Boudicca Travels 8 - Tunisia

10 October – 16 October 2010 - Tunisia

At this crossroads in our travels, and with the challenges before us which required major assessment, discussion, planning and decision making, it seems appropriate to share some thoughts from a friend (given to Bronnie before she left Cape Town – it has been slightly amended). If for no other reason, it serves to remind us why we embarked on this adventure route in the first place. We hope it will kindle something in your soul and begin a thought process which in turn becomes your own adventure.

Thoughts on life from a friend
Too often in life we give up our dreams to please other people.
We allow other people’s fears and concerns to direct our life.
They ask us to live smaller so they can be more comfortable.

I’ve learned the greatest way to live is by living life to the fullest.
It’s up to me to decide what the means and how to play it out.
So stretch out and open yourself up to the excitement and joy that is waiting for you.

Life is not a journey separate from ourselves.
We actually are the journey.
So make the most of it, drink it up and enjoy each delicious bite.

Our souls speak to us through our dreams,
Guiding us to our most joyful (and often challenging) life experiences.
We need to be still to hear and notice what is on offer to us.
And we need to have courage to take the step forward into the unknown,
Where we will discover new strengths and insights about ourselves.

Day 58: Saturday 16 October 2010- Ile de Gjerber, Tunisia

Started the day early, with a ‘sun-rise over the sea’ run along the long beach with teal-green water which is silk-smooth. This has to be the best time to be up – when everyone else is sleeping, and the world is gently silent. It’s a meditative way to start the day.

We leave for Libya tomorrow – yeah! Writing up of the blog/website whilst we have wi-fi and generally taking it easy.

Day 57: Friday 15 October 2010- Ile de Djerba, Tunisia

Waking early, bedroom door open, sea air pouring in, the sound of the waves lapping gently as the sun crept up; it felt like we were in the ‘Agdan’ house in Arniston, which only served to sharpen the need to get back home.

During the morning Martin entered the hotel Archery challenge and won it! You go Mart! Show ‘em what you’re made of!

7pm we jumped into a taxi with Simona and Nico to share our local fish restaurant with them. We bought and uncorked a bottle of good red vino from the hotel to enjoy with dinner and our new friends. On arrival at the restaurant the owner, who recognised us, declined our wish to drink the wine at his restaurant – he doesn’t have a license and will not risk the police seeing us drinking alcohol at his restaurant (the concept of BYO has not arrived on these shores yet).Of course, we totally respected wishes, though only after asking if we could have plastic cups from which to drink the wine. The answer stood – No! Once again we had a seriously delicious fresh fish meal, enhanced by the energetic and authentic company of Simona and Nico.

Day 56: Thursday 14 October 2010- Ile de Djerba, Tunisia

A day of chilling and getting to know Simona (of Czech origin)and her teenage son Nicolas, who were on holiday from Zurich – a most welcome intervention meeting like minded people whilst waiting to head to Libya. Beach walks, long swims and trying our hand at Archery filled our day, whilst long exchanges of information and laughter were shared over dinner with Simona and Nico, who had lived in many countries.

Good news for today is that we heard today that our visas would be active on Sunday (not before!!!), and would be on hand at the border when we met our guide. We are seriously perplexed that we cannot use the visas before, nor indeed even one day later – it is valid for a one day entry only, so we need to ensure that we are at the border on Sunday morning come hell or high water.


Day 55: Wednesday 13 October 2010- Ile de Djerba, Tunisia

It is wonderful to be at the sea, to walk with our bare feet in clean sand, to be soothed by the gentle ebb and flow of the water. Just to be in a beautiful place starts the refreshing process of the mind and spirit.

