Saturday 9^th May – Sahara:  Monastir - Souk Lahad, Tunisia

33:46.920N 8:49.890E

We were up at 5.30am to shower, breakfast and pack our bags for a trip to the Sahara.

The six of us; Barb and Con from Big Sky; the P’s and us were picked up by a large 4x4 at 7am and set off for the desert.

The first stop was at El Jem, the site of a well preserved and large Roman amphitheatre, about an hour’s drive from Monastir.  Our guide led us around for a short introduction before leaving us to explore on our own for half an hour.  It was very impressive.

El Jem:  Roman amphitheatre

El Jem:  Around town

We met back at the car, ready to depart and it was still only 9am.  There was a short delay when our guide discovered a flat tyre and so we had an unscheduled visit to the town where we were able to walk around the market whilst our guide went off to the garage to fix the tyre.  He was a bit longer than the expected 15 minutes and after half an hour I joked about it being a long taxi ride back to the marina… but then he turned up - phew.

We continued on our way south, down the Tunisian coast.  As we got closer to Libya, it was interesting to see plastic cans of fuel for sale by the roadside; people drive it back from Libya to sell since fuel is much cheaper there.  We think that fuel here is cheap so it must be almost free there.

Our 4x4 transport;  Cheap Libyan fuel for sale at the side of the road

We had a comfort break at Mahares, where we saw people picking shell-fish on the beach – it was low water, exposing the sand.  For us, this is now an unusual sight as we have so little tide here in the Med; However as you get further south in Tunisia, there is an increased tidal effect.

We then travelled inland.  Our next visit was to the home of one of the Berber families at Matmata.  The family we visited have been opening their home for years and were one of the first families to invite outsiders in; they were very gracious and allowed us to look around the home they have built in the ground of the hillside.  It is constructed as a big hole, creating a central courtyard, surrounded by caves that make up the bedrooms, living room and kitchen.  These days they have electricity connected and a fresh water pipe just outside to supplement their rain water collection, so a little more comfortable, but not much different to years ago.  They lead a simple and self sufficient life.

Matmata:  Berber cave home

We paused at the top of the hill after leaving the house to be shown back across the landscape – this is apparently where the opening scenes of the first of the Star Wars films were shot.

Matmata:  Lunar landscape where the Berbers live

From here we went the short distance to a small ‘cave’ hotel for lunch.  It was constructed along the same design as the troglodyte houses and we ate in one of the caves.

After lunch we drove to Douz – now we were truly entering the Sahara.  We did what one has to do and took a camel ride into the desert.  We were away for an hour which meant we were able to get away from the road and onto real sand dunes.  At the half way point, our guides had us dismount our camels and we were able to walk around in the sand dunes.  We were surprised at how soft the sand was; it was really white and fine.

Douz:  You are only allowed in the desert if you wear appropriate fancy dress

Douz:  Getting on these things isn’t easy;  the P’s had a better idea

Douz:  Dunes of the Sahara; Out on the dunes 

Douz:  Richard of Arabia; Camels getting a break out in the desert

After this we drove north to Kebili and on to Souk Lahad where we checked into a hotel for the night.  Unfortunately a coach load of tourists descended on the hotel just as we were going to dinner; they didn’t go to their rooms to wash and change as we hoped but went straight to the dining room and turned what should have been a relaxed buffet dinner into a war zone.

We were all shattered after a long day and went to bed almost straight after dinner.

© Pyxis 2009