Sabha

Overview

Sebha is the largest settlement in the whole of Libya not on the Mediterranean coastal strip. It is a hell-hole of a place of some 100,000 souls, many of whom are immigrants from all over northern Africa. It has a 'frontier-town' feel to it and is said to run along tribal lines with each ethnic or tribal community controlling its own area. It has a large army garrison, but neither the army nor the police intervene in most areas of town, allowing tribal leaders or gang bosses to mete out their own form of rough justice. Garbage and sand pile up in the wind-blown, pot-holed streets which are lined with decaying tenement blocks and small, depressing shopping malls plastered with peeling advertising signs. Ugliness permeates the whole place: this is about as bad as it gets. The Funduq al-Mehari, supposedly the most expensive in town, is almost as bad as its sad, sorry surroundings. You are quite likely to be served rotten chicken for dinner, and do battle in your room with a leaking seat-less lavatory, an ancient rattling air-conditioner, and electric wiring that will have you convinced the hotel will be burned to the ground before morning.

If you have no other option (to be strongly recommended), Sebha does offer a base to explore the Fezzan region and serves a stop on your way to Chad and Niger . If you have not organised your desert trip before arriving here (again, strongly recommended), you will be able to arrange...more

History