Tunisia, March 2007 (Part II)
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Chenini
Chenini is an ancient, now ruined Berber village in the Tataouine district. Created by North African Berber communities, Chenini was built on a hilltop
to help protect it from raids. The oldest structures on the hillside date back to the 12th century; some of the buildings are still used to store grain.
Since the wind was still (or again?) blowing strong, we skipped the visit and headed out into the plain.
Troglodyte hotels in Marmata
Arriving in Matmata the city was very crowded; apparently there was some festival going on.
We had planned to sleep in the Hotel Sidi Driss, but apparently there was no safe place to leave the motorcycles during the night.
Asking, we were first requested to have a look at the rooms and discuss the price (!), but then some employee of the hotel showed up
and told us that there was no more free room anyway. We were not sure if this was just a pretext, but together with the festival it
sounded reasonable. Petra explained that she did not want to stay here if we did not have a hotel where we could leave the motorcycles in a safe place,
and thought seriously about riding the whole way to Douz.
At the moment we started to leave the place in front of the hotel, Lotte lost a part of her centerstand.
Apparently it had been damaged during the day; it probably got hit several times by rocks and since there was no separate bash plate for the
centerstand is it quite probable that the "feet" underwent quite some mechanical stress.
Now this was one more problem so be solved and it was just before sunset.
A few minutes after starting towards Douz, we passed along a four-star hotel a few km west of Marmata.
We decided that it was very probably better to spent the night there than to make it to Douz that night and went to the reception.
Indeed the receptionist was very friendly, prices were reasonable and there were rooms free.
Number 202 is a nice suite with two double rooms and reportedly it was occupied by George Lucas himself when we was turning Star Wars a few years back.
I just wonder if they tell that about every room ;-)
After a long shower, we looked around in the hotel. It is indeed quite a huge installation, reportedly built on troglodyte caves but extended
to three floors. Albeit the hotel is huge, the three inner courts make it appear more familiar and cosy.
Then we went for for supper. It was a good and rich buffet, we enjoyed a bottle of Tunisian wine and finished with a walk around the
hotel area at night. The only negative point was a huge crowd of Polands that were lodging in the hotel at the same time;
it did not disturb us that they had booked the discotheque for the whole evening, but a bunch of completely drunken Polands that sings and
beats a drum in the middle of the night right in front of your hotel room is no fun. In addition, they apparently managed to flood an entire suite ... shame on you :-((
Logistics
- Hotel "Diar El Barbar", Matmata. 170 TD for all three of us, including buffet and breakfast.
- Total: 226 km.
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Towards Tozeur, across Chott el Jerid again
After buying - and eating - some oversized but delicious sandwiches in Douz, we also bought some silver for Petra, then started the bikes again.
First, we hesitated to take the track around the southwest of Chott el Jerid, but since the sky in the west was cloudy and dark we decided to take
the safe road - read: tarmac - again. We rode north to Kebili, then northwest towards Tozeur. Indeed this was a wise decision, since the clouds
were really menacing and air was full of sand again - not as much as a few days ago, but again sufficiently nasty so that we were glad to arrive
at our destination, the camping "Les beaux rêves" in Tozeur.
Logistics
- Camping Les beaux rêves; I do not recall the exact price, but it was about 8 TD per person and day.
- Total: 222 km.
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A "cow" on a salt lake
In spite of the menacing clouds on the evening before, it was a warm and dry night. We were shaken awake by the sound of the Muezzin in the morning,
coming out of the loudspeakers of at least five mosques at precisely the same time, but of course not with the same text ...
We stayed two nights in Tozeur, so this was going to be a very relaxed day. Our only motorcycle excursion was a trip to the "Star Wars" site,
the area where the props for the base Mos Eisley was set up. It is situated about 15 km north of Nefta.
Leaving Tozeur towards the west, we quit the tarmac, adjusted tire pressure and followed the GPS route that Petra had found.
It lead us first to the north, then in a huge arc to the east, north and finally to the west.
The surface of the track changed between stone and sand, but was generally easy to ride.
Florian even tried to cross the surface of Chott el Gharsa, but quickly learned that it was only a few cm of the surface that were dry ...
it broke under the weight of Lotte, but he managed to get out - barely - without sinking the bike in the salty mud. Lesson learned ;-)
"Star Wars"
Continuing the trip, we soon arrived at the "Star Wars" site. It takes a bit of searching to find the "village" since it is hidden between huge
dunes, but with the GPSr this is not a problem nowadays. Reportedly the site is often flooded with tourists, but when we arrived we were
apparently the only visitors. The big advantage was that this allowed to take photos of the empty place.
