Wednesday, November 02, 2005
English little
On a Friday we drive to the border, a little excited and knowing that other travelers have spent hours waiting before all was arranged. We had no idea that Libya is one hour ahead of Tunisia so we arrive 1,5 later than agreed. That does not mean our guide is waiting for us. No there is simply no one there. We easily leave Tunisia, because foreigners are allowed to go first. Thank you, we will not take a place in the enormous and chaotic queues but enjoy our special treatment.
Other guides wait under the huge portrait of Khadaffi and help us to park behind some other tourist cars. They even make telephone calls but no one answers…. Fortunately the highest official here speaks some English and calls the manager of SariLibya travel his friend so we keep some faith. All of a sudden a men shows up hardly speaking any English but carrying our names in his papers and starts arranging things. But Dutch turns out to be translated as German and that is certainly not in our passports…. Big problems, hours go by, Friday is here like a Sunday in Europe, and 5 hours later they tell us to return to Tunisia and come back the next day. Hans does not accept this, speaks to people on the telephone, the highest official, walks around with Rik to speed up the process and it helps!!! Finally we get one stamp in his passport and 2 license plates to cover our Dutch plates, change 200 Euro for 32 notes of 10 Libyan dinars each and have a guide with limited luggage and limited knowledge of English in our car for the next 17 days.
The first kilometers to Sabrata are not easily forgotten as the road has large holes, Libyans make a 3 lane out of a 2 lane road and think that other drivers know where they go. No lights are used to show they are turning right or left, even if you approach they will still enter the main road from the side. All signs if any are in Arabic and therefore it is a complete madhouse. But when we get to Sabratha our guide asks for the hostel and the receptionist is Moroccan and speaks French. What a relief not to depend on a guide you can hardly communicate with. Once the camper is parked in the garden and we enjoy a cup of tea, soup and the view on the old Roman theatre we relax a bit. Okay, the first day in Libya was long and tough, but the team did a great job and the children behaved very well.
The next morning we walk to the old ruins and enjoy the huge theatre the most. Sabratha is situated on the coast and that is also nice to see. The new town of Sabratha is not our cup of tea so we only focuse on buying bread at the baker. Just try to find a building with a high and dark chimney on the top. A whole bag of freshly baked bread for ¼ dinar is not bad and highly subsidized.
We try to follow our schedule this time and continue along the coast around the capital Tripoli to the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna. At lunchtime we already park our car in parking area no 1 and can sleep there for the night. No other travelers around, but a lot of other tourists around to see the Roman remains. We wait for the next day, but it is hot and humid and the road in front is like a highway. Traffic continues all night so we are the first to visit the site the next morning and wander through the Arch of Septimus Severus on the old roads to the enormous bath house of Hadrian, large churches, market squares with marble fishes that Bart enjoys and are very impressed. Especially by the size of everything. We find a toilet area where the Romans obviously sat together to do 2 businesses at the same time, as there were no doors but everyone sat in a circle!
After such a bad night it was time to change the schedule and leave for the mountains. Our guide lives in Yefren so we decided to drive there. He could sleep at home and we park in front of his house under some olive trees. Only 24 degrees in the afternoon was so nice after all the heat. It was a long and exhausting day but the idea of sleeping in the sleeping bag because it would be really cold was quite attractive! The next day we started at 9 to drive towards Ghadames. We never thought to cover 600 kms that day but we did. There was no place to see and while Hans keeps the boys happy with fruit, stories and drawings I drive. As everything went so fast we just kept on going and after Derj we see dark clouds and expect rain. What a mistake to make: it was a sandstorm heading our direction… I could hardly see the road in front of me but because the locals continued I turn the lights on and continue as well. It seems we drive for hours covered in the sand but shortly after another police check the wind dies and by the time we reach Ghadames all is visible again. Around 4 pm Hans parks the car in the sand on the campsite of the Al-Waha hotel. Stuck for the first time…With some help from French campers we soon get out and find a better spot with electricity and even a tree with some shade. The desert is a lot more empty here then it was in Tunisia. Even the oasis town of Ghadames is pretty barren compared to Tozeur or Douz. There is no place to sleep for our guide, we offer him a bed in our camper, but he prefers to sleep under our sun/rain cover beside the car.
