“Is that the Milky Way?”, I gasped, as he pointed out to the galaxy in the star-studded sky above us. “Pure magic”, is all I could think of as we star-gazed the night away in the chilly silence of an abandoned Tunisian village. Six of us were snuggled up in the courtyard outside the centuries-old cave rooms, now part of a gorgeously decorated hotel and our refuge for the night. We had traversed through ancient Berber villages and rolling hills by foot all day to arrive at our stay in the camouflaged village of Douriet tonight.
Quartz Mountains, Canyons and Berber Villages
Earlier that day, we had driven down from Sousse to Ksar Hallouf, the 13th-century fortified granary in the district of Medinine. This was also our starting point for a three-hour hike through mountains and canyons towards the popular village of Chenini in Southern Tunisia.
At Ksar Hallouf and the along the hiking trail, quartz reflected the daylight and shone like a glittery bed of crystals as we gathered geodes and saved the good pieces to bring back with us. We were bedazzled as we soaked up the sun and the high-vibrational energy around us. We arrived in Chenini, where we had a scrumptious local meal, while Montana, our tour guide and friend educated us on the Berber lingo. “In Arabic, we say Shukran for “thank you”, but the Berbers say “Aaishaq”, he said. And thankful for the meal we were indeed, before we started for our next 5-hour hike towards Douriet from the ruins of Chenini.
The sun kept us warm as the cold early evening wind cut through the mountains. We passed through olive groves and dried wadis (valleys) that hadn’t received good rainfall in years. As we watched the sun turn golden, the sheep grazing the fields and the rocky terrain change colours, I felt nothing but gratitude and joy for being able to experience this wondrous world outside of our daily lives.
Most importantly, to have made it here at all with friends I’d come to love travelling with, and to be enjoying this beautiful day after the rough start we had had just two days ago.
How Rough is Too Rough?
The longest, most grueling delay at airport immigration awaited us. Neither my friend, Gautam, nor I had imagined the impending nightmare as we cheerfully boarded the plane in Dubai towards Tunis that morning. Shaun and Dan were flying into the capital from the US two hours before us. This was a big trip – a birthday celebration and a partial reunion of the Mauritania crew from May 2021, where ten of us rode for 13 hours on an open-air compartment carrying iron-ore in the world’s longest cargo train.
At 12:30 pm, we landed in Tunis, as our American friends waited outside in the car rented for our self-drive holiday. For the next half hour, the officer argued with us and demanded prints of our tour voucher. A simple sample of what they required would’ve worked wonderfully if they had one, in absence of which neither she nor her colleagues could explain what they wanted. We kept producing hotel booking vouchers in different formats, which were rejected every hour for the next six to seven hours.
Turns out that since May of 2020, Indian nationals no longer qualify for “visa on arrival”, a small detail that the Tunisian Consulate in Abu Dhabi had failed to mention when I had called them three weeks before the trip to ask about Tunisia visa requirements.
In the eighth hour, frustrated at the lack of cooperation and any comprehensive solution from the third visa officer handling our application, we asked to be sent back. We had lost all desire to enter Tunisia. Our friends outside were just as dismayed, not being able to help us in any way. The visa officer brought us to the transit lounge, where we were sat with a 10-people strong Senegalese group, who had been camping there for two days. The police officer who received our passports wanted to try and help us again because perhaps he felt sorry for us. There was no way of knowing what was going on, so we let him.
Another hour, another application and another rejection from the Ministry of Interiors. Sigh.
Shock and Elation!
Our last try was the tour company we had hired for our hike through the Berber villages. The owner had been in touch with me all day. Our final resolve was a stamped tour voucher with a six-day itinerary from his company, which we then submitted to the visa officer again. Hungry, impatient and distressed, we waited some more.
The visa officer walked towards us, but this time to apologise for the all trouble they had put us through, and to finally give us some good news. At 10:30 pm, our final visa application had been successful and we were granted a tourist visa. We were part elated, part shocked – almost unsure if any of this was worth celebrating. We stepped out of the airport to meet our friends. The warm hugs and squeals of joy that followed became the only reason to rejoice that night.
