were going to conduct research out here, it would be necessary to walk all this way each day which is not really worth it.

We would get these interesting gradients of shrubbery walking north

We made it to the spot with the proper GPS coordinates, but we didn't really find anything. We spent some time wandering and scanning, and also exposed some burrows (potentially Veranus).

Burrows often start under these types of rocks.

As a little treat for our efforts, on the way back we spotted Acanthodactylus!

Aaaaaand a burning vehicle.... It seemed like everyone was okay, we just noticed it as we were driving back home.

We got super close to it, it was incredible how warm our car got just passing by.