Tunisia Way

 Ichkeul Lake

Located in the governorship of Bizerte, in the plain of Mateur, to 75 km in the North of Tunis, the national park covers a surface of 12.600 ha. It includes three principal ecosystems: the jebel, which culminate with 155 meters, the marshes which cover approximately 30 km ² and the lake of approximately 90 km ². The park is an important wetland for the avifauna.

 It is indeed, one of the principal sites of wintering of the water birds of the Palearctic Westerner. This attraction is the fact of the characteristic of its laguno-lake system, from which a vegetation quite as particular rises which varies according to the variation of the salinity of water. The site was classified national park by decree n° 80-1608 of December 18th, 1980, after being already recognized, by UNESCO, of international importance. Named Site of the world heritage natural in 1980, and entered on the list of the wetlands of international importance (RAMSAR) the same year, this fragile ecosystem had also been retained like core of a reserve of the biosphere by the Office of the International counsel of Coordination of the program on the Man and Biosphere (MAB), in 1977. The international interest granted to this site is justified fully by its important ecological value.

The park shelters pretty already écomusée inaugurated in 1989. This place contains a teaching exposure which presents the various ecosystems, with their flora and their fauna and the human activities. Various more or less marked out paths of walk, make it possible to discover the park that it is while skirting the lake or while being inserted in the solid mass to go towards the cave to the bald people mouse. Surfaces of picnics, installed at various places, make it possible to lunch agreeably on the spot by admiring the landscapes. In the years 1990, a reception center and come to reinforce the structures of the park. It comprises in addition to one general-purpose big room, conference and projection, the buildings for the researchers, and a laboratory equipped for the scientific follow-up with the ecosystems with the park. At the entry even of the park, an adventure playground for children was arranged.