The downside was that we were quickly invaded by the merchants on site. Albeit they were always friendly, it was too much for us - between people offering
"gifts", the chattering of children asking to be your guide and others that wanted to change money (they receive quite a bunch of foreign coins,
and as usual these are not changed by the banks), I soon could not even understand my own words anymore. After all that loneliness it was almost like a shock,
and after taking a few quick photos we left the site very rapidly.
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The quest for the "Rommel track"
We had breakfast at the caming, then left Tozeur in search of the "Rommelpiste".
This is a track that was created by Field Marshall Erwin Rommel during WWII and it is supposed to be a spectacular ride.
Leaving Tozeur towards the northeast, we soon took a track that ran perpendicular to the highway towards the northwest.
The road - alternating between tarmac, gravel or sand - runs in a straight line for quite a while and it was fun to ride even with the fully packed GS.
I found that I could pass even sand stretches with the fully loaded bike easily, as long as my speed was sufficiently high:
entering the sand at about 70 km/h and accelerating through the sand up to 90 or 100 km/h, I did not observe any of the instabilities
that had bothered me in the days before.
Approaching the Djebel Shawabin mountain, we could admire the tectonic structures already from quite a distance. However, some of the roads and tracks
on the GPSr seemed to be erroneous: The "Rommelpiste" was indicated to be much more to the east, but we could not see any path going up the
mountains and even the waypoints leading to it seemed to be wrong. Thus, we simply followed the roads towards that mountain pass that is
visible from quite a distance.
Coming from the plain, we faced a sudden, spectacular mountain road, carved in the rock and offering an even
more spectacular view after every bend. And yes, there are many bends ... !
We learned later on that the Rommelpiste is indeed about 10 km east of the road we took; ours seems to be a much more recent passage.
On the northern flank of the mountains, the track is less spectacular, but opens into a wide landscape. The road led us to Reddejef,
where we stopped for a coffee/tea break. The region is marked by phosphate mines, thus you will see many railroads and industrial installations.
Tamerza
We decided to insert a "side step" to Tamerza, the largest mountain oasis of Tunisia. It receives water from springs in the mountains,
presenting impressive contrasts between sand and green, palm and rocks - often just a few meters apart. We had a look from the distance
onto the old town, but did not feel in the mood for an extended visit this time ... so we returned to Reddeyef and headed north.
"... just follow the railroad"
Arriving in Sidi Bou Baker (view on Google maps),
we had planned to head towards the west and then take the next road towards the north. However, a - very kind - military control post explained
us that this was too close to the Algerian border; a senior officer instead recommended to "just cross the Oued, then simply follow the railroad".
We had a tea stop, then followed his advice.
This taught us that the definition of a "road" in Tunisia can be quite varying ... indeed, crossing the Oued meant pretty deep sand, then we were
on a number of gravel tracks - and all were indicated on the GPS maps! After about 10 km of very varying
surface, we hit the tarmac about 2 km south of Nagel Bel Abbes. From here, we took a fast pace, crossing truly interesting and increasingly
green landscapes (Feriana, Thelepte) and finally reached Kasserine.
Instead of looking up our travel guide, we simply stopped at the first Hotel, the Amaidra and asked for a room. After a first try where only one
room was supposed to be free (and that was not a nice one), suddenly two more rooms were free. After a short visit we took them, locked the motorcycles
away in the garage opposite the hotel and took a shower.
The hotel is a rather nice building, situated right at the southwest center of Kasserine. However, it is technically in a rather bad state,
and Florian/Petra's room smelled as if it had not been ventilated for quite a while. Thus, 25 TD per person was clearly too much.
Anyway, we spent the evening strolling trough the city and finally found the Hotel de la Paix, which is the one
that we originally planned to take.
It has a rather hidden restaurant at the back, serving excellent meals, a very friendly owner and with a number of cats around ;-)
Logistics
- Hotel Amaidra, Kasserine; 25 TD/person, reduced to 20 TD after it was impossible to pay with credit cards.
- Total: 255 km.
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Money
Another disadvantage of the Hotel Amaidra is its huge amount of marble. While it is beautiful to look at, it also amplifies any sound ... with the
result that the first person that opens any door in the hotel in the morning is also waking up almost the whole hotel (depending on your ears).
