Sunday 10^th May – Sahara:  Souk Lahad - Nefta, Tunisia

33:52.242N 7:52.656E

This morning when we arrived at breakfast at 7.15am, we found the remains of a buffet breakfast!  The coach party had been there before us, apparently at 4.30am and left the place a disaster area.  So, we had a breakfast that was mediocre at best – fortunately the kitchen rustled up some fresh omelettes for the hungry.  We then headed off to start our trip – today we have had far fewer miles to cover.

Souk Lahad:  Hotel Les Dunes

The first trip was across the Chott El Jérid, a huge dried-up salt lake.  A road has been built across it at a height that doesn’t flood if there is rain (it doesn’t need to be very high at all).  We stopped half way across and took a walk out onto the lake of salt.  There was a little water near the roadside and it created shallow pink pools of salty water – very pretty, more like a rosé wine.

Chott El Jérid

At the other side of the lake we stopped at Tozeur, the main town of the area, a desert oasis known for its date palms – dates being the staple industry here.  We visited the old town and market there; the central street has become a bit touristy but it was interesting to see camel heads as well as sheep heads for sale in the local meat market. 

Tozeur:  Around town

Tozeur:  Typical architecture of the area

We then drove a short way to a tourist centre with a museum complex.  The museum gave an overview of the history of Tunisia over the centuries.  We have learnt quite a bit of Tunisia’s fascinating history since arriving, with its prominent role in Phoenician and Roman times, its more recent history with the Hussein dynasty of Beys and the French colonization, and now its development since becoming a Republic in 1957.

Tozeur:  Museum exhibits

From Tozeur we travelled on to Nefta, another desert oasis, and also a date palm centre.  At Nefta we checked into our hotel and had a pleasant lunch (with no coach party entertainment). 

After lunch we were given a couple of hours’ free time to enjoy the area.  Richard and I went for a short walk outside the hotel.  There was a gentle breeze blowing but, even so, we could feel that there was too much heat in the sun and didn’t stay out long.  We headed back to our room where we cooled off in the air conditioning and then sat on the balcony in the shade and enjoyed the view of the salt lake beyond the oasis.

Nefta:  Hotel Bel Horizon;  View of the town, oasis and salt lake from the balcony

Late afternoon we went on a trip into the oasis by horse and carriage to see the date palms and visit one of the plantations.  Our guide for the visit to the plantation spoke only French, German and Spanish, no English at all.  So, Barb stepped up the challenge as she speaks some Spanish and she did a great job of translating his descriptions.  It was interesting to see that the ground beneath the palms was divided into small allotments where other crops were being grown such as pomegranate, tobacco (at first Barb was a little unsure of her interpretation of this but she was right), and banana.  We now know considerably more about date production and the sex lives of date palms than we did before.

After the tour we were led to a shaded area where we were given a drink of palm juice; this is produced from date palms that are too old to produce dates any longer (date palms survive around 90 years).  To get the palm juice they cut off the top of the palm and allow the juice to collect in a jar before taking the palm down.  It doesn’t produce a lot of juice and apparently the juice turns alcoholic after 24 hours – ours was the non alcoholic variety.

Nefta oasis;  Date palm plantation

We then returned to our carriages and were taken out of the oasis and to the old town where our plantation guide gave us a short tour through the old town to the central square.  We had a wander around the centre and then had a refreshing mint tea in the main café where our guide was waiting to collect us.

Nefta:  Around the old town

On the way back to the hotel we were taken on a surprise visit for which a 4x4 was required.  We headed off into the desert along a rough track for about 20 kilometres.  At the end was a film set used in the making of the first of the more recent Star Wars films; the set dates from around 1995 and has been left entirely in place as a tourist attraction.  It was fun to wander around the set and now, of course, I must watch the film to see if I recognise it.  We stayed there and watched the sun go down before heading back to the hotel.

Nefta:  Sunset at the Star Wars set

Unfortunately in the meantime the coach party from the night before had arrived at the hotel along with reinforcements (a second coach load) and were at dinner before us.  When we arrived it was like a swarm of locusts had swept through and we were left with the scraps that they hadn’t been able to finish off.  Still, it did make us laugh.

© Pyxis 2009