We woke up in Douz to a cloudy sky and hazy air. This was strong indication to me of an impending sandstorm in Douz and most likely a sandstorm already underway down south in Ksar Ghilane. Maciej and I got up and got ready to go. Finally at around 8 we knocked on the girl’s door to find that they were still asleep. It took us a bit of effort to roust them from their sleep. Xiyun made a bunch of funny noises waking up, as always. Finally, we all were ready to go at around 830. We pulled out of Douz, after getting gas, at 9am.
We ran into a large group of camels crossing the road. We jumped out to get some pictures. Marie ran off after them and I took a few pictures. It was pretty funny. It was at this point that I realized that Maciej is very photogenic and can always strike the right pose for a photo. It’s something about Europeans! They always are great photographic subjects!
To get to the pipeline road, the road that we would follow to Ksar Ghilane, we had to backtrack about 60 km on the road to Matmata. This is a long, straight, and flat road with very little traffic meaning the perfect place for Xiyun and I to learn how to drive stick shift! I took a turn first, practicing on a nice flat and straight stretch. It took me a little bit of effort to remember to let up on the gas as I pushed the clutch in to shift to the next gear but I started getting the hang of it. Now maybe I’ll be able to drive the tractor better on my parents’ ranch. Next it was Xiyun’s turn. The other three of us in the car were really stressed out with her driving. After a short stint with her driving, we decided that she wasn’t going to drive anymore during the trip. I offered to drive if absolutely necessary but I said that I’d prefer one of the more experienced clutch drivers to drive. Marie said she’d drive all of the off-road sections as she had recent experience in the exact same car in Morocco.
The road to Ksar Ghilane is a two lane gravel and sand affair. It’s called the pipeline road and stretches from the tip of Cap Bon all the way to the southern most point of Tunisia. It parallels a major gas pipeline from southern Algerian all the way up to Cap Bon where the pipeline dives underwater and crosses the sea to Sicily and then on to Italy. It’s a well maintained section of road as equipment continually has to move up and down it to repair and maintain the pipeline. Contrary to what people in Douz or Touzer or Djerba or Tataouine or any other tourist place will tell you, it’s actually a fine road that, for all but one or two places, can easily be traversed by a skilled driver in a Peugeot 206. This is a picture of a refinery in the middle of the desert that we passed on the pipeline road.
The farther we progressed south the oranger the sky and the land got. We stopped a couple of times for pee breaks and to let 4×4 convoys pass us. This is one of the main routes that the land rovers ply in Tunisia. Evidently it’s fun and exciting to drive this road for tourists down to Ksar Ghilane. The road would not be a challenge at all to drive in a land rover. Now if they were doing it every day in a Peugeot 206, then I’d be impressed.
On our way out of Douz we had passed a military truck carrying about 10 soldiers on its way to somewhere. At one point when we were stopped for a break, this truck rumbled past us on its way south along the pipeline road. We jumped back in the car as quick as we could and chased off after it, passing it on a good portion of road. We figured that if we got stuck, they could help us get out. It was a good thing that we did that because five minutes later, we were stuck in the sand!
The military truck rumbled up behind us, saw our predicament, unloaded, and in a matter of minutes we had six Tunisian military men helping us push our car out of the sand. The leader of the detachment of soldiers drove our car out of the sand with amazing reckless grace. Marie asked them to stay behind us in case we got stuck again. They said we shouldn’t have any more problems and that there was only one particularly bad spot on the road and that this was it. Reassured, we continued on our way. It was very interesting that all of the soldiers appeared to be in their mid 40’s or older. Either the sands of the south make people age very prematurely or this was a patrol of the elders of the Tunisian military. It’s unfortunate that i didn’t get a picture of the Tunisian military but I’m sure that it would have been illegal somehow.
About twenty minutes after being assisted by the Tunisian military, we came to the crossroads to Ksar Ghilane. Much to our surprise, the road was paved! Sixteen beautiful kilometers of two lane road all the way out to Ksar Ghilane. We stopped for a few pictures at the crossroads and the roared on to the oasis.
