Geography
Tobruk has a strong, naturally protected deep harbour. It is probably the best natural port in northern Africa, although due to the lack of important nearby land sites it is certainly not the most popular. The city is effectively surrounded by a desert lightly populated with nomadic herdsmen who travel from oasis to oasis. There are many escarpments (cliffs) to the south of Tobruk (and indeed in all of Cyrenaica, the eastern half of Libya). These escarpments generally have their high sides to the south and their low sides (dip slopes) to the north. This constitutes a substantial physical barrier between the north and south of Libya in the Tobruk area.
Previously, Tobruk was some 470 km (290 mi) from Benghazi through the Libyan Coastal Highway, but this distance was shortened to 367 km (228 mi) after the construction of the Charruba–Timimi Road between the years 1975 and 1985. Construction of the Tobruk-Ajdabiya road reduced the distance between those two cities from 620 km (390 mi) to about 410 km (250 mi).
Because it is approximately 150 km (93 mi) away from Egypt by land, Tobruk is also an important hub for merchants from both Egypt and Libya, and for travellers between the two countries as well as those from Bayda and Derna.
However, Tobruk suffers a serious saltwater intrusion problem. A factory for the desalination of sea water has been built there.
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