At midday a hotel staff member took us to his favourite local restaurant a couple of km’s from the hotel where we were served delicious local food – fresh salads, spicy condiments, to die-for fish head soup and fresh Dorado, cooked on an open fire. It was interesting to share time with Habib as we were able to discuss our observations of Algeria and Tunisia. Through his sharing, he confirmed the freedom that Tunisians have vs. the fear and control under which Algerians live. He was sincerely surprised that we had travelled through Algeria. Habib expressed the freedom of Tunisia in detail and explained how in Tunisia, whilst alcohol is ‘frowned’ upon because of the Muslim faith, Tunisians have the choice, and the choice of life style. We learnt that it is not customary to clink glasses (of water or tea or whatever) in a toast as many cultures around the world do, with their various salutations. The reason is that when you clink glasses together ‘God’ will flee the contents of the glass resulting in the drink not being protected.

After lunch Habib took us to a traditional carpet dealer in Midoun village. We were invited to sit down on one of the day-beds and were served mint tea, whilst one carpet after the other was unpacked and paraded before us, whilst a perpetual sales pitch was directed mostly at Martin, as the owner assumed from past sales successes that the man carries the money. Simultaneously Bron was invited to touch and walk on the carpets – a very sensory experience offered by the sales man, who clearly has had much success with this method. His hard work and knowledge of his carpets finally resulted in a serious negotiation between him and Martin – an hour or so later we walked out of the boudoir with a Berber designed carpet folded and packed for our journey home. It was a fascinating experience.

We also watched some women weaving on old fashioned looms, at speed. Quite remarkable! Most weavers hold up to 5 patterns in their heads (passed from generation to generation), and visualise each knot they tie, enabling them to create an intricate pattern on completion of their carpet.

Ile de Djerba is home to 125 tourist-trap hotels. It is very sad to see the rack and ruin of the island as a direct result of the immense boom in hotels together with the lack of responsibility hoteliers and tourism have towards keeping the island ‘island’ style. We were told of the impact 1 tourist has on the natural water resource of the island (1 tourist spending a week in a hotel, uses the equivalent of a local person’s 6 months water supply). Sewage is a problem as is litter, which invariably gets dumped somewhere visible. Fortunately for us, from the outside, one is not aware of the problems and we were happy to be on this shabby little island, in our beautiful hotel on the edge of the sea, with sparkling swimming pools instead of in dusty Ben Guardane.

Day 54: Tuesday 12 October 2010- Ben Guardane - Ile de Djerba, Tunisia

Awakened again at sparrows, by the awful sound of the call to prayer – seriously, it was not a pleasant sound to hear first thing in the morning - we headed out at sun-up for a fast paced walk down the streets of Ben Guardane. It was a good time to be up not only as it was cool and the light was beautiful, but it offered a chance to see the town come alive. Some men were sitting at Cafes drinking their customary coffee, but most men were bartering with their fresh produce on the corners of roads, some arrived on their donkey carts to be part of the trading day, others on their antiquated bicycles with their wide brimmed hats. A clapped out van pulled up at a little shop to deliver his tray of freshly baked pastries. Again, women were conspicuous by their absence, apart from one little girl who must have been about 6, who hopped and skipped alone down the road, having obviously been sent to the local cafe to get something for her mom.

Back at our hotel we spent time writing up our days adventures, working on photographs and sending out more emails to find out about shipping Boudie back to SA. At this point, Martin announced that he had decided not continue south on the journey alone for a number of reasons. This was a welcome decision for Bron, who had been very concerned about Martin’s determination to go on with the trip. As it turned out, Martin spent the day vacillating back and forth on this decision, till Bronnie called him on it, and asked for no more indecisiveness, until he was sure what he wanted to do. Martin also happily announced that he had booked us into a special hotel on the edge of the Med on Ile de Djerba for a couple of nights – this was to be a real treat after the trials and tribulations of the past weeks.

It’s an uninteresting 2 hour drive from Ben Guardane to Ile de Djerba, but well worth it to have a change of scenery and a place to rejuvenate. Water is always soothing, and the Mediterranean Sea more so because of its wonderful temperature.

We were welcomed by the most amazing electrical storm in the early evening, and decided to share a bottle of Tunisian champagne with dinner – our first alcoholic drink in about 4 weeks which consequently we regretted as we both felt out of sorts the next day and agreed that the quality of the champagne was the cause! At dinner Martin announced that he had ‘finally’ chosen to fly home to SA with Bronnie. This was his final, final call and plans needed to be put in place to transport Boudie back to SA. As soon as our Libyan visas were issued (we anticipated this to be Sunday 17th October), we would be meeting a guide at the border, and heading towards Tripoli, where we’d fly home from.

