Photos of the beautiful ksar fortified ghorfas Tunisia, on the edge of the Sahara Desert – Ouled Soltane: Ksar Hedada: Ksar El Mguebl. Photos by Paul E Williams.
Ksar Fortified Ghorfas Tunisia
It took the nomadic Berber cross Sahara traders months to lead their camels across the Sahara, load them with luxury goods then return to the trading markets of Tunisia. The traders then sold their goods and bought enough grain got last their families for a year.
The problem then arose of what to do with the grain when you are a nomad living in a tent. It is not feasible to keep moving the grain and it can’t all be taken on cross Sahara trading trips.
The answer was to build fortified vaulted storage rooms known as ghorfas. These were often built onto of each other reaching 4 stories high. They were arranged around a central square with entrance doors to the ghorfas on the inside and a solid wall on the outside. This formed a fortified Ksar accessed by a gate.
Grain and other goods was stored in the ghorfas while the Berber traders took their camels across the Sahara to trade. If their families did not accompany them they had a safe supply of food.
The Ghorfa Ksars of Tunisia are made from mud brick and those that have been renovated make very attractive buildings. Renovations of several Ksars were funded by George Lucas who used them as locations in his Star War films.
The house where Luke Skywalker grew up is also a real underground hotel on the edge of the Sahara. It is not located on a desert plain though, this is another location in Tunisia. George Lucas called the planet Tatooine after the Tunisian district of Tataouine where the locations are situated.
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