History of potholing in Tunisia

The first report on caves in Tunisia dates from 1880. E.A. Martel (1859-1938), considered as the pioneer of modern caving, was the first information source of the Tunisian karst.

The real caving activities in Tunisia started in 1920 and continued for many years. Many caves were discovered but the few reports existing at this period were lost with the destruction of the public archives at the end of the French colonization.

From 1951 to 1960, a caver division of the frensh Alpin Group was active in Tunisia. Since 1966, a dozen of Frensh expeditions had explored the mountain of Serj. Since that, potholing in Tunisia knew a retreat, except the establishment of some caving clubs which still more or less active nowadays, one of them was the caving club of Zaghouan.