After a night of crossing from Marseille, we arrive at the port of La Goulette near Tunis, capital of the small country of the Maghreb. We crossed customs without difficulty, took the highway towards Kairouan, a charming and historic city, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, staying in a magnificent hotel embedded in the wall and next to the Medina, we had time to get lost in its alleys, visiting some of its great monuments such as the Great Mosque or the famous Mosque of the Three Gates.
The next day, we continued our way south, along the way we visited the well-preserved Roman ruins of Sbeitla and the incredible mountain oases, waterfall included. Before arriving at our Hotel, we stepped on sand for the first time and we were able to go up and down the first dunes, a simple and fun appetizer of those that we were going to experience in the next few days.
Early in the morning, just as the Earth began its pilgrimage around the Sun, we started our first big day away from the tarmac. First a small chott, which led us to the place where the town of Tatooine from George Lucas’ movie, Star Wars, was located, there the large dunes that surround the emblematic papier-mâché monument, were an incentive for us, descending them easily and some climbing them with quite difficulty, after a few minutes enjoying the sand we headed for the Great Chott el Jeridd, which we cross on a track, avoiding entering its deceptive and muddy domains. The crossing of the Chott was as always exciting and unlike any other route. Once we had passed the large “dry” and salty lake without incident, we met again with the Territori4x4 guide, Jordi, who had prepared a large team of local professionals, including mechanics, guides, cooks and helpers who would accompany us during our journey through the desert. A terrible storm of sand and wind welcomed us to the real world we were in, the first objective was to reach an oasis in the middle of the dunes where we would eat, after a hard and difficult journey due to the wind that did not stop blowing, we reached the long-awaited oasis, we ate hastily and quickly due to the unpleasant and constant scourge that the sand produced in us, the thick cloud of dust that was in front of us prevented a smooth advance, making it difficult to reach the waypoints marked by our GPS, after about three hours of incessant struggle against the sand, the dunes and the storm, we reached the camping area, in the middle of small dunes and very close to a large field of desert roses that the next day we would be in charge of discovering and collecting.
When we arrived, the cooks had prepared a great dinner, of which we could only taste the first course, the sandstorm was still lurking and prevented us from enjoying the evening as we would all have wished, the desert is in charge and is always unpredictably funny.
The next morning, dawn with little wind, which allowed us to find many sand roses and start the crossing of the first Erg of dunes without great difficulties, as the groups were reaching the freshwater well in the middle of the hamada, they went through an exercise of adventure and navigation with GPS to the wpt AA05, a point located in the middle of a large sea of dunes. The sand continued to bother pushed by the wind that did not stop, this anomalous weather circumstance, forced all the participants to sharpen their ingenuity and refine their driving technique through dunes as much as possible. When all the participants arrived at the long-awaited wpt, the sand and wind storm was subsiding, but their fare had already been charged in the form of 3 hours of delay over the scheduled time, this forced to modify the initial route and leave the Erg through an unforeseen place. The delay was a fight against the clock and the dunes, enlivened by the clutches of some Toyota KXRs that began to be noticed. Late at night all the cars arrived at the camp, only one Toyota without a clutch had to spend the night in the place. The cooks prepared a typical dinner based on soup, couscous and meat that culminated with several pipes or hookahs that were smoked around the large bonfire.
Before dawn he went to try to get the KXR out, but it was not to be, so an assistance truck had to move in the middle of the dunes and take it to the track, from where he could continue the route to Ksar Ghilane. The rest of the group was divided into two, some on the track without difficulties to our next camp in Haimas and the rest, about 20 cars, to overcome an erg of high dunes very close to the Valley of the Dunes.
One after another all the drivers of the “adventurous” group were seeing the enormous mass of red sand that rose in front approaching, a barrier of dunes about 150 meters high that just seeing it was impressive, the access to the interior of the Erg was complicated and after several very technical steps, the first 4×4, crowned the highest dune and began the descent to a paradise of dunes that delighted all the participants. After more than four hours enjoying and driving non-stop through dunes, the departure of the Erg began, which was followed a few kilometers away by a new one of pink sand, with landscapes of great beauty that took us directly to the Roman fortification of Ksar Ghilane.
After the visit to the castle, we head to the campsite and shower with thermal water from the great Tunisian south. Before dinner we had an aperitif, and we saw how they prepared the tasty “lamb in the Jug” buried in a large vase under the embers on the sandy ground. Judit, celebrated her tenth anniversary with a three-tier cake and with Happy Birthday, in several languages, among which Portuguese stood out for its rhythm and good interpretation; a few drinks and some hookah, to successfully close the hard three-day journey through dunes and navigation through the desert, with all the participants in good health and the cars parked outside, without the need to be repatriated.
The departure from the Oasis of Ksar Ghilane was made by track, which as it moved away from the desert showed the participants landscapes in the form of gorges, mountains dotted with palm trees and spectacular panoramic views, during the tour several places where the Star Wars saga was filmed were visited, arriving in the afternoon in Matmata, an enclave known for its unique troglodyte houses. After dinner, we had the opportunity to watch and dance belly dancing, while savoring a delicious mint tea with pine nuts and smoking the typical hookah.
The morning of the next day was promised to be fun, as it was, on the “Troglodyte Track” an off-piste route through the clayey lands of the Tertiary that are between Matmata and Gabes. All the 4x4s reached the start and had their well-deserved reward in the form of fuel, of which most vehicles were slightly scarce. He passed Gabes and Sfax, until he reached the Jem, with its impressive Roman amphitheater, a work declared by UNESCO World Heritage of Humanity. After the obligatory visit, we continued north to about 50 kms from the port of Tunis, where we stayed in a beautiful and original hotel that seemed to have been created by the Disney chain, the buffet dinner and an evening in its premises closed the day.
The next day, we all arrived at the Port and boarded the Mediterranée, a beautiful French ferry that took us without problems to Marseille where this difficult adventure culminated and made difficult by an unexpected and very hard sandstorm. Many participants eager to return, already made plans to do more dunes, more navigation, more coexistence and above all more adventure.
