Day 8 – Into the Desert: From Ksar Jouamaa to Ksar Ghilane

There are certain days on a journey that you already know are going to be special before they have even begun. Today is one of those days.

We wake up in a place that can hardly be described as an ordinary accommodation. Ksar Jouamaa sits high on a rocky hill, surrounded by the barren landscape of southern Tunisia. The ancient fortified granary seems to have grown straight out of the rocks themselves. Last night, we watched the sun disappear behind the mountains from here. This morning, we are treated to the same landscape again, but now bathed in the soft light of sunrise.

Down by the cars, the first bags are already being loaded. Water, cameras, power banks and everything else we think we might need along the way goes with us, because today we will be leaving the inhabited world further and further behind.

We are heading into the desert.

Not for a quick photo stop at the edge of the sand. Our destination is Ksar Ghilane, a small oasis on the edge of the Grand Erg Oriental. There, we will exchange our rooms for tents and end the day in the middle of one of Tunisia’s most beautiful desert landscapes.

This is our desert day.

One Last Look at Ksar Jouamaa

Before we leave, we take a little more time to enjoy Ksar Jouamaa itself. It is tempting to jump straight into the cars after breakfast, but this is exactly the kind of place you do not want to leave in a hurry.

From the hilltop, we look out across a landscape where almost nothing interrupts the horizon. No high-rise buildings, hardly any roads and very few signs of modern habitation. Just mountains, rocks and endless open plains.

It is exactly the feeling we have been gradually working towards throughout this journey.

During the first few days, we were still surrounded by the bustle of Tunis, Sidi Bou Said and Kairouan. Then Tunisia slowly began to change. The towns became smaller, the traffic quieter and the landscape drier. Over the past few days, we have travelled through the region around Tataouine, Chenini, Douiret and the various ksour.

Today, even that world seems to be slowly disappearing behind us.

We climb into our SUVs and set off on what may well be one of the most adventurous stretches of our entire journey.

The World Becomes Emptier

The first kilometres immediately make it clear that this will not be an ordinary driving day.

The roads become smaller. Sometimes we are driving on asphalt; at other times, sand and dust have slowly begun to creep across the road. Buildings become increasingly rare and the landscape opens up around us.

Ahead, our line of SUVs moves through an enormous emptiness.

Every now and then, the vehicle in front briefly disappears into a cloud of dust. We leave a little more space and continue at an easy pace. Today is not about speed. In fact, rushing through a landscape like this would almost feel like a waste.

Because a large part of today’s experience is the journey itself.

We do not simply want to get from A to B as quickly as possible. The landscape is constantly changing around us. Rocky plains give way to increasingly dry stretches of land. The horizon seems to move further away, while the colours change with the light.

Every now and then, we stop somewhere beautiful.

Engines off. Doors open.

And suddenly, one thing stands out above everything else.

The silence.

No traffic. No city. No sound of people.

Just the wind.

It is a kind of silence that is almost impossible to find back home.

Naturally, the cameras come out. Because when you see our SUVs making their way through this landscape, the comparison is almost impossible to avoid.

This is starting to look suspiciously like Tatooine.

Deeper Towards the Sahara

As we continue, it becomes clear why we checked our vehicles and supplies carefully before leaving this morning. Petrol stations, shops and other facilities become increasingly scarce out here.

The sun is making its presence felt as well.

A desert day means carrying plenty of water, protecting ourselves from the sun and bringing clothing suitable for significant changes in temperature. Because no matter how warm it becomes during the day, once the sun disappears tonight, the temperature can drop surprisingly quickly.

Cameras and phones also deserve some extra attention today. Discovering that your battery is empty just as the sun begins to set over the Sahara would be rather unfortunate.

But apart from that, today is mostly about enjoying the experience.

The drive.

The dust.

The constantly changing landscape.

And the remarkable thought that, in our own vehicles, we are travelling deeper and deeper into southern Tunisia.

A Patch of Green in the Middle of Nowhere

After hours in which the landscape has become increasingly dry and empty, something strange happens.

Green appears on the horizon.

Palm trees.

Ksar Ghilane.

The oasis sits like a tiny green world in the middle of an enormous, dry landscape. The contrast is almost surreal. After kilometres of rock, dust and sand, there are suddenly date palms and water.

Ksar Ghilane lies on the edge of the Grand Erg Oriental, the enormous sea of dunes that stretches from Tunisia into Algeria. Here, the landscape changes once again. The rocky, barren plains we crossed earlier in the day gradually give way to the image most people have in mind when they think of the Sahara: sand and dunes stretching towards the horizon.