Day 53: Monday 11 October 2010- Ben Guardane, Tunisia

Both of us awoke with varying and fluctuating emotions. Martin was feeling very down about the way forward, and still stubbornly insisted he would find a way. Bron felt relieved to have made a choice, but concerned about Martin’s feelings and his ultimate decision.

Feeling somewhat ‘edgy’ and caged in at our hotel, in a town which offers little opportunity to enjoy beauty or greenery (or anything at all really outdoors, apart from sitting for hours at a pavement cafe, whiling away time), we decided to head west for the day, to Tatouine. Tatouine is the gateway to the southern Sahara. The Tatouine region takes up a quarter of Tunisia – to the north is Kebili and Medenine form a triangle with the town of Tatouine, from where myriad opportunities are offered for curious travellers.

Tatouine is predominantly traditional in Berber ways and offers great opportunities to see Berber weaving of all types, from carpets, cushions, furnishings and items of clothing all with very traditional designs.

This very busy town trades in every day commodities but also in the numerous traditional products such as pottery, basket work and beauty products such as kohl, perfumes and henna which are available in the numerous bustling markets in the town. We revelled in the energy of the town, and thoroughly enjoyed an interaction we had with a very old man who ran a dusty book shop selling school text books, as well as general stationery. This man must have been 85 or 90, yet he knew on request where every item was, and was most charming to us when we approached him to be a spiral bound book to make notes of our journey in. Walking down one of the streets towards a market, we delighted in the tasting a Tatouine traditional pastry – the extremely more-ish Corne Gazelle pastry – something like a Greek Baklava. Yum! This was generously offered to us by the baker, who wanted us to know their traditional treats. Further on down the street, our hearts were warmed to see a young boy sitting very close to an old man enraptured in conversation. Stopping to talk to them and share their moment, we found out that the boy was 9. The relationship between adults and children in Tunisia is as inspiring, as the relationships men share. As an independent, free thinking woman, Bronnie was constantly aware of the lack of the sight of women in the communities – this provoked much thought and discussion on the journey.

The Tataouine region offers explorers an amazing opportunity to visit Ksars and troglodyte villages. In this region one can visit Ksar Haddada and see the Star Wars location.

Of major relevance is the archaeological history of this region. 150 million years ago a tropical sea with optimal ecological conditions flooded this region – it must have resembled the actual Bahama Islands. 100 million years ago dinosaur lived in this region. Excavations in the strata of Jebel Miteur continue to provide proof of the lost world of these reptilian giants. As such, on entering Tataouine, one notices a life size dinosaur watching over the town. In other parts of this region various dinosaur bones have been found e.g. the spinosaurus, iguanodons and carcharodontaurus. Other remains of vertebrates such as crocodile, tortoise and fish are also evident. It is recorded that all these creatures lived in these vast plains (north of Gandowana), which were irrigated by huge rivers and covered in dense forests of fern and conifer, which is proven by the abundance of silicified fossil tree trunks. Very hard to imagine or visualise this given the very vast Karoo landscape we were driving through. . Later on in history evolution forced people to adapt to an unfertile arid climate. With a natural respect for the environment, the Berbers adapted ingeniously to this habitat.

In this region, the climate, the elements and the people have combined to compose a wonderful Saharan symphony – the locals continue to live in harmony with their environment which manifests in their love of tradition – sheep shearing and olive festivals, arts and crafts.

Women have great experience in the weaving of Mergoums for their husbands and other accessories for desert nomads – these skills have been passed down through the generations, and fortunately have not been lost to modern ways. Men are masters in the art of producing the Tataouine Balgha (slippers).

