The Reunion!
May/June 2022

Two and a half years have passed since I was last in Tunisia, and oh the joy of being reunited with  Zeydoun and the Saoud Family who look after him!  Even the intense heat, 44 degrees Celsius/111 degrees Fahrenheit, could not drain the happiness I felt at being back in Sabria again! 

I opted for just three nights in the Sahara, riding out of the village in the evening, returning four days later after breakfast, which meant only two full days experiencing a heat hitherto unknown to me.  It was not only the sun we had to battle with, but also a relentless boiling hot swirling wind, known as the Shiliyy wind in the Tunisian Sahara, Sirocco in the Mediterranean.  With speeds up to 70 miles per hour, it was a fierce opponent.

When the Bedouin guides Adel and Ali came to dismantle my tent on the final morning, they noticed the tell-tale traces of a silent enemy, one with a sting in its tail: A large scorpion had been sharing my overnight accommodation!

As always, the lovely staff at the Hotel Sahara Douz took great care of Geoffrey in my absence, and were agog to hear how Madame Anglaise was coping with the sky-high temperature.  Geoffrey (whom I often refer to as my Equerry) was able to reassure them that she was doing OK – he had insisted on our having a daily ‘phone conversation, subject of course to my being able to get a signal which usually meant clambering to the top of a high dune…….

Back in the hotel for the weekend, I luxuriated in the amenities – warm soapy baths, cool air conditioning and copious glasses of chilled white wine!  All too soon, it was time to begin our long journey home, a seven hour drive to The Hotel Africa in Tunis, with  Belgacem at the wheel, lunch in El Jem en route, a night in Tunis, followed by our TunisAir flight to London Heathrow the next day. 

Sad as I was to say farewell to the country I have come to regard as my second home, I left in the knowledge that happily, I would soon be back – I already have a trip planned for November, Inshallah!