The ancient city of Ghadames, which was abandoned in 1982 when modern housing was offered to the inhabitants. The city was once occupied by seven tribes/clans, each with its own district and mosque. With no plumbing or sanitation, most residents say they were happy to move, but most still maintain their ancestral homes, which are elaborately decorated. The city is navigated by a network of covered adobe pathways and corridors, and there are also footpaths that connect most of the rooftop sleeping areas. I was told that the women preferred to use the rooftop walkways for their social activities. The underground nature of the city keeps it significantly cooler than the outside air during the daytime, and most people would sleep on their roofs during hot summer months. The town is surrounded by date palms and gardens with vegetables and fruit trees, but most of the current cultivation is fodder for livestock (sheep). The town once grew rich as an important stopping point of trans-Saharan caravans, but now relies on tourism 20-25,000 per year during the Gaddafi era, as well as generous help from the ministry of tourism (the minister was from Ghadames). The town was largely untouched by the revolution.
Here young men can be seen swimming in the pool of the town's freshwater spring.
- Filename
- STNMTZ_20120612_10054.tif
- Copyright
- ©2012 George Steinmetz
- Image Size
- 5760x3840 / 63.3MB
- Contained in galleries
- Libya Revisited
