Trip to Tozeur (Part IV)

Sahara Lounge and Ong El Jamel

Visited one of the newest adventure park in the heart of Tozeur at the back of the horse-cart. They built the parcour using the existing palm tree to entertain the tourist and rich-local people, why I said so ? Because, a cup of espresso cost almost double than the price in Switzerland. 7 Dinars for a cup of not fresh brew espresso, I think it's a "SCAM".

I didn't really enjoy this place, honestly, but seems like otehr friends did.

At night, we've got special entertainment. Dinner at the middle of the desert on the shooting spot of the STAR WARS.

It's a bumpy ride to arrive at Ong el Jamel. First, we entered the town of Nefta, then took turn in to the sandy bumpy path, and there were all the adrenaline ride begun (for me, plus we drove at night). After about an-hour ride, we arrived at a luminated spot in the middle of nowhere, and there was Yoda's house hahaha

We've been welcomed with the traditional dance, and thousand candles been spread out all along the path to lighten up our way. It's kind of cool, especially when we found out that our welcome drink for that night was Champagne...hmmmm

We've visited the "Star Wars" village, took pictures, hoovering around with our newly given cape (it's cool, we felt like vampires ourselves LOL), it's just a new experiences for me, got lost in the middle of the dessert but still feel super cool :)

The dinner was served in the tent, accompanied by traditional musics and singers. And all of sudden, it turned to Louis Armstrong's channel. At least, that what was I thinking at the beginning, no, it's a super cool Tunisian singers. He sangs those jazz songs just the way Armstrong sang it.

(to be continued...)

Trip to Tozeur (Part II)

Oasis Chebika

We leaved Tozeur to visit one of the famous Oasis - Chebika. It's an-hour something road trip, on a bumpy road, I even made a joke with my friend that I couldn't image if I was driving a Smart car instead sitting on the Toyota Land Cruiser LOL. Anyway, the view is magnificent, we even had chance to see the camel's feeding on the road side (without stopping our car).

Above is the picture of the Village of Chebika taken from the top of the hill, just behind it. It's one of the ancient village in Tozeur area, people lived in their traditional way of living, simple but interesting. Children ran around the street to waved hello to us when they say the line of about 60 4x4-car, what invaders we were.

Hike a bit left and right, we finally arrived in a passage which will led us to the real oasis. At the beginning, I was a bit disappointed when I arrived in a "sort of Oasis" place with dried canals. I was imagining what kind of scam was waiting for me after this, since I found more souvenir sellers than any drop of refreshing water. A bit more into the depth of the limestone wall, we arrived at the real Oasis, and this one is really a breathtaking one. It was WOW....awesome, paradise, reliefing...you name it.

Now I totally understand why in the history, they talked about Khalifa was desperate looking for Oasis in their cross-desert journey. It's a paradise in the middle of the dusty hell.

Leaving the Oasis, we were facing the rocky slope. Let me tell you a funny thing, there was a lady, worse of all, she was actually our guide, who wore a long skirt plus a high-heel boots, by the end, she had to took off her boots and walk bare feet until the parking LOL. Ok, back to business, so, according to the guide, we had to walk through the rocky slope, and passed a narrow pass to arrived at the Parking, what a complicated way. But look at the good side, we were actually arrived at the peak of the slope just in time for the sunset. It's one of the most beautiful sunset in mylife. The blend of colors contrast between sands, rocks, and sky.

(To be continued...)

Inside my camera's bag (for trip to Tozeur)

Today, I would like to share with you what I carry with me for my trip to the dessert of Tunisia. Since the weather in the desert is fairly fine (clear sky with abundant of sunlight almost 12-hour per day), I could go easily with my standard wide-angle lenses plus a "not so powerful" zoom as a company.

So my Canon EOS 5D mark II will be accompanied by EF 16-35mm 2.8L USM, EF 24-70mm 2.8L USM, EF 70-300mm 4.5-5.6 IS DO USM,  Flash EX-430, and my mini companion (during the gala dinner) PowerShot S60. Other necessary things to be taken with is 4 x 32GB CF card, lens cleaner and of course don't forget battery chargers for both cameras.

For those who has been visited a dessert, you might realise there are two main nature component in this extreme part of the world, the sand and sky. Sand and sky sometimes could make a magnific lighting for your landscape picture, but sometimes, they could ruin all. That's why, for a little help, I will also carry with me my polarization filter.

I am not a big fans of flash, but I have to carry them with me just in case I have to take some in-door picture during the gathering (don't forget, this is not 100% leisure trip for me *wink*).

* Novita *