It is nice to meet other travelers even if they travel in a group. We even get to see their program and copy some of their sleeping spots into our guidebook. Until now I only met one South African who was lucky enough to travel without a guide on a 21 day transit visa issued in Bern, Switzerland. Everyone else travels with a guide. Other French we meet even pay 50 euro a day plus food and accommodation so we call ourselves lucky paying half of their price.
We explore the new city to by fruit and vegetables and are pleasantly surprised at the various items for sale. It seems that it is even easier to shop here than it was in Tunisia. Nowadays Ghadames has 2 internet cafes but the connections are slow and only half of the Dutch update is copied from a disk, the other half is lost and later I try 3 other computers they all fail. Too bad, because we have pictures we want to upload to the site. Anyway being so far from the world where the radio lost contact, the mobile phone is useless it is already a miracle there is an internet connection at all.
The old city of Ghadames is a treasure. Abandoned in the late 80’s for modern houses it is still maintained and people start to return in the hot summer months. The houses are built very close to each other and there are many covered streets. It is surprisingly cool when you wander around. Also the skylights every few metres create a special atmosphere. There used to be 7 families each with their own living areas, mosques, squares for parties and gatherings surrounded by walls protecting them from strangers. The water source was equally divided and this system was so precise they even used it to measure their time in the past.
Bart and Rik have the time of their lives exploring the narrow and sometimes very dark streets. Nicely decorated doors show that the owner made his trip to Mecca and small holes contain lamps to lighten the streets even during the day. Sometimes the route brings us along some walled gardens, with small streams of water and the boys get all excited about that. We easily spend 3 hours and see one house from the inside. It is decorated with a lot of copperware, various false windows, cupboards in a wild mix of colours and carpets and cushions on the floor. Quite comfortable for a house in the desert.
The decision is taken, we head for more desert and go to the south. Already at home we discussed whether to go or not go. As we have seen enough ruins by now we like a sand dune experience. Not with our own campervan of course. But we can follow a normal road all the way to Tekerkiba and hire a 4 WD over there. To get there we drive 2 days in a row, not much to see, some wild dromedaries and some sand dunes trying to cover the road. With an average speed of 120 km hour you can get a long way and we spend the night behind the police station of Al Shwareef. Rik and I get invited to see the dromedaries that are kept by some locals and receive a bag full of peppers, mint leaves, onions and other fresh vegetables from their garden. One of them speaks some English, his sister and brother not at all. Still we have a nice time although Rik is somewhat afraid from their baby dog of 7 weeks old.
At Tekerkiba camp site the sand dunes nearly hit the campervan. When we lay in bed we can see the sand dunes, what a view. The next day we hike up through the sand and enjoy the daily fruit in this magnificent place. Bart runs up and down the hill and Rik tries to follow. We are happy we are here to enjoy this experience.
The next day we visit the 4 Ubari lakes in a Toyota 4 WD with the manager of the campsite who speaks a little English as our driver. He knows his way around and the car is quite new compared to some of the cars we see over here. Sometimes I feel like being in a roller coaster when we go up and down the sand dunes. Hans sits in front and I am quite happy in the back with Rik and Bart next to me. Bart is all excited and Rik says: sand, everywhere sand. As far as the eye can see there are only sand dunes in a red colour. We are certainly not the only visitors here, cars are visible regularly and all head for the same lakes. Mavo lake is our first lake, a miracle to see a real lake in the sand, surrounded by palm trees and reed, birds and high sand dunes right next to the lake. The next lake Gebrouin even had a village until 1991 and people still go there for a swim. They float in the greenish water but we prefer to play with the sand and enjoy this beautiful place. Have lunch, enjoy the music some people play on a flute and a drum and have a great time. The third lake, Um-al-Maa is supposed to be the nicest, but the light is not very favorable and therefore we spend more time playing in the sand building a real fortress than taking pictures. The last lake is completely dry, trees are still there but only mud in the middle. Hopefully not all the lakes will end like this one.