We had breakfast - not exactly the best one that we had in Tunisia - , then proceeded to the counter to pay the hotel bill and to check out.
To our surprise, payment via credit card "did not work". I asked why and was told that the phone line to the credit card company was down.
Well, no problem, so I suggested to use the offline banking - either via paper copy, or with the machine. The receptionist refused this
blankly, which in turn made me switch to my "slightly unnerved customer" role: I pointed out that we had chosen his hotel due to the huge
number of credit card stickers that were around the entry, that we were running out of money (which was perfectly true, since it was almost
the last day and we did not want to change more) and that the rooms were anyway in a bad sanitary state. Insisting on a price reduction
due to the lacking service, we negotiated a total of 60 TD for the three of us and indeed we emptied our pockets almost completely
onto the counter. Conclusion: Clearly not a hotel that we could recommend.
We had barely left the hotel on the bikes when we came to a stop; having spotted a bank, Petra changed some money for the following two days.
Talking to the bank clerk, I asked him about the problems with the credit card payments. He explained that phone line problems happened
indeed quite frequently, but that all recent devices were also equipped for offline payment ... thus, the problem we had in the morning was either due to a lack of training ("How do I use this thing offline?"), or simply mauvaise volonté of the receptionist.
Our road led us via Sbeïtla in the direction of Kairouan, were we had a "tea stop" at a roadside café
... which turned out to be not only the worst, but also the most expensive tea of the whole trip (2.50 TD for 3 tea!). Lesson learned:
Don't stop at the very colourful cafés near major roads ...
Thuburbo Majus: more Roman ruins
Just a few gear changes north of El Fahs lies Thuburbo Majus, another major (sic!) Roman site
(view on Google maps).
In contrast to Sbeïtla, this site is less "structured" since it lacks the rectangular layout that is common for most Roman cities:
"A theory is that when the Romans started to build it in 27 BCE, an existing Punic town was already here and it was not sacrificed for the new developments.
The remaining quarters is in an area of a modest 250 times 300 metres, but triumphal arches stand further apart, so the total town was several times bigger than that.
Still Thuburbo Majus was never a large settlement, perhaps housing some 7,000 to 12,000 people.
Thuburbo Majus is still very much worth the visit, with its attractive Capitol, its several fine mosaic floors and the striking colours of its columns."
(text adapted from lexicorient.com).
Rain is falling
During our visit, cumulus clouds came up in the sky. Barely 30 min after we left, the whole sky was covered,
and we were hurrying east, right under the clouds, towards today's destination, Nabeuil. Arriving near Hammamed, we headed for the first gas station anyway
and filled up (by the way, this one accepted credit cards and it worked fine). Immediately after entering the station, a rain-, hail-
and thunderstorm started, flooding the street up to about 50 cm in just a few minutes. We were quite happy to be under the roof,
ordered a coffee and waited until the rain diminished at bit - maybe half an hour.
Continuing our trip, we soon reached Nabeuil and the Hotel/Camping Les Jasmins. We took a room, I slept a while and then we sat
in the garden restaurant and chatted with the people that we had met on the ferry. It was our last
evening in the country, so we decided to take the meal in the restaurant of the camping. It was pricey, but good.
Logistics
- Camping/Hotel Les Jasmins, About 20 TD/person.
- Total: 312 km.
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One last shopping round
After a relaxed night we packed and loaded the bikes. Since we still had plenty of time until the ferry left, Florian returned to the last gas station
to search his neckbrace which he had been missing since yesterday evening. In the meantime, Petra and myself strolled to a local craft center, a few roads
away from the camping. A number of small "demo" shops are arranged around a court and they both serve as a training center for apprentices as well as
a visitor attraction; you can watch craftsmen at work and buy things. Petra and myself ended up with a silver-plated
copper dish each. We probably paid too much, but the experience of the market and the quality of the dish were definitively worth it ;-)
Return to Tunis
After this, we met with Florian again and started riding. Nabeul itself made our escape a bit difficult, since it is a big city
and we were stuck in very dense traffic - for the first time in two weeks! Under a cloudy sky, we rode towards Tunis, and
bought some sandwiches in the southeastern outskirts of the city.
After this, we made our way to the harbour area (simply follow "La Goulette").
It was here that we met most of the other riders again and it was here that the rainclouds catched up with us, too.
The overall procedure was similar to what we had seen two weeks ago (i.e. one piece of paperwork every few meters),
but went very fast. Essentially, you return all the paperwork that you received and get some additional
stamps in your passport, confirming that the vehicle has passed customs.
