The village of Korba

During the Punic era, Korba was already a prosperous village. Its rich agriculture and its typical architecture were highly advanced as attested by the ruins discovered in the region and which stretch back in time to the Carthaginian era. Korba was also provided with a direct road connection to Carthage, the empire’s capital city.

With the advent of the Roman era, Korba--then bearing the name « KURIBIS »--was one of the centres of Christianity in Africa. In 257, Father CIPRION founded a monastery there. One mosaic work, discovered in the vicinity of the village and representing CERES, currently adorns the Bardo Museum (in Tunis). With the dawn of the Muslim era, the region was to witness a large settlement by Muslims who erected on the beach a dome for the saint « Sidi Maawia ».

Location

Korba is within 1 hour of Tunis-Carthage international airport. It is a costal city with not less than 6 km of seafront overlooking the Mediterranean sea. Under its name as « Kuribis », it was the first Roman city to have had a municipal council.

The beauty of the site and the unique quality of the beach have led Club Méditerranée to site Club Med Korba in the village. For 20 years, the Club has operated in full capacity (1200 beds) and has earned worldwide reputation.

The Korba Lagoon

It is marked by the extent of its halophile vegetation (Arthrocnemum), as well as by a richly diversified mosaic of plant varieties all around this vast expanse of lush vegetation.

Thus, one comes upon Juncus and phragmites, on the banks, and upon Oyats and Retem, on the dunes.

One also finds there several species of amphibia, such as Buffo viridis and Rana saharïca, of reptiles, such as Acanthodactylus blancii and Chamaleo, as well as Chalcides, which is the most dominant and most frequent variety in this site, although it is considered as rare in northern Tunisia. This population, which is endemic to the Korba lagoon, is probably to largest in Tunisia.

Mammals

This variety includes mainly the mongoose and the weasel.

Avifauna: The lagoon hosts a sizeable population of water birds, comprising at least 5 species:

• Pink flamingo: (Phoenicopterus ruber)
• White stilt: (Himantopus himantopus)
• Ring-necked glareole (Glareola pratincola)
• Short-necked charadrius (Charadrius alexandrinus)
• Woodcock minuta (Calidris minuta).
  

It is also a habitat for appreciable nesting varieties, such as the mottled teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris), the dwarf tern (Sterna albifrons) and the hancel tern (Gelochelidon nilotica).