Tunisia – Trip Report from David and Anna Brown (LRC members).
Anna and I spent two weeks in Tunisia from 28 July to 10 August, mostly on a guided tour. This is one day (3 August) and I thought it has relevance to the club so I am sharing it.
We were in an hotel in Tozeur on the edge of the Sahara. It had been planned to take a trip in “comfortable jeeps” early in the afternoon but as temperatures soared past 40, it appeared to be called off. If I sound vague, the information was provided in Polish and I don’t always get the finer points. I was quite disappointed as I was keen a change from the coach. Thankfully word came through that the trip would happen, leaving at 4pm.
At departure time we were arranged in groups of 6 and herded to the jeeps, Toyota Land Cruisers. As to comfortable, well… imagine 7 people sitting in a Prado heading into the desert as the temperature display showed 51 ºC. That is a new personal best for me. They were airconditioned and coped as well as might be expected.
We had been told that we would be doing some 4 wheel driving but I had my doubts. The Prados mostly had road tyres; we were heading along sealed roads and there was no apparent pressure adjustment undertaken. But I am a sceptic.
We headed towards the Atlas Mountains. There was the usual speed kills sign, “Vitesse = Danger” but nothing else other than the odd dromedary in sight. The road was remarkably good, albeit sandy.
After some 70km we turned right onto an unformed road very close to the mountains. They just pop up out of an absolutely flat plain. We went a long a narrow dirt road through date palms. Anna commented that she hoped a vehicle did not come the other way as there was no off road option. I reassured her. We were about the eleventh car in the convoy. It would have to get through ten Toyotas before it got to us.
After five or so minutes we were deposited at a Tuareg settlement well up the escarpment (see top photo). This was quite a tourist trap. It sat near the top of the range and had a steep walk down to a creek. Anna and I have seen creeks so, at north of 40 degrees, we chose to stay under cover and drink cold water while the rest of our group headed off. When they returned, I asked what they had seen. Water was the reply. We had chosen wisely.
Anyway, aside from drinks and ice cream, the Tuaregs sold Arafatkas (remember what Yasser wore?) in a range of colours and souvenirs in all shapes and sizes.
Eventually we were rescued from the Tuaregs and taken back to the Toyotas. We followed a sealed road back towards Tozeur. I was convinced that our four wheel drive experience was the dirt track to the village and as we travelled back about 40km I was sure I was correct. But then we took a right hand turn onto a dirt road. This road was straight from Heaven. It was smooth like nothing I have seen before. A bit dusty but not a corrugation in sight. The group sort of made up its own mind which road to take, but all generally heading in the same direction.
We were told that the Dakar used this area. I reckon as a liaison between stages, the road was so well defined and with a perfect surface.
Maybe half an hour on we passed yet another Star Wars site. I am not a fan but I need to watch the movies so I can recognise all the places we visited. It seems that Tunisian tourism is based on movies. Str Wars and The English Patient to name a couple.
Some time later our vehicle left the road and climbed a smallish sand dune. As it went over the top the four women collectively screamed. Gosh, we must have been 4 metres up.
Over the other side we were directed to look at a large sand dune that we were told resembled a dromedary.
It did in the same way that formations in limestone caves resemble wedding cakes. We drove around the other side and regrouped. There must have been 40 “jeeps”. We were clearly not Robinson Crusoe. Most people chose to climb the dromedary. Despite the sun lowering our Prado was still showing well north of 40 on the dash so Anna and I chose to watch. The view would have been of a very flat desert in all directions.
Here we took the photos.
We reboarded the Prados and headed off. Unexpectedly, continuing away from the sealed road. Our driver clearly thought it was time to do some “serious” off roading and we headed over a small dune. The ladies again screamed and, as they were in the majority, determined that we would take the chicken tracks at future dunes. People in the other vehicles were more fortunate.
So on we went for maybe 15 minutes and stopped at… guess what? Another Star Wars site.
This was another tourist trap. Camel rides, water, coke (of the liquid variety as far as I know), souvenirs and photo opportunities aplenty. Sadly I was offered two fennec fox pups to buy.
After way too long, with the sun setting, we headed back to our hotel in Tozeur and a well-earned swim in the pool.
The photos are from Anna’s iPhone. I had left my cameras on the bus.