Some of us without sleep, others more fortunate, we were meeting at the boarding platform in Marseille. Some calm, others nervous, but all with the same enthusiasm, soon we would be among the dunes of Tunisia…
We boarded the ferry, lucky enough, soon. On board the usual comments, waiting, the upload of a GPS, etc.
Only eighteen hours of a magnificent crossing.
02/12/2007 At 09:00 local time, we disembarked, on this occasion, the procedures very quickly and without problems. We head south, to the El Mouradi hotel in Douz, almost five hundred kilometres away.
At sunset, the group gathered, with dinner and explanation because the passports were delivered to make the entry procedures in the south of El Borma, until the next noon we could not leave in that direction. The military demands the original documents…
03/12/2007 After breakfast and in order to make the most of the morning, we head to a massif of dunes south of Douz. What a surprise, everything fais fais, the hard to fight. We spent a morning of “laughter”, between paddles and paddles, it has been years since I found such a complicated sand, but that’s the desert, you know the saying “wing, wing, give the shovel”.
We meet at the hotel to wait for the guide with the permits and around 3:00 p.m. we leave, for real, to the desert. Two long hours of sand and very simple and fun dunes, it was not necessary to lower the pressures much. At sunset we set up camp in a beautiful place. Our friend Jaime made one of his own and was trapped on a ridge, while looking for firewood, the bad thing was not the hook, but the lack of wood for the fire, anyway… However, it was done and as always, the first night, spectacular.
04/12/2007 We left at dawn towards Bir Aouine, the sand was very complicated and the advance of the group was very slow, in fact we did not do the desired kilometers, far from it, but we already know that navigation through the desert of dunes is not an exact science… We do the second bivouac, as fun as the first one but due to the effort of the day (and the night before), only the bravest lasted until late.
05/12/2007 We continue south, with a little more distance than the previous day, but the crossings of the cordons are complicated and the sand for the fifteen vehicles is complicated. We do a few kilometers of track, without inflating the tires, soon the sand will follow. We passed by a gazelle nature reserve, but they were not seen.
At noon we ate at the foot of Bir Tambaine and then we faced a very complicated cordon of dunes in which only three cars got in, but we spent two hours to advance one kilometer. The rest took a detour and later we grouped together.
From here we took a different route than planned, it was convenient to look for alternatives somewhat more bearable for the whole group, but equally spectacular, alternating very high dune ridges, with “plains” full of dunes of three or four meters.
At sunset and at the end of a beautiful and technical cordon of dunes we camped and as usual, party, although some, before had to change a cushioned “Vicens que corres mucho”… The party was not missing.
06/12/2007 One of the most complicated and hard days of the trip was about to begin…
As usual we left, heading south, and the day was very rhythmic, until after lunch, where our friend Alfredo “changed the line” and hooked the car well, with rim included, be careful, it is true that he was not the only one. Two winches and a lot of shovel were needed, but we got ahead, but the car was a little lighter…
The afternoon is complicated with some almost impossible ramps and at the end of the afternoon the group separates in two.
The adelantado did not find an exit from a gigantic pot, or at least by the desired direction, which forced us to go north to look for a more accessible passage, we found it, but the group behind stayed on the ramps and could not climb.
Contacted at all times by the stations, we decided to do two camps, then we arranged that they were both very fun. We were less than a mile as the crow flies from each other.
07/12/2007 We wait to meet, but the sand is very difficult and we don’t make it until mid-morning. We resume the route, again to the north to look for a pass that would allow us to resume a southerly direction.
The day was good when it came to doing kilometers, but some laces got complicated. We continued, the food was made quickly.
At sunset and very close to Bir Tambaine, we make our fourth and last camp. Although the group is tired, we are still thinking about getting as close as possible to Bir Aouine, in fact we take a beautiful track that enters a magnificent valley, flanked by many dunes, it is our fifth day without inflating the tires. We continued until noon. We are less than twenty kilometers from Bir Aouine, that is, where you take the Pipe Line to go to the Borma, we have it a stone’s throw away, but it is true that they are very technical dunes and it is not advisable to risk it, the trip must begin to end. Wisdom prevails and we take a track heading East to approach Ksarguilane, our first bed in days…
We crossed very high dune ridges, and in the evening it was on us, a tank that when it came to inflating the tires, we needed the flashlights, we were caught at night in the last cord of dunes. Now that’s Extrem…
We continued for an hour and before 8:00 p.m. we were in the dining room of the Pansea Hotel in Ksarguilane.
The relaxation of the group is noticeable, some sleep, others laugh, etc. Although we did not reach El Borma, we all had the feeling that we had achieved the objective, that is, two hundred and thirty kilometers of very high and technical dunes.
08/12/2007 Ksarguilane Kairouan, stage of the process to reach the holy city of Islam and take a walk through so Medina and Souk. The “Last Supper” for this year in Tunisia. The joy of the goal and the sadness of the end of the journey, makes that night a strange moment
09/12/2007 Kairouan Tunisia, the last one hundred and sixty kilometers in the country, we arrived at boarding at 09:00 hours and it took us a while to leave, the sea is very rough and it takes us much longer to arrive than expected.
10/12/2007 Late at night we took the cars out of Marseille and at dawn to Spain.
It is clear that the group gave the best of itself and I would like to congratulate everyone for their magnificent behavior in difficult situations, and I say everyone, that is to say Pere, Josep, Mercedes, María, Pili, Isabel, Alfredo, the Vicentes, Rafa and Paco, “Quiñones”, Juanito, Juan, Griselda, Armel, Leandro, Miquel, Lluis and the Strongest Man in the World (Xavi), our spectacular photographer Félix (you will see the photos) and Hedi.
It has been a very technical group, calm, confident, and above all with a lot of desire to make the desert. It would be a great pleasure to repeat experiences.
Thank you all very much.
Manolo Herrera
