Tozeur - dunes, oases and Star Wars sets

Tozeur is a full days bus ride (8hrs) from Tunis in the south west of Tunisia. The town is unremarkable, except for the Palmerie - 400,000 palm trees growing in this oasis. We arrived at the bus station late afternoon, and attempted to follow the LP map to the hotel we had earmarked for the night - through dusty streets and backalleys. We finally found our way and checked out a few hotels, settling on a basic one (name escapes me). Breakfast the next morning was on the rooftop, overlooking the Palmerie - a basic fare of Tom Cake (sweet cake bread), coffee and baguette.



Our main activity in Tozeur was to take a 4WD tour of the surrounding area and desert. We signed up for a full day tour at 160DN (payable as a 20DN deposit and the balance we paid at the end of the trip as the tour operator office wasnt open at the time we commenced our drive), our driver Kamel was waiting for us at the appointed time (9am) right outside the hotel. The car was a Landcruiser, and in good condition - Nomad Tours seem to run all the cars out of this area as their compound just outside Tozeur was full of them as we drove past.

Our first stop was Medes (El Medes?), the first of three abandoned Berber Villages. The ascent to Medes was spectacular, taking us up into the hills off the plains of the Chott. Beside the ruins was a canyon dropping about 150ft to a river below. The highlight of this location was the date factory - dates from the Palm trees surrounding this ruin are brought into a main room and boxed there. We had a chance to taste them right from the clusters brought in off the tree, adn they were by far the best dates we had ever tasted. We bought a box from there - 3DN (down from 5 - they werent budging much on price!), and proceeded to devour them during our trip.




Next stop was Chebika, which was basically a lot of trinket sellers and a pool lying at the bottom of a fissure in rocks. Cactus fruit was available here - and I was keen to try some, but we couldnt find the seller and werent game enough to try peeling this ourselves. We then went to Tamerzia, which has a well established tourist area at the entrance (you can even buy ice cream!) and a path taking you back to the water pool and waterfalls, and a climb up into the surrounding hillside. Note that the minerals for sale along this pathway look spectacular - purple and green crystaline rocks that join together like a clamshell - but they are FAKE! If you rub the purple it comes off on your hands - its been painted on to make the white crystal look more spectacular.



On the way back to Tozeur for lunch we stopped to donate 1DN to a guy who had a pet salamander available for petting. Thats it really ... :)



Our guide gave us 1.5hrs to get lunch while he did the same. After lunch we headed into the desert across the Chott (Salt Lake) to Ong Jmel (which means 2 camels I believe). This is basically a rocky outcrop that you can climb, overlooking a vast riverbed which is flat and long enough to land a 747 on. Its also the scene of filming for the movies the English Patient and Star Wars. We stopped and chatted with a crew of men working a natural gas rig here and discussed how we could fly planes into the area on the salt pan ....




The hard packed sand plus rocky formations here make for a natural race course, and the 4WD tours take advantage of this to give you some thrills. First its the banked curves - the driver races up the side of one bank (similiar to the banking of say a NASCAR racetrack) then across to another, alternating right and left. Then its straight up one of the banks until the car is nearly vertical where the driver shifts quickly into 2nd gear and lets the engine brake the car back down the cliff. Its all been done many times before - youll see the tread marks of many many 4WDs who have done this trick before - but its thrilling nonetheless when your not sure whats coming next. Up and down a few sand dunes and past the film set for the English Patient, then on to the film set for Star Wars which is surreal in the surrounds of the dunes. After that some stops at camel watering holes where Kamel showed Miney how to properly tie her turban.




Nefta was next, the home of the Sufi sect of Islam. Walking through the Old City and taking in the sights here - married women wear all black with blue stripes on their hijab.




Back to the hotel and the incredibly hard pillows ...

Prices
Tour - 160DN
Dates - 3DN per box
Turban - 6DN for 3 meters

Tunis - Cafes and sheep heads

Tunis was a culture shock for me at first, but I found myself slipping into this place after a while. Walking the streets of Tunis at night was a great experience - stopping for Chawarma (a chicken pita in my case, with sauces and chips thrown in the top of the creation). We walked down the main street of Tunis (Avenue Bourguiba) taking in the sights and smells. The first thing you notice is that the cafes are a) full of smoke, and b) full of men. Women do not congregate in these venues which are for men only - this is not a hard rule, but seems to be a cultural one.

One meat shop we walked past had a couple of sheep heads hanging on hooks - a common sight, however these guys had gone the extra mile putting sunglasses and cigarettes in their mouths. We stopped to take photos and a passing couple of lads laughed at us saying "pretty arent they?".


We took a quick look in the Medina, but at night this is a dark place so we decided not to push our luck too much. The next day we went back for a more detailed look. The Medina is the city center, at the end of the Avenue Bourguiba, behind the Porte de France (a doorway monument). We did not explore the Medina as much as we would have liked.



Tunis began the ritual of drinking from bottled water - so we grabbed a couple of bottles on the way through - 450 millimes (about a half Dinar) for 1.5 liters.

Logistics:
- Tickets from Rome to Tunis on Air Italia were €464 - we found that return tickets were actually cheaper than one way, so we booked and discarded the return sector. Booked on Air Italia site.
- Taxi from Tunis airport to city was about 10 Dinars. This was a drama because we were originally told 5 Dinars, so we climbed in, then were told it was 5 per person, plus a surcharge because we were at the airport, plus a baggage fee! The driver actually tried to get 15 Dinars from us - when we handed over 10 he said "but I thought I was getting 15" - our response was "well we thought we were paying 5"!! Our mistake was not demanding the counter be turned on - making everything a negotiation. If you pickup a taxi from Tunis airport, you should always demand the counter (the meter).