Douiret, about 22 kilometres southwest of Tataouine, is perhaps the most evocative of the ruined Berber hilltop villages in the Dahar region. The old settlement clings to a steep ridge, its troglodyte houses carved into the cliff face and stacked in tiers above a winding footpath. At the top, the ruined citadel — a ksar used for storing grain — commands a panoramic view over the desert plain and the mountains of the Libyan border to the south-east. A small mosque, partly restored, sits among the ruins.
Unlike Chenini, Douiret has largely emptied out — the new village at the base has a few hundred inhabitants, but the old village is mostly silent. That silence is the point. Walking through the abandoned ghorfas and crumbling lanes, you get a sense of what this landscape looked like when the Berber communities that built it were still here. There is no entrance fee and no organised tourism infrastructure; bring water, wear sensible shoes, and allow an hour and a half for the climb and exploration.