Carol’s Column

Troglodyte development planning for East Rand

There are show houses and showhouses. On Sunday I spent the afternoon at a very different showhouse in Matmata.

Matmata is a small village in the southern part of Tunisia virtually on the edge of the great Sahara desert. And unless you have seen the endless yellow sands of that arid desert stretching as far as the eye can see and then further, you cannot imagine how vast, arid and utterly magnificent the Sahara is.

Here the sun bakes down fiercely causing even the hardy camels to wilt.

Round about 1 000 years ago, the Hammamades Berber tribe who inhabit this part of the world, decided to go underground to avoid the scorching heat and no doubt their enemies too.

They dug over 700 deep pits - most are still there - fashioned cave-like rooms from the earth and linked them with underground passages.

The underground warren of residences served as an excellent defence as marauders, when sweeping across the desert plains and rocky outcrops, failed to see the troglodyte Berbers snug in their air-cooled homes.

Today Matmata is a great tourist attraction in Tunisia and busloads descend on the village just to see the descendents of the original settlers and their troglodyte homes. In fact, tavern owner where we'd lunched, told us he'd served 400 guests that morning, and was expecting at least 300 in the afternoon. In Tunisia's off season!

The three hotels are built in modern troglodyte fashion with the luxury of electricity and running water.

Most Matmata home owners, fed up at being peered as like fish in an aquarium, have closed their holes to visitors to stop them from traipsing through.

But the entrepreneurs among them are making a killing which is why we found ourselves following Razi Mustapha down a hole into the dwelling in which he lives with his wife Fatima, his three children and his father-in-law. For 600 years his family has occupied the same caves and the accommodation hasn't changed.

The caves were remarkably cool if simple with no mod cons though we did spot a TV with a large aerial poking through the sand and clay.

We did the tourist thing and took the obligatory pictures of Fatima posing beside her doorway and duly handed over one Tunisian dinar (about R6).

One of our party, a noted mathematical statistician, Herman Jansen, observed that Razi could be earning about TD 700 (R4 200) a day. Which meant he would earn at least R1,5-million a year.

In the previous village we'd received an offer for another member of our party, lovely Jacqui L'Ange.

"1 000 camels!" the enthusiastic camel owner had offered for her. Because there was not time for the intense negotiations required in such matters, we'd declined and kept Jacqui with us.

Now it was Jacqui who suggested that a troglodyte lifestyle might well appeal to South Africans - especially those living in crime-ridden Gauteng.

Tunisia is virtually crime-free. Forget your bag in a restaurant and it will be there on your return.

The advantages of troglodyte living are numerous. Homes can be expanded at will, rooms enlarged if necessary. And best of all, security is minimal because nobody knows you're there. In summer it is cool, in winter warm.

As you read this, we are in the midst of bartering Jacqui "1 000-camel" L'Ange for an upmarket troglodyte dwelling with an olive and lemon tree.

We've worked out that if marketed properly, our troglodyte establishment could become a real money spinner. At this rate, in five years, we'll have the finance to build a similar troglodyte development on the East Rand.

If you are interested, drop us a line at Cave 36, Matmata, Tunisia, Africa.

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