Tunisia's lakes and coastal lagoons are parched and overheating, endangering a delicate ecosystem and disrupting the vast flocks of migrating birds that use the wetlands as a way station between Africa and Europe.
Ariana lagoon just outside the capital Tunis has been left a cracked expanse of dry mud, its small islands where birds usually nest now surrounded by sand and bereft of life after months of drought and a ferocious heatwave.
Jutting into the Mediterranean towards Sicily, Tunisia is on the main migration route for hundreds of bird species and its large wetlands are a haven for wading birds that journey north across the Sahara or south from the Arctic and northern Europe. Until a rare June rainstorm, Sijoumi had been mostly empty. The waders and other birds that nest amid the reeds, water and mud where wild boar forage by dawn risk losing their usual seasonal home.
However, while this summer has been particularly bad, it follows a longer trend that had already had a clear impact on birds.
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