Sfax Total Eclipse

Tunisia’s share of the shadow

The umbra reaches Tunisia having already crossed Morocco and northern Algeria, and by the time it arrives the geometry has improved considerably. The Sun has climbed to 56°, the path is running across flat, dry, open country, and the duration on the central line is comfortably over five and a half minutes.

Practically, 56° is a comfortable altitude to observe at. It is high enough that ordinary buildings, palm trees and low hills will not block your view, so you do not have to hunt for a clear eastern horizon the way you must in Tarifa. It is low enough that the sky retains some directionality during totality: the darkness is noticeably deeper towards the west, from where the shadow arrives, and there is a real chance of seeing the umbra approach if you have a long view in that direction.

Where to be

• The Kerkennah Islands. A ferry runs from Sfax across to the archipelago, roughly an hour and a quarter. The islands are almost entirely flat, barely above sea level, fringed with palms and surrounded by shallow water. Nothing obstructs anything. If the ferry timetable works for you on the day — and you must check it carefully, because 10:08:45 is not negotiable — this is the most atmospheric site in the region.
• The corniche and the port. Sfax faces east onto the Gulf of Gabès, so the seafront gives you open sky in the direction of the Sun and a long view across the water.
• The olive country inland. West of the city the land is covered in one of the largest olive plantations on Earth — endless rows of low grey-green trees on red soil, running to the horizon. It is empty, easy to park in, and visually unlike anywhere else on the eclipse track. Under a dimming Sun, olive foliage does something extraordinary with the light.
• El Jem. About 65 km north of Sfax stands one of the largest Roman amphitheatres in existence, built in the third century to hold tens of thousands of spectators, still standing to three tiers. Whether it falls inside the path and what duration it gets is a question for the interactive map — but if the answer works, watching a total eclipse from inside a Roman amphitheatre is a hard thing to beat.

The city, the medina and the day itself

Sfax rewards the visitor who is not looking for a resort. Its medina is enclosed by ninth-century walls that are still largely intact, entered through the Bab Diwan, and it functions as a real market rather than a souvenir bazaar: metalworkers, carpenters, spice sellers, olive-wood turners. The Great Mosque at its centre dates from 849. Outside the walls, the French-era town has boulevards, cafes and a nineteenth-century grid.

How the day will run

• 08:56 — first contact. Glasses on. Nothing is yet visible to the unaided eye.
• 09:30 onwards — the crescent narrows. Look for pinhole crescents under palm fronds and in the shade of the medina’s lattices; the effect is at its best in strong overhead sun.
• 10:05 — the light goes wrong. Colours flatten, shadows knife-sharp, an audible change in the behaviour of birds.
• 10:08:45 — Baily’s beads, diamond ring, totality. Glasses off.
• 10:11:35 — mid-eclipse. The corona 56° up in the east-south-east; Venus and Jupiter above the horizon; a ring of orange all round.
• 10:14:25 — third contact, second diamond ring, glasses straight back on.
• 11:31 — it is over. Two hours thirty-five minutes end to end.

Note that this is a mid-morning eclipse, which is a practical gift. You can be in position by 09:00 without having stood in the sun for four hours, and the worst of the August heat arrives after the event rather than during it.

Getting to Sfax

• By air. Tunis–Carthage is the country’s main international gateway, around 270 km north of Sfax. Enfidha, Monastir and Djerba also handle international traffic and may be closer depending on your route. Sfax has its own smaller airport at Thyna.
• By road. The A1 motorway runs down the coast from Tunis through Sousse to Sfax, and the drive is straightforward. Distances in Tunisia are modest, which makes it a good country in which to keep a cloud-avoidance option open on the morning.
• By rail. Trains link Tunis, Sousse, El Jem and Sfax along the coastal line. El Jem station is a short walk from the amphitheatre.
• To Kerkennah. Vehicle and passenger ferries run from Sfax port to Sidi Youssef on the islands. Crossing time is roughly an hour and a quarter, and sailings are busier in August than at any other time.

Where Sfax sits on the track

The shadow reaches Tunisia about twenty-five minutes after leaving Morocco, and continues into Libya about an hour after that. Duration and solar altitude climb the whole way east:

• Tangier — 4m 51s, Sun 38°
• Sfax — 5m 40s, Sun 56°
• Benghazi — 6m 09s, Sun 68°
• Luxor — 6m 20s, Sun 82°

Tunisia is the best-value total eclipse in the western half of the track: over five and a half minutes, a comfortably high Sun, a dependable sky and a short flight from Europe. See our guide to the whole path for the full comparison.