Chott el-Djerid

The largest salt lake in the Sahara, stretching roughly 250 kilometres across southwestern Tunisia in a shallow basin that remains dry for much of the year. In summer the cracked salt crust produces intense mirages and heat shimmer that distort the horizon in all directions. In winter and after rains, shallow brine pans reflect the sky in a vast mirror effect used by landscape and aerial photographers. A paved causeway crosses the lake bed, offering an unusual transit through an almost entirely flat, brilliant-white landscape.