Blogs from Tataouine, Tunisia, Africa
April 23rd 2010
Départ de Douz à 8h... Premier court arrêt dans un petit village berbère en montagne, où nous avons pris un succulent thé à l'amande. Puis, en route pour Matmata, où nous avons visité les habitations encore habitées d'un village troglolytique construites comme des cratères au milieu du désert. Chacune des pièces est aménagée dans une ouverture différente. Je vous présente ici la maison d'une famille typique. Ce site a aussi été l'objet de décors pour le 5ième fils de la guerre des étoiles. Arrêt à Metamer, où on retrouve le Ksar, ensemble de ghorfas, genres de greniers construits à même le roc, utilisés autrefois pour mettre les denrées (céréales, blé, légumes, etc.) à l'abri des envahisseurs. Arrêt suivant, Medenine. Ici aussi on a transformé ges ghorfas, mais cette fois en boutiques artisanales. Nous voici ensuite rendus ... read more
Tataouine - impressive ksour and berber villages
Published: March 14th 2010Africa » Tunisia » Tataouine
March 11th 2010
From Gabes it took us two hours on a louage to reach Tataouine. On the way we passed the town of Mareth with its impressive museum and wished we could have stopped for a visit. The museum is dedicated to the Mareth Line, scene of General Montgomery and his desert rats’ famous victory over Rommel in World War II. Sadly it seems it’s easier to visit if you rent a car rather then travel around on public transport. Tataouine the town should not be confused with Tatooine the planet. It’s very real and only has one sun, whilst George Lucas’ fictional planet had two. Still, inspiration has to come from somewhere and it’s not hard to see where it came from here. Harsh desert landscapes and weird and wonderful local costumes all played their part in ... read more
Matmata - Troglodyte dwellings and Star Wars sets
Published: March 11th 2010Africa » Tunisia » Tataouine
March 10th 2010
Early mornings! WE DON’T DO EARLY MORNINGS!! Getting up at 0630 was tough but we had to get our act together to be on the 0807 train from Sousse to Gabes. Fortunately we had bought our tickets the previous day and so the 4 hour journey was spent in the relative comfort of first class for just a few pennies more than second would have been. Had we not had the foresight to do so we would have had to travel in the crowded and uncomfortable seats further back. Arriving at Gabes station we feared the worst with the weather as the sky had a familiar reddish hue to it. This was the sign of an incoming sandstorm similar to what we had seen a few weeks ago in Sfax. From the station we carried our ... read more
January 13th 2009
As our roadtrip continued further south and again near the Algerian border, the scenery became increasingly mountainous and dry. The towns of Mides and Tamerza are located in a particularly hilly area complete with some senic dry canyons. One of which was used for scenes in The English Patient. An abandoned walled mud town near Tamerza provided a scenic foreground for a palmeraie and rough mountains. Aptly named, palmeraies are the palm groves or oases found in the desert typically fed by underground springs. Locals manage these groves and grow fruit and vegetables in the forgiving shade of taller palms. The desert towns of Tozeur and Douz both have huge palmeraies. We pulled over and had lunch one sunny day in the shade of a palmeraie with a date palm on one side and a pomegranate ... read more
November 30th 2008
I kept waking up like every 2-3 hours and finally couldn’t sleep after 6am, was just lying and waiting because everyone else was still asleep. Everyone woke up around 730am and no one here takes a shower. Everyone just washed their face and hair and that’s it. The dinner table was brought outside and the sun was just popping out and it was cold. I really enjoyed sitting outside with the sun rays warming me up. They heated the coffee and brought bread and a bowl of olive oil and everyone kept dipping the bread to the olive oil and that was breakfast. The people here don’t brush their teeth either. I was planning on leaving after going to Chenini and Douiret so decided to take my backpack. Before catching a camionnette to Chenini I left ... read more
Wonderful hospitality of a Tunisian family and Hitchhiking in the Ksour
Published: November 11th 2009Africa » Tunisia » TataouineNovember 29th 2008
I woke up early morning at 6am and went to the hill nearby to see if there would be a good sun rise but nope pretty disappointing. Got back to the hotel to have breakfast as it’s included in the price and was given bread, butter, jam and coffee. Sometime I just wished they just don’t bother but then again you got to learn to appreciate whatever that’s given to you. The couple I met yesterday also came to have breakfast just when I was going to finish. They had spoken with a taxi driver the previous day and negotiated to go and see 3 places for 20 dinars each. They asked me if I wanted to join. I said sounds like a plan. They said the taxi guy was busy in the morning and he ... read more
November 28th 2008
Early morning took a shower and went to the louage station to catch a louage to Tatouine. I was the 2nd person in the louage and we had to wait till 6 more people turned up. Near the ticket counter there was this guy who looked like a student and fortunately he spoke English. I asked his if it was faster to go to Gabes and then get another louage to Tatouine as Gabes is closer to Tatouine and probably have more people in that route. He confirmed this and in fact he was going to Gabes too and I happened to buy the 8th ticket to Gabes. So our louage went to Gabes immediately. This way I also have the flexibility of going to Djerba if I change my mind because Gabes is the common ... read more
February 5th 2008
the Jedi Mindtricks of: Sober-One Kenobi So, I Believe I left off with us stranded helplessly in the Sahara, sick with infections and horny camels... Oh wait-- Did I not mention that last little fun fact? Well, before I get started, that has to be addressed. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is breeding season for Tunisian camels this winter. That means the womenfolk of the camel-kind are either pregnant or craftily avoiding getting knocked up, but that is not easy feat. I've watched Animal Planet with boarder-line obsession, and I have never once seen what male camels do to attract a mate... and dear God, please, let this have been my only run-in with those desperate devils. YouTube it or something, because the only way I can describe it is rabid-looking, foaming tongue-like THINGS blow out ... read more
Did you know that the Sahara is this really big desert in Africa,
Published: January 31st 2008Africa » Tunisia » Tataouine
January 31st 2008
the amazing typing skills of: the now-freckled Robin Well, it's the sandy post you've all been waiting for, and I do believe my keyboard is hopelessly broken, so bear with me here. I'm having spacebar issues on top of the normal 'm' and 'a' changes. Crazy country! JAN 19th: the adventure begins! We ended today in the town of Kairouen. Known for it's famous cookies of condensed baklava-like douch, and filled with dates or almonds, we made a required stop at the best patisserie in town. Also, we saw the great mosque, which was beyond impressive with it's simplicity. Makes St Peters look like a peacock with insecurity issues. After, we found our hotel for the night-- a magnificent palace known on the trip as 'that Kasbah we rocked'. No joke, though , cause it really ... read more
December 2nd 2006
Thought to myself about how weird my tombstone would look if I died on my 30th birthday as we flew to Tataouine at mach 2 in the Louage (even the locals looked uneasy). Tataouine disappointingly really doesn't have a lot to offer. Stayed at a slightly fancier hotel since it was my birthday! Walked around town a little but mostly stayed at the hotel with "the soldiers" (beer). Jen bought me a cool "Jedi" robe that all the older locals wear, Jamie got me 2 local hats, drank peach cooler that was in a champagne-style bottle, and even got a cake!! What nice friends... and a memorable birthday. In the morning Jen and I set out to go check out one of the towns we missed from the previous day's tour that fell through (called Ksar ... read more