A little shaken and certainly tired but very pleased with the whole experience we get back to our own car only to leave this special place with a certain sadness. Our Libyan trip is finished, but we still have five days to go and a lot of kilometers to cover.
Other guides wait under the huge portrait of Khadaffi and help us to park behind some other tourist cars. They even make telephone calls but no one answers…. Fortunately the highest official here speaks some English and calls the manager of SariLibya travel his friend so we keep some faith. All of a sudden a men shows up hardly speaking any English but carrying our names in his papers and starts arranging things. But Dutch turns out to be translated as German and that is certainly not in our passports…. Big problems, hours go by, Friday is here like a Sunday in Europe, and 5 hours later they tell us to return to Tunisia and come back the next day. Hans does not accept this, speaks to people on the telephone, the highest official, walks around with Rik to speed up the process and it helps!!! Finally we get one stamp in his passport and 2 license plates to cover our Dutch plates, change 200 Euro for 32 notes of 10 Libyan dinars each and have a guide with limited luggage and limited knowledge of English in our car for the next 17 days.
The first kilometers to Sabrata are not easily forgotten as the road has large holes, Libyans make a 3 lane out of a 2 lane road and think that other drivers know where they go. No lights are used to show they are turning right or left, even if you approach they will still enter the main road from the side. All signs if any are in Arabic and therefore it is a complete madhouse. But when we get to Sabratha our guide asks for the hostel and the receptionist is Moroccan and speaks French. What a relief not to depend on a guide you can hardly communicate with. Once the camper is parked in the garden and we enjoy a cup of tea, soup and the view on the old Roman theatre we relax a bit. Okay, the first day in Libya was long and tough, but the team did a great job and the children behaved very well.
The next morning we walk to the old ruins and enjoy the huge theatre the most. Sabratha is situated on the coast and that is also nice to see. The new town of Sabratha is not our cup of tea so we only focuse on buying bread at the baker. Just try to find a building with a high and dark chimney on the top. A whole bag of freshly baked bread for ¼ dinar is not bad and highly subsidized.
We try to follow our schedule this time and continue along the coast around the capital Tripoli to the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna. At lunchtime we already park our car in parking area no 1 and can sleep there for the night. No other travelers around, but a lot of other tourists around to see the Roman remains. We wait for the next day, but it is hot and humid and the road in front is like a highway. Traffic continues all night so we are the first to visit the site the next morning and wander through the Arch of Septimus Severus on the old roads to the enormous bath house of Hadrian, large churches, market squares with marble fishes that Bart enjoys and are very impressed. Especially by the size of everything. We find a toilet area where the Romans obviously sat together to do 2 businesses at the same time, as there were no doors but everyone sat in a circle!
After such a bad night it was time to change the schedule and leave for the mountains. Our guide lives in Yefren so we decided to drive there. He could sleep at home and we park in front of his house under some olive trees. Only 24 degrees in the afternoon was so nice after all the heat. It was a long and exhausting day but the idea of sleeping in the sleeping bag because it would be really cold was quite attractive! The next day we started at 9 to drive towards Ghadames. We never thought to cover 600 kms that day but we did. There was no place to see and while Hans keeps the boys happy with fruit, stories and drawings I drive. As everything went so fast we just kept on going and after Derj we see dark clouds and expect rain. What a mistake to make: it was a sandstorm heading our direction… I could hardly see the road in front of me but because the locals continued I turn the lights on and continue as well. It seems we drive for hours covered in the sand but shortly after another police check the wind dies and by the time we reach Ghadames all is visible again. Around 4 pm Hans parks the car in the sand on the campsite of the Al-Waha hotel. Stuck for the first time…With some help from French campers we soon get out and find a better spot with electricity and even a tree with some shade. The desert is a lot more empty here then it was in Tunisia. Even the oasis town of Ghadames is pretty barren compared to Tozeur or Douz. There is no place to sleep for our guide, we offer him a bed in our camper, but he prefers to sleep under our sun/rain cover beside the car.
