Zouarâa-Nefza: site description
Situated in the northern coast of Tunisia, in a region, which presents one of the most beautiful examples of old dunes and coastal forests in the Mediterranean, its pristine and wild look has been hardly altered by human occupation.
It is a sandy beach in between mountains, with relatively low and dispersed human activity, and a main village occurring down the valley to the East.
The fluvial valley of the Zouarâa wadi interrupts the mountains and flows into the sea in the Zouarâa beach, a well-developed beach characterised by coastline stability and well-developed coastal dunes.
It measures several tens to hundreds of meters in width, and is limited by back dunes extending over hundred km² in the region of Ouechtata.
Littoral sediment drift and transportation is calculated as 30,000 m³yr-1 near Tabarka and 67,000m³ yr-1 at Nefza-Zouarra (Nouri Soussi, L’etat des plages en Tunisie: Causes de l’Erosion et Moyens de protection, manuscript, Laboratory of Sedimentology and Oceanography, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis).
In the region prehistoric and historic traces are found, which may help to date back the dune age, being in themselves of archaeologic value.
The area, situated at the edge of human settlements, represents a refuge for many animal species typical inhabitants of the Mediterranean maquis and forest. It also serves as refuge for bird migrating across the Mediterranean to Tunisian and Algerian hibernating sites.
Ultimo aggiornamento
07.08.2024