About 22 kilometres south of Tataouine, Ksar Ouled Soltane is the finest preserved ksar in southern Tunisia and one of the most dramatic structures you will encounter anywhere in North Africa. A ksar is a fortified communal granary — a place where Berber families stored grain, olive oil, and other goods through the long desert seasons, each family renting a locked vaulted chamber called a ghorfa. Ksar Ouled Soltane has four storeys of ghorfas stacked around two interconnecting courtyards, the upper levels accessible by narrow staircases built into the corners of the walls. The honeycombed stonework, worn smooth by centuries of desert winds and periodic flash floods, is extraordinary in the slanting light of early morning or late afternoon.
The site is still partly inhabited — a few families maintain their ghorfas and may offer you tea, which you should accept. The ground-floor courtyard is open access; a small fee is charged to access the upper levels. Go in the morning to avoid tour buses and the worst of the heat. The drive south from Tataouine through the rocky scrubland, with the Dahar mountains on the horizon, is itself worth the journey.