SW RECCE SITE FOUND: KALA’A GUERMESSA

10 February 2021

Advancing the effort to identify all Star Wars franchise scouted sites in Tunisia, Galaxy Tours CEO (Davin Anderson) in close cooperation with Tataouine-based freelance photographer Mohamed Ghdiri discovered on 10 February 2021 a “lost” Star Wars scouted site in the Tataouine region. The search to identify Kala’a Guermessa as a franchise recce site spanned more than 12 months.

Site: Kala’a Guermessa
GPS: 32.986201, 10.251390
Location: Guermessa, Tataouine Governorate (southeast Tunisia)
Description: Amazigh mountain citadel (7th century CE)
Star Wars scouted set concept: Mos Espa spaceport (various elements)

In his Star Wars Insider 29 (Spring 1996) article (“On-Location: Tatooine”) detailing the principal Episode I recce to Tunisia (early to mid-December 1995), Bradley Snyder (author/editor) published photographs (taken by David West Reynolds) of several Tunisian sites visited during the location scout. No names or clear identifications were provided for any of the visually documented sites. Surveying online images of historic mountain citadel sites in the Tataouine region, Davin paired specific Kala’a Guermessa photos to one of Reynolds’ recce photos featured in the article (page 57; top row, right-hand side). Mohamed navigated COVID-19 travel restrictions to verify on-location the viewpoint used by Reynolds to take the recce photo, which presents a panoramic view of Kala’a Guermessa’s northern peak. Davin later confirmed in-person that Reynolds stood along the footpath on the north side of Ras Oum Moutmana (Kala’a Guermessa’s southern peak) approximately 30 meters southwest of the Sidi Hamza Marabout to frame the recce photo.

Despite no enduring effort to preserve the site, the Kala’a Guermessa ruins visible in Reynolds’ recce photo remain more or less unchanged since 1995.