For so long I have a plan to go to Sahara but never materialized. I was in Algeria for six months 3 years back but didn’t have time (or strong enough motivation to be precise) to visit Sahara. And now, after almost one year in Tunisia, I see no reason for not to go. It’s now or never project ;).

My plan was to depart from Tunis on Friday evening, spend full day on Saturday exploring Sahara and other interesting places then headed back to Tunis on Sunday morning. Well, I am not a full time tourist so I just had weekend time to spend.

My transportation of choice was train. You can check the schedule and fare at http://www.sncft.com.tn/. At this time the English page is still under construction. For those of you who don’t speak French, Google language tool (http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en) will come handy. Other alternative to travel to Tozeur is by plane. There is an international airport in Tozeur serving local and international flight.

So I got onto the express train on Friday night at Tunis Barcelona train station (or La Garre Barcelona, in French). The train station was very close to Habib Bourguiba Avenue. There were 3 kinds of classes: 2, 1, and C which 1 and C being the more expensive and comfortable choices. However, even in these upper classes, the seat number printed on the ticket didn’t have matching number on the train. The result was obvious: no seat number. Seat anywhere you like. The train departed at 8:50 PM headed off to Tozeur as the last destination. I spend a night on the train trying to sleep but woke up almost each time the train stopped at the intermediate stations. The train went through Sousse, Sfax, Gafsa and finally arrived in Tozeur at 6 Saturday morning just when the dawn was breaking.

Well, I have arrived in Tozeur. That’s good. Next thing to do is to find the hotel. Luckily the hotel I booked, three stars Yadis Tozeur Oasis hotel, is in the city center and it was walking distance from Tozeur train station. The hotel receptionist was so kind to let me check in as I arrived, much earlier than normal check in time without additional charge. One more thing, by booking through their website, I got discount for about 40% from published rate (the rate they put on the receptionist desk, but I guessed this rate was rarely used at best unless some tourists just happened to arrive in Tozeur without prior hotel reservation and stuck in take it or leave it situation). By the way, locals know this hotel as Oasis hotel (not Yadis) since that’s what is shown on the hotel’s gate. The room I stayed was bit outdated, but it has balcony overseas the swimming pool and palm tree garden. Not bad for 54 TND per night. I booked through their website http://www.yadis.com/. Local travel agent, Travel Todo (http://www.traveltodo.com/) has also plenty of choices for hotel in Tunisia, sometimes much cheaper than international hotel booking website. But hey, I don’t get any cent by putting their web here ;). There maybe other good travel agents here but they are preferred travel agent for my company so I know them better. Of course both of above websites are in French (Google language tool, remember?)

I had booked a 4×4 vehicle for full day Sahara trip from a Tozeur tourist agency couple of days ago. It’s always good to plan ahead, right? So at 8 AM one 2006 Toyota Landcruiser parked in front of the hotel waiting. Without wasting time even for decent breakfast, I got on the car and start the journey. There are 2 options available for the full day trip: the Mountain Oasis and Ong Jemel (translated to Camel neck) trip and the Chott Jerid and Douz trip. I chose the first as it looked to have more things to see along the way. Would it be a wise decision? Let’s see. Let the good times roll!

Sa’if, the chauffeur, took us to the first place to visit during the Mountain Oasis and Ong Jemel trip. It was Chebika, northwest of Tozeur. It was a mountain oasis with palm trees, small bushes, canals which irrigated the oasis, and pools with waterfall. Pretty much like the typical oasis described in a text book. There was also a ruin village which was not inhabited anymore. From this village you could climb up to the hill through a hiking trail and the view from the top was amazing. You could see other oasis far below and other nice view. Nice place to take pictures to boast about in your friendster I suppose. Since the terrain sometimes getting rough, I suggest to wear a light sport shoes. Hey by the way, there was a big statue of mountain goat (or at least that’s what I thought it was) on the top of the hill. I didn’t know what the significance of it was, but it looked cool though.

If you need to figure out where on earth I’ve been travelling, here’s the map of Tozeur and surrounding area. And to prove that I really have been there enjoy some photos I took in Chebika. Click on each thumbnail picture to see it in bigger size.

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