Tunisia

Just found the itinerary from our Tunisia trip in June 2006 - before recycling, I shall post.

Gatwick - Tunis airport, and then via (slightly) air-conditioned coach down to Monastir to the Hotel Cristal (just 100m from El Karaia Beach!... hmmm)

Feeble and I went on the following trips:

* Three days into the desert -
Monastir - El Jem (Roman coliseum in better condition than in Rome, Feeble said)
El Jem - Gabes Oasis (don't remember this bit) and onto Matmata to visit a Troglodyte home (a Berber lady called Fatima lived there, and happily took small dinar for showing us round. A grandchild (or similar) had a chameleon on a string, and there was a cable snaking out of the home onto the surface to receive satellite TV. Ho hum!
Matmata - Douz for a camel ride dressed as a Bedouin. It was quite hot there (50C) - camel ride was interesting but a little long.
From Douz, the next day, we travelled across the dry salt lake at Chott El Jerid to Tozeur, and then stayed at Nefta in a lovely hotel. We went for a horse and carriage ride through the oasis (very sorry looking horse). There was a brief visit to a date/palm tree farm, where we bought dates, smoked palm leaves and watched small children scamper up the trees to harvest the dates.
The final day saw us visit mountain oases in Chebika, Temerza and Mides (4x4 ride across the sand dunes - hurrah!). Then on to Sbeilta, visiting a Roman site which was quite complet. Then we stopped in Kairouan on the way back. There is a very big mosque there.
We also visited Sousse and wandered around the souk.
We also went to Tunis and Carthage. In Tunis we visited the Bardo museum (which is the equivalent to the British Museum) - lots of Roman mosaics. Carthage ruins are fewer than we expected (or perhaps we ought not to have expected anything at all), but we could see from the view out to sea that it was a site of strategic importance. The Antonine Baths are the best ruins - someone has done a scale replica which is on display there (interestingly enough, the man who made it was from Cheltenham).
We also visied Sidi Bou Siad - beautiful little white and blue village on the hilltops overlooking the Gulf of Tunis.

Bank Holiday Weekend

Busy day today. To the doctors first, where I was very pleasantly surprised (i.e. nice, competent doctor!): malaria prescription now corrected, and everything else dealt with very efficienctly.

Spoke to Feeble last night about Uganda plans (mental note that I need to buy a mosinet, and another SD memory card for my camera and find some long-sleeved tops, and find my waterproof jacket, work out whether I can get Ugandan schillings in this country, get some US dollars).

Brief overview of the Uganda trip (now only three weeks away - 12-13 days of work left - eek!):

Sat 15 - up to Manchester
Sun 16 - travel to Uganda: Manchester to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Entebbe, Entebbe to Kampala.
then (and I don't have all the details - Feeble has them):
From Kampala to Kabale - about 6 hours on a bus / the post bus (yes, the bus with the post - I really want to get the post bus).
Staying in the White Horse Inn in Kabale for a day or so before going down to Kamuronko where Fi lived when she was in Uganda on her gap year. Then we meet Benon and Judith and Trust and Brave and Blessing and Peace and Joy (I think that that is all the kids - I may have added some?? not really sure about Peace - but there are *lots* of children). Then back to Kabale.
Then up to Lake Bunyonyi and staying on an island in the middle of the lake. Apparently the lake is bilharzia-free and Feeble promises me no crocodiles. I say that there are still snails and I will not be swimming in it. Euch!
From Lake Bunyonyi back up to Kampala and then out for a short 2-3 day trip to Murchison Falls National Park - waterfalls (clue is in the title) and safari. Apparently there will be lots of hippos and maybe some lions and lots of lovely birds.
Hopefully I will take some decent photos, but thankfully Feeble will be taking her new digital camera, so I shall probably appropriate some of hers. ;-)
Then I fly back on 29 September, and have got 1 October off to recuperate and get back to normal.