EXPLORING TUNISIA

Two Days Excursion to the Sahara Desert

If you are on holiday in one of the costal resorts (Sousse or Port El Kantaoui) and would like to spend some time and explore Tunisia - see the Sahara Desert and other interesting historical sites - an organised trip seems to be a perfect solution. During our last visit to Tunisia we took part of two days excursion to the Sahara Desert. It was excellently organised and delivered by professional Tunisian travel provider - Tunisian Travel Service (TTS).

An organised trip offers an excellent opportunity for everyone to see the country in easy and stress free way. Everything is organised for you (coach, meals, hotel, 4x4 safari) so you can sit back in the coach and relax enjoying the view. It is a popular way of exploring Tunisia’s south among a majority European holidaymakers.

As almost everything in life also excursions have their limitations so you have to compromise certain aspects of your trip. However, if you are not too demanding and are looking for relatively easy way of exploring the country you will enjoy the trip (read more about limitations and our opinion in Useful information and our recommendation section beside).

The following assessment of the trip is based on our own experience and therefore description given below necessarily contains an element of subjective opinion which may not reflect your own experience on another occasion. The itinerary of the excursion may also differ slightly from the one described below.

DAY 1

In the first day (early in the morning) you are picked up from your hotel, and make your way to El-Jem where you have an opportunity to visit world’s third largest Roman amphitheatre. Your English speaking guide guides you around the amphitheatre telling interesting stories. You have also an opportunity to take couple of photos and wonder around in you free time. After a short visit to the amphitheatre your journey continues to the village of Matmata where you can visit one of the underground Berber houses. After visiting Berber dwellings you have a lunch in the local restaurant in the village. After the meal your journey continues to Douz known as “The Gateway of the Sahara Desert” where you have an opportunity to wear traditional Bedouin dress and ride a camel on the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert – if you are unable to ride a camel you may have an option to travel by horse and carriage. Once you are tired with African scorching sun you can find a shelter in air-conditioned coach on your way to the salt lake of Chott el-Jerid. During your visit to the lake you can enjoy the view of immense open space and picturesque Atlas Mountains – and if you are lucky you may see also famous mirages shimmering on the horizon. Your last stop is the hotel with a swimming pool on the outskirts of Kebili. Considering the fact that the hotel is located almost on the desert - a swimming pool may be considered as a luxury.

DAY 2

After a breakfast early in the morning you are taken to Tozeur to switch the bus to 4x4 land cruisers and go throughout the desert to visit the waterfalls in mountain oases of Chebika and Tamerza (the setting of the Oscar winning movie “The English Patient”. After your visit to the oases you will return to Tozeur to enjoy a horse carriage ride through the oases. Next you rejoin the coach and go Gafsa for a lunch in local restaurant and continue your journey to Kairouan – the 4th holiest town in the Islamic world – to see the Great Mosque. Unfortunately, no time is scheduled to enter the mosque therefore you will have only the opportunity to take couple of photos from the roof of the souvenir shop. This is your last stop on your way back to Sousse and Port El Kantaoui.

Published on 12th February 2010

By Arek Zasowski

Photographs by Arek and Viola Zasowski

Useful information and our recommendations

For all of you who will stay in Port El Kantaoui the easiest way of purchasing the trip is through your travel representative. We usually recommend to shop around but in this case the only travel office we have located is on the outskirts of Port El Kantaoui so it is not easy to find it and you will not save great amount of money.
Amphitheatre of El-Jem – you will have to pay a small fee at the entrance for each camera / camcorder you are going to use to take photos during your visit.
One of the limitations of every organised trip is to stop everywhere you see a perfect place for taking the photo.
Experienced travel guide will provide you with interesting facts and stories.
If you would like to take some Saharan desert sand back home (as souvenir) remember to take small empty bottle with you.