It is nice to meet other travelers even if they travel in a group. We even get to see their program and copy some of their sleeping spots into our guidebook. Until now I only met one South African who was lucky enough to travel without a guide on a 21 day transit visa issued in Bern, Switzerland. Everyone else travels with a guide. Other French we meet even pay 50 euro a day plus food and accommodation so we call ourselves lucky paying half of their price.
We explore the new city to by fruit and vegetables and are pleasantly surprised at the various items for sale. It seems that it is even easier to shop here than it was in Tunisia. Nowadays Ghadames has 2 internet cafes but the connections are slow and only half of the Dutch update is copied from a disk, the other half is lost and later I try 3 other computers they all fail. Too bad, because we have pictures we want to upload to the site. Anyway being so far from the world where the radio lost contact, the mobile phone is useless it is already a miracle there is an internet connection at all.
The old city of Ghadames is a treasure. Abandoned in the late 80’s for modern houses it is still maintained and people start to return in the hot summer months. The houses are built very close to each other and there are many covered streets. It is surprisingly cool when you wander around. Also the skylights every few metres create a special atmosphere. There used to be 7 families each with their own living areas, mosques, squares for parties and gatherings surrounded by walls protecting them from strangers. The water source was equally divided and this system was so precise they even used it to measure their time in the past.
Bart and Rik have the time of their lives exploring the narrow and sometimes very dark streets. Nicely decorated doors show that the owner made his trip to Mecca and small holes contain lamps to lighten the streets even during the day. Sometimes the route brings us along some walled gardens, with small streams of water and the boys get all excited about that. We easily spend 3 hours and see one house from the inside. It is decorated with a lot of copperware, various false windows, cupboards in a wild mix of colours and carpets and cushions on the floor. Quite comfortable for a house in the desert.
The decision is taken, we head for more desert and go to the south. Already at home we discussed whether to go or not go. As we have seen enough ruins by now we like a sand dune experience. Not with our own campervan of course. But we can follow a normal road all the way to Tekerkiba and hire a 4 WD over there. To get there we drive 2 days in a row, not much to see, some wild dromedaries and some sand dunes trying to cover the road. With an average speed of 120 km hour you can get a long way and we spend the night behind the police station of Al Shwareef. Rik and I get invited to see the dromedaries that are kept by some locals and receive a bag full of peppers, mint leaves, onions and other fresh vegetables from their garden. One of them speaks some English, his sister and brother not at all. Still we have a nice time although Rik is somewhat afraid from their baby dog of 7 weeks old.
At Tekerkiba camp site the sand dunes nearly hit the campervan. When we lay in bed we can see the sand dunes, what a view. The next day we hike up through the sand and enjoy the daily fruit in this magnificent place. Bart runs up and down the hill and Rik tries to follow. We are happy we are here to enjoy this experience.
The next day we visit the 4 Ubari lakes in a Toyota 4 WD with the manager of the campsite who speaks a little English as our driver. He knows his way around and the car is quite new compared to some of the cars we see over here. Sometimes I feel like being in a roller coaster when we go up and down the sand dunes. Hans sits in front and I am quite happy in the back with Rik and Bart next to me. Bart is all excited and Rik says: sand, everywhere sand. As far as the eye can see there are only sand dunes in a red colour. We are certainly not the only visitors here, cars are visible regularly and all head for the same lakes. Mavo lake is our first lake, a miracle to see a real lake in the sand, surrounded by palm trees and reed, birds and high sand dunes right next to the lake. The next lake Gebrouin even had a village until 1991 and people still go there for a swim. They float in the greenish water but we prefer to play with the sand and enjoy this beautiful place. Have lunch, enjoy the music some people play on a flute and a drum and have a great time. The third lake, Um-al-Maa is supposed to be the nicest, but the light is not very favorable and therefore we spend more time playing in the sand building a real fortress than taking pictures. The last lake is completely dry, trees are still there but only mud in the middle. Hopefully not all the lakes will end like this one.
A little shaken and certainly tired but very pleased with the whole experience we get back to our own car only to leave this special place with a certain sadness. Our Libyan trip is finished, but we still have five days to go and a lot of kilometers to cover.
# posted by Hans, Monique, Bart en Rik @ 4:53 pm 