From Tataouine we travelled west towards Chemeni. On our way we stopped to see the Mosque of the 7 Giants. Legend has it that during the tropical sea period, when there was a gentle climate and abundant forests, this area was paradise for dinosaurs. The story expands that 7 ‘sleepers’ took refuge from their persecutors, the dinosaurs, in a cavern in the mountains. Two centuries later they awoke but their bodies had grown several metres and everything outside had changed. They decided to return to the cave and sleep forever. In their honour a mosque and white cave with their graves has been erected high up on the mountain side. The legend is kept alive by the locals and the old man who is the curator of this special site.

Onward we went, to the most incredible village of Chenini. One of the best traditional Berber villages built on a rock crest. Some very old Berber people still live in the cliff homes, whilst younger families have sprung up in the valley edges below. We spent hours walking around exploring various nook and cranny structures, amazed that communities had established their homes and lives in this style. The houses are topped by the Ksar (castle) which is built into the cliff face. To cap all this is a striking white mosque at the top of the mountain, which offers incredible panoramic views.

We headed back to Ben Guardane after sunset, exhilarated and inspired by what we’d experience and seen during the day.


Day 52: Sunday 10 October 2010- Ben Guardane, Tunisia

04h00 wake-up call from the Mosque a block away – this man desperately needs pitch lessons. In fact, perhaps he shouldn’t be the caller. We had just dozed off when the 2nd call to prayer was blasted from the Mosque tower. We surrendered and got up early to start our day in the cool of the early morning.

When we first arrived in Tunisia, we thought it appealing to be part of the culture of the mosque call. But, having been here now for 5 weeks we find it an auditory invasion. In discussion we have voiced that the many-times-a-day mosque call actually represents a restriction of freedom of choice. Even non-practising Muslims are reminded of their status within their community every time the call goes out, and non Muslims have to endure the wailing of the mosque caller, most often not a harmonious sound.

Would it not be enough to use a bell, or even for devout believers to know by now the times prayers are carried out? Does the wailing not serve to dominate the thought process, and induce guilt to follow the faith? These are some questions we batted back and forth in discussion.

Our day today, was another one of wait and see. We caught up on emails, chased questions we needed answered. We worked on determining a new route, whilst unpacking the complexities of what needed to be put into the action plan, with time lines before we could actually proceed, or even chose to continue.

Our Libyan visa was still in limbo, as we waited for replies from Hadi, the agent we were in touch with in Libya. Martin doggedly went all out to exhaust every avenue to make it possible to continue on a new route. Our unquenchable spirits were being stretched to breaking point.

Sometime later in the day, whilst Bron was writing up the web/blog of the days before, she finally realised the enormity of the odds stacked against them, should the little team choose to keep going forward on the revised route.

Unless one has loads of time, money, and patience, the waiting game eventually becomes too big a challenge. And it is a pretty emotionally draining space to be in day after day. One of our criteria for proceeding on the new route was to literally have all our visa/travel plan ducks in a row. This was proving nigh impossible. We all know there are no guarantees in life – there are even less when trying to work with the complexities of Africa. Sitting at her laptop, Bron’s decision was made – it was time to go home. The past weeks had been both mentally and emotional draining for many reasons. Making the decision was a huge emotional relief.

Discussing her decision with Martin was not difficult for Bron as she knew with conviction that it was the right choice for her, but it did provoke a whole lot of additional thoughts and concerns in Martin (and therefore also Bron), who insisted that he still wanted to forge forward. The team had ongoing long talks about Martin’s determination; the risks etc. Bronnie was not at all easy about Martin’s thoughts of continuing alone, but accepted that ultimately Martin needed to come to his own conclusion. She did however threaten to throw Boudie’s keys into the desert if Martin insisted on going it alone, if this was against his wife Christine’s thoughts and feelings.

So, Bron put on her most persuasive powers to persuade Martin to consider sending “their” beloved Boudie home on a ship, whilst they flew back to SA. Not only were there all the logistics to try to resolve (which a number of people had cautioned was a time consuming and expensive mission), but safety in numbers is definitely a no-brainer, and obviously it is way more fun and meaningful to travel with someone, than to travel 9,000 km’s alone. And of course, there will always be another time and place to travel through Africa, when the various aspects of travel will no doubt fall into place more easily.