Farwah

Abuk-ammash, Libya. From here one takes the boat to Farwa, visible along the horizon.

The name Farwa is often written in various forms, including Farwah, Ferwa, Ferwah and Ferwet. Farwah is uninhabited, small peninsula, situated about two miles off the coast of Abu-kemmash, and about 40 km to the west of Zwara city. The 470-hectare Farwah is a long and narrow stretch of sand hills and dunes, covered with about 4000 palm trees, overlooking the sea on both sides. At its widest point, Farwah is only 1.1 km wide, and in some places is only a few hundred yards wide. The peninsula can be accessed on foot from the mainland during the summer (see next photo); but in the winter water floods the land bridge and the peninsula become an island, completely surrounded by water.

Farwah.

This photo shows the closest point of the island of Farwah to the coast of Libya. The sand in the front is Libya, and the one across the water is Farwah. This point is called in Berber "imi n elwad", meaning the 'mouth of the valley' or 'the gate of the valley', from the water currents running across this point. During the summer, the water is about 2 foot deep in the morning, but in the evening the tides bring in more water to cover all the sand in the front of the photo, where the water level can reach up to  one meter high. Turning left at this point, before crossing over to the island, and following the bend, one can find shallower points to cross over. During the winter, however, the level of the water becomes much higher and one needs to swim over against the side currents. There was an attempt in the past to fill this point with sand and rubble, but then fish and wildlife in the lagoon between the island and the coast began to die and fishing in the area suffered as a result. Of course, things were quickly put back as they were and nature continued its course of circulating water around the island. You would think that a small natural bridge made of palm trunks would blend perfectly with the surroundings and also would do the job without stopping the water flow!

A view of the beach.

Farwah is the only peninsula in Libya and one of the must-see sites in the Jamahiriya. If you value your privacy and love fresh air, then Farwah could be a life-time opportunity to enjoy the exotic atmosphere of the unspoiled Mediterranean paradise, before the planned building of a tourist resort change the island for ever.

View Larger Map

Farwah looking west: as you go farther west the island gets slightly wider.

Farwah.

Farwah looking east: the island gets narrower as you go east, towards the point where it meets the mainland near the factory of Abu-kammash.   The big building is an old Italian building, dating back to the second war. This building together with the nearby huts and a new lighthouse building of the Department of Marine Aviation & Ports (the roof from which this photo was taken: see next photo) are the only buildings in the whole island.

 

 

The new lighthouse building of the department of marine aviation and ports.

Farwah Tourist Resort

However, according to the Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation (www.ljbc.net), a tourist resort will be built on the island. The Farwa resort will be built with a partnership between al-Niqat al Khams municipality (An Nuqat Al Khams), Farwa for Tourism, and the Italian Norman investment group. The 44-month project, costing about $268 million, will be implemented on an area of 470 hectares, and in order to keep the island as a natural reserve, part of the resort will be built on the island and the other part on the Libyan coast. The resort will include six big hotels (two 5-star and four 4-star), in addition to an oasis of 70 tents equipped with modern services, floating tents, golf course, two Yacht platforms, and other essential services.

See Our Tour of Farwah

Farwah (or Ferwa) Sand Beach.