Tunisia - The multi-day Sahara Festival in Douz

Tunisia - The multi-day Sahara Festival in Douz

We are a super-smart team, we book a pitch at the campsite in the centre of town. 

As soon as we arrive, we first discover that we are standing next to an illegal rubbish dump. In addition, the pitches are almost double sold, there is hardly any space for table and chairs. 

Okay, then let's get into the festival city life: We don't have to ask for directions, the acoustic guidance is clear.

Here, everyone honks, roars, shouts and whistles against each other, but still can't manage to drown out the noise of the procession. And we are right in the middle. For the beginning still okay, because of the badly slept night and the rising heat at some point difficult for me (If only I had a little of Gerd's coolness).

Instead of discovering the restaurants Traveller-style, we aim straight for the one restaurant we got as a recommendation from other travellers. Inner courtyard. Quiet. And once again, friendly people around us and delicious food on the table. 

Thanks to Jochen and Petra for the tip!

pure life 221223 09 47 014

pure life 221223 09 47 015

pure life 221223 09 47 016

pure life 221223 09 49 017

pure life 221223 09 49 018

pure life 221223 09 50 019

pure life 221223 09 55 022

pure life 221223 09 51 021

pure life 221223 09 56 023

pure life 221223 09 50 020

pure life 221223 09 58 024

pure life 221223 10 00 025

pure life 221223 10 01 026

In the afternoon, the action continues: apparently camel, horse and whatnot races take place on the festival grounds. 

People are crowded together in the blazing sun. Time to watch the people again. The festival is a huge gathering of people from Tunisia, Algeria and Libya. Everything is peace and quiet. No sign of border disputes. 

The stadium presenter also manages to bring us out of our sunshine lethargy again and again: loudly, with drums and in two or more languages (who knows exactly?) he calls out things, reports on the arrival of some minister or other and, I think, calls all the animals and riders by name, including their pedigrees. 

Two hours of speeches later: the races. But they are so fast that we don't even notice the first one: in no time, they are already past the grandstand.

We pay more attention at the next race: As the camels race past, we catch everything. Unfortunately, we also see how a jockey (is that what you actually call a camel?) almost hits his camel because the camel just doesn't want to go. The crowd booed and whistled, he jumped off and the camel was taken aside by a groom. Not nice.

We save ourselves the dog chase, we have seen enough (animal suffering) for today. We stroll slowly back, stroll through the makeshift Berber village and simply marvel at the colourful hustle and bustle. Somehow we find the hustle and bustle at such a festival almost nicer than the organised "highlights".

In the evening at Felix, a stupid "mimimi" argument ensues. The noise, the heat, the many animals that have to suffer and the masses of impressions lead to an overload in my head. We retreat, wait until the party music stops and an idea forms in my head: just get out of here. And I already have an idea. I told you: Team Super Smart.

pure life 221223 10 14 028

pure life 221223 10 02 027

pure life 221223 10 15 029

pure life 221223 10 29 030

pure life 221222 16 57 013

pure life 221222 16 08 012

pure life 221222 15 03 011

pure life 221222 15 02 010

pure life 221222 14 39 009

pure life 221222 14 38 008


Merci for "travelling with us

We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.

By the way, we are travelling through Iran. It's possible that we won't be writing posts at all or will be late. We first have to see if it works for us. And whether we can even manage to write down all the fantastic impressions in good time.

Do you think our travel experiences might be of interest to others? Then you can share the Share post quietly. By e-mail or however you want to do it.

In addition, if you haven't already done so, you can use our Newsletter subscribe. Here you will receive all our experiences in your mailbox whenever we publish something new or once a week on Fridays: live-pur.ch/newsletter

We are also very happy to hear your views, your tips or your questions. Just comment on the post!

 

Share:
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Rachel
Rachel
1 year ago

Oh,oh ...don't argue. ☝️
The space in Felix is too small for that and you don't have enough china! 🤣😂
Besides, what for ? 🤷

I couldn't pack this festival halligalli either.
Especially in these countries, as far as my experience allows, always a noisy affair with a lot of bustle .
This overtaxes the mind that tends towards calm and stillness. 😁
My next experience:
Too much silence and stillness makes you even more sensitive in this respect. 🥴
So, since I can't reread the text I already wrote because I can only see the last 3 lines, I hope there are no mistakes. 😂
Have a great day and take care of yourselves!
Kind regards from Racheli

en_GB