First Stop: Sousse and the Doorless Toilet
We head out to Sousse from the airport. After two hours of a dark starlit drive along the coastal route, we arrived in the fortified city centre of Sousse. We had booked our first night’s stay at a charming riad (traditional hotel) called Dar Antonia. It was adorned with mosaiced walls and a tiled courtyard styled with a fountain. After the stress of the day, this was a treat to our senses. A very accommodating owner had waited up till after midnight to show us into our rooms, all of which, to our horror, had open bathtubs and no toilet doors!
It was clearly meant for honeymooners. We laughed at the struggle that was to follow between us friends. But we had come this far along in the day and a doorless toilet was not going to deter our high spirits now. We joked about it and retired for the night.
Second Stop: Kairouan in Blue and White
After a delish breakfast at our riad, we walked around Sousse to get our bearings straight after an eventful airport day. We watched the city come alive before we started our drive south towards the Berber villages.
Our second stop on this route was the rustic town of Kairouan. Once a prominent city of the Islamic world, it is also famous for the largest and one of the oldest mosques in Africa – the Great Mosque of Uqba, dating back to the seventh century. The winding, cobbled alleys of Kairouan enamoured us with its whitewashed houses and artistic blue doors. Hidden in the pages of history, time stood still for us as we lost ourselves in her beautiful streets, occasionally chatting with locals and visiting rooftops for panoramic views.
We enjoyed a late lunch on a restaurant terrace, listening to the adhaan (Muslim call of prayer) on one side and the happy banter of young Tunisians at a table beside us.
“Fish couscous is the best choice you can make anywhere in Kairouan,” our server assured me. He was right. The delicately spiced couscous was topped with pan-fried local fish and aromatic sautéed vegetables. My friends had an equally fulfilling lunch, all of which cost us a fraction of what we’d pay for a sandwich and a juice in Dubai or in Los Angeles. Our hearts and bellies felt happy as we continued our drive towards our next wondrous stop – El Djem or Thysdrus.
Third Stop: Rome Away from Rome
Little do we hear about the largest Roman monument in Africa and also the third-largest amphitheatre outside Rome to be in Tunisia!
Before the day turned into night, we arrived in El Djem, formerly known by its Roman name, Thysdrus. In the twilight, the amphitheater appeared dauntingly massive. And empty. No tourist crowds, no queues, no guides. Just the four of us and this mammoth of a structure that dates back to the third century, built to seat around 35,000 spectators for bloody gladiator shows and chariot races.
When you observe the stone blocks and arches of this free-standing monument built without a foundation, you can’t stop but marvel at the advancements in engineering and architecture of the time. Not to mention, the acoustics that work so well to date despite the part destruction, that it continues to host music festivals, including the Festival international de musique symphonique d’El Jem.
Truly a Roman gem outside of Rome.
Fourth Stop: From Romans to the Berbers
Amongst other names in the past, modern-day “Africa” was called Alkebulan – meaning “mother of mankind”. As one scholarly theory has it, when Romans discovered the vast continent opposite the Mediterranean, they named it after the indigenous Berber tribe called “Afri” residing within the Carthage region, now Tunisia. They called it Africa Terra, meaning the ‘land of the Afri’.
Over the next two days, we were going to hike through the mountains and canyons of Southern Tunisia to discover the ancient Berber villages nestled in between, finally making our way to the Sahara Desert.
The trail starting in Ksar Hallouf granary took us through a couple of Berber villages including Chenini, before bringing us to our cave hotel for the night.
Lost in a Million
Over dinner, a surprise birthday cake and celebration for Shaun brought in just the festive mood to end a fulfilling day on an even higher note.
“Ancient villages were cleverly carved out of the mountains to remain discreet. The camouflage helped them against enemy attacks during the Roman times,” Montana informed us.
Here we were in one such hidden and forgotten village, under a million stars, the minaret of an abandoned mosque rising ahead of us. The skies were so clear that we could spot the Milky Way with naked eyes. For the next hour, I looked up and stared into the universe in awe and disbelief, constantly reminded of our little-ness.
The night was cold, but the frigidness of the Tunisian winter was soon forgotten as each of us retired to our warm cozy cave, equipped with comfortable beds, blankets, pillows, electric lamps and charging points. Surreal and magical.
