The Galite Islands (

Tunisian Arabic Tunisian Arabic, or simply Tunisian, is a set of dialects of Maghrebi Arabic spoken in Tunisia. It is known among its over 11 million speakers aeb, translit=Tounsi/Tounsiy, label=as, تونسي , "Tunisian" or "Everyday Language" to distingu ...

: جالطة ''Jalita'', French: ''La Galite'',

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

: ''Isola della Caletta'') are a rocky group of islands of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

origin that belong to

Bizerte Governorate Bizerte Governorate ( ar, ولاية بنزرت ' ) is the northernmost of the 24 governorates of Tunisia. It is in northern Tunisia, approximately rectangular and having a long north coast. It covers an area of 3,750 km² including two lar ...

, northern

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. They are located northwest of

Cape Serrat Cape Serrat (french: Cap Serrat; ar, رأس سيراط) is a cape situated in western Bizerte Governorate in northwest Tunisia. The cape is located between the cities of Sejnane and Tabarka. References {{Tunisia-geo-stub Serrat Serrat is a s ...

, the closest point of the Tunisian mainland coast, from which they are separated by the Galite Channel, and almost north-by-northeast of the city of

Tabarka Tabarka ( ar, طبرقة ') is a coastal town located in north-western Tunisia, close to the border with Algeria. Tabarka's history is a mosaic of Berber, Punic, Hellenistic, Roman, Arabic, Genoese and Turkish culture. The town is dominated by ...

, and south of Cape Spartivento in the south of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. The islands of the group sit atop ''Banc de Galite''. IlesGaliteAncient

Main island

The centrally situated main island La Galite is long east-west, and up to wide in the east. The area of the group is , most of which La Galite accounts for. The main island has 200m high cliffs and is accessible only in the south on the bay Escueil de Pasque. A few fishermen's families live on the island. The highest peak at 391m is Bout de Somme (Grand Sommet), which is topped by a yellow lookout tower. Piton de l'Es', a prominent cone-shaped peak close to the most southeasterly point of the island, is 360m high.

Other islands

Besides the main island La Galite, there are two groups of islets or rocks, which are all inaccessible. The Galitons de l'Ouest, or West Galitons, are southwest of the main island. They consist of the second largest and third largest islands of the Galite Islands, 158m high Le Galiton (area 0.4 km²) and 137m high La Fauchelle, immediately southeast of Le Galiton. On the peak of Le Galiton is a lighthouse, 14m high. In 1980, the Ministry of Agriculture declared Le Galiton a natural reserve, to protect the

Mediterranean monk seal The Mediterranean monk seal (''Monachus monachus'') is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. , it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Ae ...

s. The smaller Galitons de l'Est, or East Galitons, also called Les Chiens or The Dogs, are at a distance between 1 and northeast of the main island. This group consists of three rocks, which are, from north to south, Gallo, Pollastro and Gallina (meaning "rooster", "chicken" and "hen" in Italian). Gallo is the largest of the three and is 119 m high. About to the southwest are the

Sorelle Rocks The Sorelle Rocks (also called the Sorelle Reef and the Sorelli Rocks) are two submerged rocks approximately west of the Galite Islands of Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption ...

, or Écueil des Sorelles, which consist of two shallow rocky patches. A lighted buoy, fitted with a

racon Radar beacon (short: racon) is – according to ''article 1.103'' of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) ITU Radio Regulations (RR) – defined as "A transmitter-receiver associated with a fixed navigational mark which, when trig ...

, is moored to the western patch, and another buoy to the eastern patch. A two meters high concrete block stands on the western patch. to the north of the group is the submerged Banc des Mazzarilles, with depths between 21 and 49 meters. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, La Galite hosted a small Italian naval base. Salvatore Todaro ( it), an

war hero, died on La Galite in December 14, 1942. Tunisian independence leader

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...

was exiled to La Galite by the French colonial authorities from May 21, 1952 through May 20, 1954.

Natural history

The islands have been recognised as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because they support populations of

Audouin's gull Audouin's gull (''Ichthyaetus audouinii'') is a large gull restricted to the Mediterranean and the western coast of Saharan Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''ikhthus'', "fish", and ''aetos'', "eagle", and t ...

Eleonora's falcon Eleonora's falcon (''Falco eleonorae'') is a medium-sized falcon. It belongs to the hobby group, a rather close-knit number of similar falcons often considered a subgenus ''Hypotriorchis''. The sooty falcon is sometimes considered its closest re ...

s and

Sardinian warbler The Sardinian warbler (''Curruca melanocephala'') is a common and widespread typical warbler from the Mediterranean region. Like most ''Curruca'' species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male has a grey back, whitish underpart ...

Notes and references

External links

{{commonscat-inline Islands of Tunisia Important Bird Areas of Tunisia Important Bird Areas of Mediterranean islands Seabird colonies