Better than the Grand Canyon - Tunisia

Special feature Tunisia : Better than the Grand Canyon

You don't have to drive for hours to reach it. Nor are you directed by signs or arrows, but they do tell you where to go to get pictures from the best angle. Just next to the canyon, built into a mountain spur, is a village which was not built to welcome tourists. Pitched up below on the central reservation are souvenir stands: bits of rock, pottery, lengths of material which can be worn as a scarf, a ?cheche' or a sarong. Just opposite is the Midès canyon, the setting for ?The English Patient.' A multi-coloured spiral dug out by the river, chipped at the top by erosion and painted in various shades from cream to deep red as a result of the wind; quite something to see just before the sun goes down. A natural firework, where the different layers of the canyon fuse. Once the sun has sunk below the other side of the mountain, the colours go out like a light?until the next day.

Camel in the middle of the desert

A Hint of the Atacama at Chott el Jerid