NO MARMITE IN TUNISIA
Life In Tunisia For British Expats
The Sahara Tour
Expat Jenny, who lives for half of the year in Mahdia in Tunisia, found the time this year to pop down to the south of Tunisia with another expat family who have been living in Mahdia for 12 years now!
Both Jenny and her husband Frank and the other expat family love the calm and sense of safeness that they get from living in Mahdia. The two children in the expat family have spent most of their lives in Tunisia and attend a local Tunisian school. The eldest girl, for a school project in her English lesson describes their trip on the Sahara Tour, what they saw, what they learnt and the enjoyment that they had on it!
Sometimes the question can be, "Should we take an organised tour or travel independently?" The report below shows that sometimes an organised tour enables you to cram much more into your time and see a lot more attractions by travelling with a company that has undertaken the journey many times before! Jenny says "I would recommend that everyone experience the Sahara Tour, because Tunisia is such a diverse country with so much to offer!"
The Sahara Tour
When my mum asked my sister and I if we would like to go on The Sahara Tour, we were really pleased, because we had never seen the south of our country. We also knew that the tour was very popular with the tourists who enjoyed all the sights that they saw.
We left Mahdia at 7.30am and were taken straight to El Djem. Our guide was very good and he explained how the arena was used for fights between the gladiators to amuse the people. It was also there that prisoners were forced to fight many different wild animals which were kept in underground rooms. In those early days there were many different kinds of wild animals living in the Tunisia area including lions and tigers. It was amazing to see how the huge building had lasted so many years and some of the walls were over 1 metre wide!
El Djem
After we left El Djem, we travelled down to Matmata and on the way there we passed through an area of 1 million 635 thousand olive trees which were planted over 100 years ago. All you could see in any direction were lines and lines of trees. It made you realise how large our lovely country is and how clever the people were to plant like this!
Rows of Olive Trees
Half way to Matmata the countryside started to change and it became what the guide described as ‘a lunar landscape’ and is not seen in any other area of Tunisia. We were taken to a high point and all you could see far into the distance, was hill after hill after hill, all covered in sand and little bushes called ‘scrub’. There was no sign of trees or houses or other buildings.
Arriving at Matmata, we were taken to ‘Sidi Driss’ to see the building which was used to film part of the Star Wars films. It is still exactly the same as in the film, but is now used as a hotel for students who are in the area to study Geology.
Sidi Driss
We had lunch in a hotel near there and started out on our journey again.
Lunch
First we went to see a family who still live in caves which were dug out of the countryside. It may sound not a very good idea, but the homes were very good and looked nice and comfortable. The one we saw had a salon, 2 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, 2 storage rooms and across a courtyard, more small rooms where animals and chickens were kept. All these rooms were underground so they were warm in the winter and cool in the summer. There are a lot of homes like this in that area which are still lived in. It is not an easy life for the people, because they are far away from the towns, so they have to try to grow or keep anything that they need to live. Their water has to be fetched from the mountain springs on a donkey! Although is it a hard life, the people were very friendly to us and gave us mint tea to drink! The people are called Troglodytes and are Berber.
From here we travelled to Tamezret to see the area where some of the Troglodytes move from their caves to live above ground. The late President Habib Bourguiba gave a large amount of money to the Berber people to build this small town. For those who left their cave homes to move there, it would have made their lives a lot easier, but it was not so interesting or peaceful. I think it is good that some of the people decided to stay in their underground homes!
Tamezret
From Matmata we travelled across to Douz which is a beautiful area on the edge of the real Sahara Desert. We arrived at the time that the sun was going down. Here we had to decide if we wanted to ride a camel or ride in a caleche into the desert.
Riding In A Caleche
Most people chose a camel ride and were given traditional costumes to wear. It was great fun to ride into the desert and watch the sunset as we sat on sand dunes. We rode back to our coach in the dark and everyone enjoyed themselves! The Sahara sand is totally different to any that we have seen before. It is so fine that it is like flour!
Our next stop was the hotel for our evening meal and overnight stay. We had a lovely meal and then off to bed as we had to be up at 4a.m. We were all complaining about having to get up really early, but there was a surprise for us!
We set off on our journey at 5a.m. and most of us slept on the coach as it travelled to Chott El Jerid. It was still dark when the guide woke us up to say that we were approaching the great salt lakes. On either side of the road there were huge lakes of hard salt because many years ago the area had been under the sea and as the sea retreated, it left the salt. It was something we had not seen before so it was very interesting, but we wondered if it was worth getting up for at 4a.m. to see it?
Chott El Jerid
Then the guide told us to look to the East and slowly we watched as the red ball of fire, which is sun, rose above the horizon! The guide said it was ‘awe inspiring’ and it was! Everyone said that it was worth the early start and that they would never forget it!
Awe Inspiring Desert Sunrise!
Off we set again to travel to change our coach for a 4 x 4 vehicle to go into the Atlas mountains. This part of the trip lasted over 3 hours and was totally different from anything we had seen before.
Narrow Gorge Through The Mountains With Waterfall And Spring At Chebika
We went to Chebika and Tamerza and saw 2 deserted villages that had been destroyed by heavy rainfalls in the past because they had been built of soft sandstone. These were Berber villages. We then walked through the mountains to see the wonderful scenery and the large waterfalls called cascades. At one point we all had to squeeze through a split in the mountain which was only half a metre wide! It is a strange feeling to be surrounded by desert and rocky mountains and suddenly see a beautiful waterfall!
Click photos to enlarge
Rocky Terrain At Chebika
The Beautiful Old Abandoned Town Of Tamerza. The River Flooded For 22 Days In 1969
When we arrived back from the mountains we changed our 4 x 4 vehicle for a horse and carriage. We were taken into an Oasis at Tozeur. Once again this was very interesting because as the soil was good and healthy, the whole area was covered in vegetation. There were palm, date, fig and pomegranite trees and under the trees, all types of vegetables were growing. The young boys showed us how the dates were collected as they climbed the trees.
As They Climbed The Trees
A last goodbye at Kairouan to our friends we had made on the coach and then the journey back to Mahdia. We were all exhausted but agreed that the early starts and long days travelling had been worth it. Altogether we travelled 1,200 kilometres and saw many interesting sights.
Tunisia really is a wonderful country!
