Jugurtha's Table, Northern Tunisia, sits in a landscape lush and green all year with forests of eucalyptus, pine and cork. Visit Bizerte and Lake Echkeul en route.
Tunisia - Bizerte
Anxious as you might be to head for the hills you should not miss at least a day in Bizerte which, apart from its many attractions, is a good place to pick up a rental car. This is the largest city in Northern Tunisia. If you have time for nothing else, make your way to the Old Port - a tranquil harbour filled with colourful fishing boats and lined with whitewashed houses and cafes.
Also try to make time for a trip to Lake Echkeul, only a 30km drive from Bizerte. This vast lake is a world-heritage listed national park. Here you may come across mongoose, porcupines, jackals and wild boar, and the marshes surrounding the lake are home to more than 200,000 migratory waterfowl from all over Europe.
Tunisia - The Coral Coast
If Jugurtha is calling you will want to get on your journey to this extraordinary mountain.
The wild and beautiful Coral Coast the route you will take. This area is virtually untouched. There are a number of excellent beaches, Sidii Machrig is one of them and is renowned for its stunning stretch of golden sands. This is a tiny resort with straw huts to rent that sleep two. Very basic but also very cheap. Mattresses and bed covers are supplied. There are also some small bungalows for rent. There’s nothing to do here - it’s great! Rent a fishing rod when you are in Bizerte and catch your own dinner.
The road from Tabarka gradually winds away from the green north to the drier plains and on to the small village of Kalet es Senam from which to begin the ascent.
Tunisia - Jugurtha's Table
The mountain is named after Jugurtha, king of Numibia (present day Algeria). From 112 to 105 BC he fought a mighty battle against the occupying Romans, using the massive flat topped mountain as a fortress.
The first sight of Jugurtha’s Table is mind-blowing. It sits in the distance, squatting on the flat mesa - a gigantic brooding presence. It’s not a difficult climb to the top. There are steps all the way to the summit, carved from the mountain itself and worn down over the centuries. There are small animal tracks etched into the stone. It seems once the sheep found a way up they steadfastly stuck to the same route.
Jugurtha’s Table is Tunisia’s back door. From the top you look straight down into Algeria. Although it looks as flat as a pancake from the ground, there’s a surprising amount of stuff up there: quite a few substantial Roman ruins, arches and walls, huge Roman cisterns dug deep into the stone to catch the rainwater, and some small beehive-like houses which date from prehistoric times. It certainly is not the barren rock it appears to be. The surface is 800,000 square metres and in spring is covered with wild flowers. There’s a 14th-century shrine to a Muslim saint and eagles soar overhead.
Then there’s the south and the Sahara, the Roman amphitheatres, the ancient Berber villages and the bazaars of Tunis. But that’s another story.
More about Tunisia
Tunis - The Ten Best Things to Do
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