Waiting seemed to be less long - we could enter the ferry rather early and this time we had packed our luggage well.
Goodbye Africa!
The sky cleared up, but it was very windy ... a forecast for the coming crossing of the mediterranean sea. Shortly after leaving the harbour,
Together with Florian I gathered in one of the "sleeping rooms" at the front of the ship and watched the waves. Indeed the sea was getting more
and more shaked and as the first waves splashed on the windows (on Deck 7, i.e. something like 20 m above sea level!) we knew that this
was going to shake.
Indeed we saw less people around than on the trip two weeks earlier; we had something to eat, then dropped into our beds. Surprisingly, I
survived the whole thing much better than I tought - I did not get seasick at all and did not need medicamentation either. Whew.
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Back towards Switzerland
Albeit temperatures were very fresh, it was a relaxed ride to the camping where we had left the car and the trailer.
Both were in perfect shape and we started immediately to re-pack and put the bikes on the trailer.
Leaving the place, we stopped by the pizzeria and had a good meal - which was necessary, since the way back would take a few hours.
When we left the restaurant again, we were greeted by pouring rain ... which accompanied us for quite a while.
Anway, our holidays in Tunisia were over. But we will come back!
Logistics
- Total: 64 km on the motorcycles, plus highway to Switzerland.
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Preparation
- Literature: Ursula and Wolfgang Eckert, Reise Know-How Tunesien. Highly recommended! We have used the 5th edition (2004)
of this guide; updates for outdated or missing information was sent to the editor after the trip.
- Maps: Michelin 744. Scale 1:800'000, i.e. 1 cm=8 km. There is also a Michelin 956 with the same nominal data
but I don't know if these maps are identical.
- GPS: Everyone had a GPS receiver mounted on the bike. We used the free GPS maps that are available at
4x4travel.org and that turned out to be very valuable for our orientation.
- Money: In Tunisia, everyone of us spent about 350 EUR overall. This includes "everything", from food to gas, from camping to water.
For the overall costs, you have to add the ferry ticket of course. - At the time of our visit, the exchange rate for the Tunisian Dinar (TD)
was very close to 1 CHF, so that price comparisons were easy for me ;-)
- Tools and spares: Basically, we carried one set of tools, distributed over the three bikes. Apart from spare levers for brake and clutch,
no particular spare parts were taken along (yet I had a spare alternator rotor and driveshaft lying at home, ready to be sent should the need arise).
Motorcycles
- The front tire on all bikes was Pirelli MT21. Petra and Florian used the same profile front and rear, too; my GS was equipped with a Mitas E09.
All tires showed excellent properties on tarmac and allow cornering similar to street tires, but at speeds above ~110 km/h the bikes became "wobbly".
- Tire pressure on tarmac was usually about 1.5...2.0 bar front, 1.6...2.3 bar rear; in the sand, we reduced pressure to
0.9...1.2 bar on both wheels without problems (and without tire holders on the GS). The same pressure was used for rocky tracks,
and still we did not get a single puncture.
- The tire profile was still better than 70% at the end of the trip, in spite of the rough tarmac and gravel.
This is probably due to the fact that traffic in Tunisia is much less "dense" than in Europe ... indeed the manoevers that "cost" tires,
such as abrupt braking and accelerating, are rare.
- My R80GS took on average 5.92 l/100 km, with values ranging from 5.0 to 6.5 l/100 km.
The low consumption - in spite of the sometimes harsh road conditions and sand - is explained by riding at constant speed
(between 60 and 100 km/h, depending on the conditions) over the long distances.
I cannot define the precise consumption on the sandy tracks, since the BMW speedometer measures at the rear wheel -
i.e. any rotation counts, even if the bike does not move.
For the next trip, I should note down the km of both the odometer and the GPSr simultaneously ;-)
- Unleaded fuel with 95 Octane is available at all gas stations. It seems that the price is fixed by the state; during our visit
we paid 1.10 TD per liter everywhere (in 2008, this was 1.25 TD per liter). According to our experience, credit cards
are only accepted at the gas stations of the "really big" cities in the north (Tunis, Hammamed).
- On the GS, using the PD bash plate for both the engine and the centerstand turned out to be essential.
In particular the rear part - that bolts onto the centerstand - had a lot of deep scratches after the trip.
We presume that Lotte's defective centerstand was also induced by this kind of "hits".
