Discovery of Ain Drahem and excursion in the mountain

During my studies, I had an amazing course in university that was about vegetal biology and specialised in botanical sciences, it was therefore important to see the characteristics of the different plants and their medical vertues. Most of medications used nowadays are made from plants and have vegetal origin, for this purpose, our professor organised an amazing trip for us to visit a place that is very famous for its dense forest, very wild vegetation and wonderful landscapes. The circuit consisted actually of different cities to visit by a multiple destinations bus. We therefore prepared our backpacks with the necessary things like water, sandwiches, medical care and we put our sport shoes on, our hats that protect us from the sun rays and we were then prepared to this wonderful trip that promised us much discoveries and great adventures.

1- Visit to Beja

From the capital Tunis, all thirty students were participating in this event, we took the bus and we were really very happy so the atmosphere was full of singing, laughing, talking in different amazing conversations. Our professor was playing the role of the guide to give us informations about every city we would arrive to, about the different types of plants also existing in that area. After around one hundred kilometres of road, we could reach the first city which is Baja. A north Tunisian city characterised by so beautiful farms and vegetal diversity.
when we arrived, we were very excited to discover this marvel, the multicoloured flowers formed a multicoloured carpet and we could see from far away the farmers who plow the land and who raise cows, in fact this area is well known for its wealth in dairy production of milk and wheat harvesting. We then went to discover the fields of dense vegetation, we found medicinal plants such as laurels, basilica, fennel, mint, thyme and rosemary.

We then met an amazing farmer that was explaining for us his conditions of living and how we was waiting for rain to be able to perform his harvest, in fact, this area despite a very good quality of ground, it suffers from the lack of advanced materials to do the water spray of the fields. We also could taste special sweets from the city that are commercialised in all the country that consists of flour, eggs and sugar then the mix is fried in olive oil and decorated with a sweet mix of sugar called zlabia, this characteristic is very famous in the whole country.

2-Ain drahem

We then returned to the bus to continue our amazing adventure and we could see from the window the diversity of the landscape offered to our eyes, especially that it was spring so the weather was really amazing and perfect for a going out in nature. The flowers were amazing with various colours and the green vegetation wonderful in all its aspects. By arriving to Ain drahem, we were surprised to see the weather totally changing to a cloudy and windy weather. Actually the city Ain Drahem is located in very high altitude comparing to other Tunisian cities and also characterised by an amazing huge mountain surrounding the city. The bus was doing some crazy drifts while we were in the mountain that we really felt terrified from this view, the road was not spacious at all, it was consisting of many circular turns that never ended, we could barely see from the window because the fog was more and more intense each time the bus was going up in the mountain. By seeing in the window in the bottom of the landscape, we could realize that there was absolutely nothing, a huge gap was created between the ground and the bus, it was very terrifying to see but in the same time we were enjoying that ascent in so amazing way. We arrived finally to the top of the mountain and went out of the bus, it was really cold and the difference of temperature was highly detectable. We decided to have lunch in nature before going to discover the plants and the different treasures this region could offer to us.

Ain Drahem is characterised by a very beautiful vegetation we could really admire the weather and the wonderful landscape. We sit down in the grown to have our lunch in a very pure and cool atmosphere of peace and beauty. Actually not only this city is characterised by the highest altitude but also it is a destination where people suffering from chronic diseases usually go to spend their time in the pure atmosphere it offers, especially people suffering from asthma that want to breathe a pure air and to be relaxed in the view of an amazing forest and a so great landscape that we can only see in postcards. The city often offers other ways of entrainment and therapeutic support characterised by the various saunas that offers baths by thermal water and massages of the body, that assure to people suffering from arthritis a better management for their diseases and a better feeling in all aspects. On the other hand, people can visit the city to discover all its richness, its therapeutic virtues especially by the different plants used to prepare liquid medications for the influenza for example. Pour professor was also doing a great effort in explaining the origin of each plant and we could walk inside the wild vegetation, and we reached a place where the landscape changed and the plants were more dried. The funny story is that I received in my phone a text stating that the Algerian phone line was available to be used, it meant that we were actually in the border with the Algerian territory and that we could even receive their phone companies offers. We then decided to return to the bus in order to discover better the down town from inside. The city was actually very beautiful, the people were mainly farmers and had their own fields to harvest and they sell after that their production in the local market to have their monthly income. The city was really an amazing escape of people suffering from chronic diseases because it offers the purest air and the calmest atmosphere ever.

3- Visit to Kef

We then returned back to the bus to continue our trip after collecting many types of therapeutic plants and learning much about each city we visited. Our final destination was a city called Kef that is localised only forty minutes from the Algerian border. If we go by car from the city kef some kilometres we find the Algerian city souk ahras and as the Algerian dinar is way cheaper than Tunisian dinar, in fact one Tunisian dinar cost around 40 Algerian dinars, so people from Tunisia usually go to Algeria to buy cheaper things like clothes, perfumes, and especially people go to buy gasoline for their cars because it is way cheaper in Algeria than in Tunisia.
We went to discover the centre of the city that was characterised by much beautiful mountains as well that could be seen from far away, a series of homes with white facades were decorating the city in an amazing way and a big white mosque characterised the entrance of the city.
In the top of the mountain we discovered a historical construction with strong rocks that was standing there in an amazing way called kasbah, it was obviously a previous fortress constructed by the previous kings to protect the city from any external threats, the architectural aspects were exactly like those that I observed in previous cities like Benzart or Jerba. The city have also another characteristic which is the altitude, the fact that the city is located in a high altitude place demonstrated the reason why much snow drops on the city especially in winter times. Unfortunately there is no ski station near by this city otherwise the experience of enjoying the snow would really be amazing, may be for the future it can be constructed and add more cool and festive spirit to the city. The inhabitants of the city are also mainly farmers that is why we can find many fields of vegetable production and fruits as well, the Tunisian north is well known to be the best producer for vegetables and fruits in the whole country. We also could discover that every year, there was a festival of Arabic songs that was held and many famous singers could come to the city and transform it into a very festive city.

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