The expedition diaries Tunisia (15-28 April 2003)                                  If you want to have photo or video materials about Tunisia - write us a letter.

Salt lakes and oases The Russian people imagine the Africa basing on the stills of the movie "White Sun of the Desert". A long chain of stretched dunes, gilded in sunbeams, rushing "from anywhere" sandy storms, inaudible deliberate steps of a caravan of camels, lulling and weakening heat and tragic lack of water. A mirage comes into sight from time to time or else, quite by chance, an attracting oasis. In point of fact, the desert conceives not only this. You come across a mixture of Berber settlements hidden between the hills. The Berber's fortresses "ksars" are likely to penetrate the rocks all along with houses of "troglodytes" materializing in the neighbourhood of Matmata. This is quite a suitable place for romantic people, fortune hunters, experienced or inexperienced travellers, fans of "soft" and "hard-hitting" extreme, and happy-go-lucky tourists. Everyone can choose a program to his liking. The main thing we found out is that there are three types of the Sahara - stony, sandy one and the Sahara of salt lakes. "Congealed" dunes are appropriate to stony desert. The pressed sand grows firm, alternating with stones, clay and sandstone. A wide range of vegetation, sickly bushes, grass, cactuses, thorns dominate the landscape of stony Sahara. In general, you get familiar with different kinds of plant life. Sandy Sahara visualizes close to Douz. It conforms to the image you bear in mind about this type of desert. Never-ending, almost white dunes stretch out into the horizon. The Sahara of salt lakes emerges on your coming down the Atlas Mountains. It covers a wide area. The both sides of so-called roadway are occupied by "shotts" - salt lakes. To tell the truth, a very monotonous panorama is around you, muddy greenish water looks like chlorinated water of a pool. You feel encouraged to swim, keeping from swallowing it. The salt dried by the sun forms a plain flat surface. A light optical illusion towers above it due to the heat. Mirages are looming in the air refracted by evaporations. An isolated lop-sided whitish bus similar to a mirage sticks out of the salt in the middle of a lake. A sudden question squeezes into your mind: what kind of inexperienced driver managed to overdrive a good car there. However, the situation becomes clear to you rather quickly: our photographer Tatyana attempted to leave the road for strolling on an apparent firm surface. This might have been ended in a tragic way. A deceptive hard soil of the dry salt turned out a bog. While a Frenchmen succeeded in running to her rescue, Tatyana was being quagmired up to the waist. The greatest salt lake of 5000 square km is called Shott el Jerid. The researchers suppose it part of the sea million years ago. Gerodot had described it as "the Trintonis river". The Arabs regarded it as "lake of death". For the reason that caravans vanished into thin air very often, in close proximity to the lake. They went somewhere, and, suddenly, changed their itinerary before they disappeared with no trace eventually. It was due to mirages teasing travellers that got a touch of the sun with illusive, but convincing visions: fresh crystal clear water, shadow of spreading trees, and enjoyable cool air of an oasis which had been awaited for so long. As a matter of fact, we gazed long enough at salty water (far from satisfying our need for liquids) and at optical illusions. We feel like finding ourselves as quickly as possible in fresh atmosphere of an oasis. And here you are welcome - annoying heat gives place to murmuring water in sources and fountains. Fresh air of gardens where "degla" (dates) grow named also "light and honey fingers". "At first sight all oases are alike, but in fact they are quite different" - the locals assure us. Anyhow, we have a devilish pleasure to get there after the day of races. Are you looking forward to taking a look at the most "oustanding" oases? Memorize their names: Nefta, Tozer, Gafsa, Shebika, Gabes, Kebili and Douz. These parts gather exterior shootings of films on biblical themes. For example, our itinerary runs not far away from a ground. Some scenes of the well-known film "Star wars" were shot in its dunes. You can come across the rests of those spacecrafts and the constructed scenery lying till now. The sand covers them. Next: >>>  Douz, white gates to the desert

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