And right there is where we will spend the night.

We park the cars and make our way to our tents.

Tonight, there is no traditional hotel.

No room at the end of a long corridor and no lift down to reception.

Tonight, we sleep in the desert.

Sand Is Part of the Experience

A tented camp in the Sahara sounds romantic – and it is – but desert romance comes with one unavoidable ingredient:

sand.

Sand in your shoes. Sand in your bag. Sand that somehow manages to appear in places where you have absolutely no idea how it got there.

Naturally, the facilities here are simpler than those of a hotel, and phone reception is not something you can automatically rely on in an environment like this.

But nobody comes to Ksar Ghilane for high-speed internet.

The luxury here is something entirely different.

It is standing beside your tent on the edge of the Sahara, looking out across a landscape that seems almost endless.

After the long drive, there is time to take in our surroundings, have a drink and simply realise where we have ended up.

Not every moment of a road trip needs to be filled.

Some places just need a little time to sink in.

Towards a Roman Fort

Later in the afternoon, we put on our walking shoes and prepare for a very different kind of excursion.

Because somewhere among the dunes lies something you might not expect to find here:

a Roman fort.

The ruins are known as Tisavar, a reminder that this seemingly empty region was already part of a much larger world almost two thousand years ago. The Romans built a fortified outpost here on the southern frontier of their North African territories.

The idea alone is remarkable.

After days in which Phoenician, Roman, Berber and Islamic history have repeatedly crossed our path, we once again encounter traces of the Roman world – this time in the middle of the desert.

We make our way towards the fort as the light slowly begins to change.

Walking through sand is, of course, rather different from following an ordinary footpath. The pace naturally slows, while the views around us become increasingly spectacular.

Every now and then, we turn around.

Behind us, the oasis is becoming smaller. The palm trees slowly turn into a thin green line on the horizon.

Ahead of us lie the dunes.

And somewhere among them stands a fort almost two thousand years old.

Waiting for the Best Light

At Tisavar, we take our time.

Not only to explore our surroundings, but also because the most beautiful moment of the day is still to come.

The sun slowly begins to sink.

The harsh light of the afternoon disappears and the colours of the desert seem to change by the minute. Yellow turns to gold. Gold becomes orange. The shadows grow longer and the shapes of the dunes become more pronounced.

The cameras come out again.

But after a while, they will probably disappear again too.

Because some moments do not need to be experienced through a screen.

For Star Wars fans, it is almost impossible not to think of Luke Skywalker here. Of that famous image outside the Lars Homestead: Luke looking towards the twin suns of Tatooine, dreaming about whatever might be waiting for him somewhere beyond the horizon.

We do not have two suns here.

One turns out to be more than enough.

And as it slowly disappears behind the Tunisian desert, it is difficult to imagine anywhere that could capture the feeling of Tatooine more perfectly than this.

Back to the Oasis

As the light begins to fade, we make our way back towards Ksar Ghilane.

The temperature changes almost unnoticed. The heat of the day begins to disappear, and suddenly that sweater or jacket that seemed slightly unnecessary this morning turns out to have been a very good idea after all.

In the distance, the palm trees and the first lights of the camp appear again.

After a day filled with dust, sand and kilometres through an increasingly empty landscape, our little oasis almost feels like coming home.

Dinner awaits us back at camp.

No traffic noise in the background, no busy boulevard and no city carrying on late into the night.

Just the oasis, our tents and the dark desert surrounding us.

And once darkness truly falls, something else appears above us – something that requires no planning at all.

The night sky.

Far away from major cities and their light pollution, the sky suddenly seems much bigger.

A Night on Tatooine

This is exactly why Ksar Ghilane is part of our route.

Not because we want to tick off as many locations as possible today.

Quite the opposite.

Today is about less.

Less traffic.
Fewer buildings.
Fewer facilities.
Less rushing.

And perhaps, because of that, more travelling.

We are sitting in the middle of the Tunisian desert after a day of driving along small roads and dusty tracks. Our SUVs are parked a little further away. The Sahara surrounds us and tonight we will sleep in tents.

Over the past few days, we have visited places where Star Wars was actually filmed.

Today, we do not even need that.

Because it is difficult to imagine getting much closer to the feeling George Lucas was searching for when southern Tunisia became Tatooine.

Tomorrow, our journey continues.

But tonight, there is nowhere else we need to be.

Just dinner, stories, a sky full of stars and the simple pleasure of realising that we are actually here.

A night in the middle of the Sahara.

A night on Tatooine.