Sidi Toui national park: haven for rare, endangered animal and vegetal species
Tunis , June 12, 2008 (TunisiaOnline)--At the door gate of the Sahara desert, some 50 kilometres distant from the southern town of Ben Guerdane , located in the governorate of Tataouine, the Sidi Toui natural park stretches out over some 6315 hectares .
Sidi Toui, which was created in 1991 in order to preserve the biodiversity of this pre-Saharan region, is yet another asset for Tunisia 's southern eco tourism.
After a long, painstaking task specialists have been able to reintroduce animal and vegetal species which used to live and grow in it, as well as balancing its eco-system.
Today, the park boasts some 200 varieties of mostly medicinal plants such as the ‘Periploca laevicata ait', a three meter- high vanilla smelling bush known for curing hypertension .
The park also shelters a variety of dorcas gazelles, as well as 32wild oryxes , ostriches, fennecs, desert foxes, horned vipers, scorpions and migratory birds such as the 'steppes eagle', and pilgrim falcons.
The visitor will also find an eco museum relating the park's history and providing information on the various rare species and plants that the park shelters.
Another of the museum's attractions are silex tools, as well as Berber, roman and Arab ruins, which date back to more than 10,000 years ago, and which were unearthed on the hills and mountain of Sidi Touil.
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