Tunisia - Day 5 Sahara Desert Tour Pt.1

Day 5 of our holiday was part of an incredible 2 day Sahara desert excursion. This particular excursion is a "must do" if you go to Tunisia as it covers a lot of the main tourist attraction including El Jem Colosseum, various Star Wars film sets, a camel ride in the Sahara, a visit to the Sahara salt lake, local shopping bazaar, mosques and so on. The excursion included all of your food, travel and attraction entry for the 2 days and only cost £100 each which I thought was amazing. So the only thing we had to spend was drink money and any souvenirs we purchased on the adventure.

I was so desperate to make sure we did this excursion that I actually booked it before we left home (something I never do) in order to make sure we got a place. You can imagine the stress I then had when our original holiday got cancelled and suddenly I had to try and get the dates for this trip moved accordingly. Anyway the excursion did not disappoint and everyone seemed to enjoy it despite spending a lot of time on a coach looking at endless plains of olive tree after olive tree after olive tree (luckily the coach was air conditioned as the some of the places we visited had really high temperatures definitely touching the 40 degree mark!

Anyway I am not going to write in detail about Day 1 as there are a lot of pictures and they kind of explain the whole day better than my poor English. 

First stop was El Jem Colosseum where the film Gladiator was shot.

I think it is second only to the great Colosseum in Rome and seated 30,000 people in its day.

Every angle just looks breathtaking.

From the outside it doesn't look that huge. But once inside you start to appreciate the scale.

Luckily we found a shady side of the Colosseum which almost made exploring bearable.

Inside looks just as incredible as outside.

You can venture under the Colosseum where the Gladiators and animals would have made the entrance on to the battle field.

Imagine standing here and waiting to go and fight to the death!

Tiny cell like rooms under the Colosseum housed the gladiators.

As well as underneath the Colosseum you can go up 3 or 4 levels to really grasp the scale of the place.

The height of the corridors around the outer circumference and huge.

View of the very top. Tina didn't join us due to her asthma and Josh stayed down the bottom as he was too lazy and too hot.

Their loss...

Holly loved exploring the Colosseum.

More views from the top.

Me, Holly, Brandon and the Boonie.

Some of the Colosseum is still ruins and some appears to have been restored.

Holly and Brandon at El Jem.

Me and H.

Finally we meet up with the other two.

I wish this photo could tell you just how bloody hot it was here!

A shady family picture at El Jem.

More of the outside.

Me and Josh at El Jem.

I asked someone to take a picture of us as a family. Not the greatest shot but then they did give me a weird look with the "Dad-cam".

The three kids at El Jem.

Our next stop was some of the mountain caves which were used in Star Wars.

Surprisingly the cave rooms were actually very cool considering the Sahara heat.

Inside was small but they had the basics. This looks like a lounge area.

We got to sample this delicious bread which you dipped in a honey / olive oil mix followed by a warm mint tea.

One of the cave bedrooms.

Holly with a locals hat on.

I think Brandon wouldn't have minded trying this.

Basic kitchen area.

View from above looking down in to the cave rooms.

Absolutely in the middle of nowhere.

I think these 3 had enough and wanted the coach air con again.

But cruel old Dad makes them stand in the desert heat for more pictures.

If they were worried about the heat then they should have had a boonie.

One of the camels chilling outside.

Next stop was Matmama for a Star Wars themed lunch.

Joshua and Brandon looking out to the wilderness.

Literally.....

A cave restaurant for some tasty local food for lunch.

Then it was more Star Wars set exploring.

I need to re-watch the films now to see where all these places were used.

I was more excited about seeing things like this in the middle of the desert than the kids were.

The Star Wars bar.

The kids though my Boonie was bad!

Josh with Princess Leia.

Holly with the Storm Trooper.

Tina with Jabba (no link honestly!).

I get the cool Han Solo.

Only fitting that Little H gets Yoda.

Brandon and C3-PO.

Holly and R2-D2.

Holly and a Jawa.

Me and Chewbacca - who is the more hairy????

Can you spot me and H?

Our next stop was an evening camel ride in the Sahara. So me and the boys went and got fitted up for appropriate head gear for the grand price of about £2.00 each!

Then Holly and Tina caught wind and decided they wanted to also get one.

They actually work relly, really well in the desert.

Holly's finished head gear.

Of course Holly and Tina had to get matching.

All 5 of us ready for our camel ride in the desert.

After a brief guide as to how to ride a camel, Brandon was the first one up.

Then big Josh.

Holly wasn't really sure about the camel ride. But it would have meant sitting around on her own for an hour or so.

We 5 King's ready to ride.

Joshua's camel getting friendly with my leg.

Holly absolutely loved the experience.

Tina still looking a little uneasy.

I was born for this stuff!

Up the snout of Joshua's camel.

Josh and Brandon exploring the Sahara.

My view for the next hour or so.

Holly became a natural.

Tina leading the way.

Unlike Egypt they didn't offer me any camels in place of Tina!

Out in the middle of the Sahara.

The sun started to set towards the end of Day 1.

Brandon was scheming a camel racing league business for back home - launching in Cheltenham.

I got this great picture of a camel yawning which makes it look really aggressive.

The sand dunes of the Sahara with a wavy texture.

The head gear was £10 (for all 5 of us) very well spent.

After giving the camels a short rest we were off on our way back.

You have to hold on well when they lift themselves up from the floor.

Brandon with his GT Racing Camel.

Coming to the end of a really great day.

More of the two boys.

Few picks of me as I had the camera. So instead here is my camel.

My two ladies.

At the end of Day 1 we settled in to our overnight hotel for some dinner and a late night dip in the pool.

Only a small pool but it was open 24 hours a day. So we had a quick dip before dinner and then late in the evening as well.

Joshua dive bombing in the pool.

The hotel was nice and amazingly they had a family room so all 5 of us were in the same room for once.