TRAVEL

The journey to Bahr bela ma.

The journey to Bahr bela ma. This journey lies somewhat in the past but the recollection of it very much in the present. Since then I suppose things have changed in the sea without water. Beautiful and dangerous they said. They spoke about fascination and stressed at the same time its relentlessness against living creatures. All in all, such slogans were capable of boosting my thirst for knowledge and of enhancing my curiosity about foreign cultures. At that time I was an easy to influence adolescent who got involved in a desert adventure somewhat naïf and careless. Today’s travellers drive comfortably in convoys in special off-road vehicles equipped with gps and consider everything as being an adventure. I was looking for an adventure too at that time – forty years ago as I headed towards Tunisia officially called al-Dschumhurija at – the Republic of Tunisia. Was the travel schedule favourable? Today I very much doubt it. On leaving the pleasant, air-conditioned plane a wave of hot air engulfed me – until then for me an unknown phenomenon and my body promptly reacted to this aggression: just a few steps and I was drenched in sweat and felt numb. A mini bus belonging to the hotel took the tourist party to Monastir, the former Phoenician- roman Ruspina. The driver was an amiable gentleman from the Maghreb who had been probably instructed by the hotel management to be polite and courteous with solvent clientele. Later I was to learn that the natives were good hosts through and through and invited, with no after thoughts, people to “brique” - a thin chapatti with all sorts of edibles and served folded in two.. We did not have much time to get used to it but at least we had enough to enjoy the ceremony of drinking tea. Strong, aromatic peppermint tea is drunk at all times of the day and is also used as a medicament. The next day there was an excursion to Tunis to see Medina – the historic city and the adjacent Souk. The very fact of diving into the labyrinth of lanes with numerous stands, penetrating odours, merchants’ cries was enough to disarray your intellect. Then there was the bleating of the sheep being driven through the crowds. Later on still bleeding clumps of meat were hung up on the stands and were immediately covered by fickle scavengers. The merchant did not even bother to fan away the mosquitos and all this when the temperature was 40°!
This lulling heat lay all over the place and then there was the omnipresent sand which you inhaled with every breath. The micro fine particles annexed themselves to the beads of sweat running down your neck and were also noticed in your hair and shoes.
An unknown feeling of being dirty stole upon me. It was exactly the same with the natives but the bore it with poise and fatalism (kismet)! In the 70s president Habib Bourghiba ruled over a people consisting mainly of Arabs and Arabian Berbers. Well wishers called him a modern calif but critics think, however; he is a democratic dictator. The people’s mentality has been handed down for generations but there is also room for the western moral code. At that time nobody would have had the idea of reprimanding a tourist because she was not dressed correctly or misbehaved ( as usually happens with ignorant tourists). It is not often that tourists are interested in day to day politics or social discrepancies as long as they do not have to suffer under them. Notwithstanding, my ultimate goal was the desert – the Sahara.I wanted to see this huge sand-pit and swore one day I would experience that freedom which is described in literature and have the authentic and grandiose sky above me and I wanted to smell the odour of the desert. I wanted so much – poor me I was vanquished by the fascination of the desert long before I even felt a grain of sand! Responsible for my blindness was the archaeologist and author T.E. Lawrence who had described in his book ”The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” the desert in such a way that I just had to go there. I found what I had expected and even more. A huge glistening sandy surface, painful light and suffocating furnace heat in which not even the smallest bush could grow and promise refreshment. The continuous batter of sweat and sand grains was extremely unpleasant and in addition there was the all pervading thirst due to lack of liquids. The transport camels were the oly ones to step over the sand stoically as is their wont. Their feet are perfectly gauged to the ground hardly sinking in even when their backs are heavily laden with all our equipment whereby the water reserves were the most precious possession. A great surprise were the gigantic oscillations in temperature between day and night/ During the day it was 50° and at night the temperature fell to freezing point. There is no twilight and night falls very quickly.
We were not used to the quietness – even the animals which were active at night hunted in silence and I would really like to have seen one of these desert inhabitants. Our officially qualified guide was a true Djeffara-Berber ( you can see and admire the biggest cave village in Matmata. The former Berbers absolutely refused to move into conventional flats and the government had to capitulate). He gave us useful information and brought the journey to a satisfying end.
HOLI (Luxembourg)