Fifth Stop: Lawrence of Arabia-ish in the Tunisian Sahara
After a delicious local breakfast, the following morning, we hiked towards the next Berber village of Guermessa. “Once a girl gets married, she wears pink for stepping outside for the rest of her life. It indicates good health and happiness”, our trek leader told us.
We arrived at the Ksar Ghilane hot thermal springs for a dip before heading out into the desert. “No, we won’t be riding camels; it’s not interesting enough”, I’d said to the company’s owner at the time of booking the tour. But the idea of walking through the desert for hours seemed less appealing that afternoon when we got there after lunch, so I changed my mind and so did my friends Dan and Shaun.
Before us was a vast sea of dunes, partially wet from rains the day before. The camel herder humming melodious Tunisian tunes set the perfect mood. I felt like the Lawrence of Arabia. But it may not have been the same for my male friends, who seemed rather uncomfortable in the saddle, adjusting their posture every few minutes to avoid any real damage to their “inner thighs”, or so they said. We rode away nevertheless.
A little before sunset, we arrived at a tisavar (Roman fort) in the desert of Ksar Ghilane. It was built in the 2nd-century AD by the Romans to control the African frontier of the Roman Empire. The fort was later repurposed by the Berbers in the 16th century. We walked around the ruins, which was impressively the only structure in the middle of nowhere for miles.
Before sunset, we visited a Berber home where the hostess of the massive cave house served us rye bread with ojja, the yummiest local egg dish. The sides included local tahini mix and fresh honey. Despite the heavy lunch not too long ago, we devoured our “little snack”, the best meal of the trip by far.
Tatooine in Star Wars is REAL
Portrayed as Tatooine in Star Wars, Tatouine is a real city in Tunisia, and home to the first few Star Wars movies. I do not know much more than that because I haven’t watched a single film from the franchisee. What I did know is that we would be in the area and my friends would be thrilled. So the tour company generously threw in a tour to one of the locations – Sidi Idriss Hotel, which was filmed as Lars homestead in the movie back in 1977 (thanks Google!)
The hotel is a traditional centuries-old Berber cave house, which is now famously nicknamed Star Wars Hotel. Inside, there are plenty of relics and photos from the shooting of the movie.
Dead Batteries and Kind Truckers
Rental cars are quite the sham in Tunisia or was it just our luck on this trip, we do not know. After the Star Wars tour, our driver took us back to where we had parked our car two days ago. It wasn’t in the best condition when we received it from the rental car office, but we didn’t have many options at the airport. We had tried booking through several websites before arriving, but none of them turned out to be genuine car rental companies.
Our car didn’t start. The engine wasn’t roaring into action no matter what we did. The batter had died in the parking lot. After two hours of pushing the car, two failed jump-starting attempts by helpful truckers nearby and finally, we found an auto repair shop around the bend that helped us revive the car battery. Tired, beat and cold, we made our way to a fancy hotel in the coastal town of Sfax that night. We earned the luxury.
Tunisia’s Santorini
After a night in Sfax, we drove back towards the capital for an evening in the bustling Medina, followed by a morning in the picturesque town of Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia’s answer to Santorini.
Blue and white and cobbled, with a view of the Mediterranean. We chased cats for photographs, walked up to the lighthouse for stellar views and shopped for souvenirs and Christmas gifts before we bid our American friends goodbye from Tunisia.
Not too long after, Gautam and I made our way to the airport ourselves, with a heart full of starry night memories, a camera full of hues and history, and a bag full of rose quartz and raw crystals from Berber villages and mountains, far far away.
Visa, Flight and COVID-19
Accurate Tunisia visa requirements are difficult to come by. As of May 2020, Indian passport holders are not eligible for visa-on-arrival in Tunisia and need a visa before entering the country. Visa application must include a “tour voucher” from a tour agency, clearly stating your passport details, hotel reservations, flight details, and dates of entry and exit. This voucher must be on a licensed tour company’s letterhead, stamped and signed by the them.
I flew with Emirates Airlines from Dubai to Tunis.
A COVID-19 PCR test is mandatory to enter Tunisia, although we weren’t asked for the certificate at immigration.
Travel Date: Nov-Dec 2021
*These are first-hand experiences, findings, views, or opinions, which are purely my own. They are not paid for or promoted content.
