So it is written on the official UNESCO website in the tentative list that the Gabes oasis is unique because the palm grove would flow into the sea like a horde of little lemmings would throw themselves into the ocean?

I followed the advice of the tourist guides and went to the Kerouan bus station to take the "tourist" route of the oasis. There is indeed such a sign at this location. I quickly turned around and I completely agree with Stanislas, which I confirm: the authorities still have work to do to make the oasis a little more presentable. There are much more beautiful ones on the Kebili side. The place was so dirty and seemed so unstructured that I didn't even want to see if the shade of the palm trees really borders the beach... As the police say in case of an accident: move on! There's nothing to see!

Visited December 2023

Gabès’s got the Palme d’or for being the most dirty and polluted city in Tunisia! And there’s nothing to add ☹ I am just wondering what the municipality of Gabès would do if one day its oasis is nominated for world heritage list… How they bring ICOMOS members to the oasis without showing them tons of plastic and any other kind of litter covering every sing square meter of the city and every second square meter of its oasis…

When you look at old maps and compare them with the new ones, you’ll see that most of the so unusual and unique (whatever is hidden behind ‘unique’ in this case) maritime oasis is long gone due to the development of chemical oriented industries; there are still some fields, let’s say, 200 m from the Mediterranean coast north of the city, but they do not seem too impressive. To lose yourself in the oasis itself, you should head to the west of the city, and the entrance and road (paved) that I took starts just at the main bus station – just ignore the garbage on both sides of the road and under your feet and walk. Walking is the best way to explore the site, you can follow the main road all the way to the zoo and then a pretty nice canyon of Ras el Oued )probably outside of the possible core zone), passing by small settlements, farms, shops and cafeterias (!), big mosque, …