...Sahara 2010...

[croatia]

...Sahara 2010...

Hi, everyone! My name is Anton and I will post this RR in the name of my friend Ivan, (Croatia). He will do the gramatic later becouse my english is not so good. 　
　
The plan was Maroko but we are week short for that trip. So, we activate our plan B. Tunisia. Me on the new Tenere and my friend Ivan on XT660R.


Here is a few photos just to see what will be in the RR:

Very good off road...

　
　
...on the road...

　
　
...few problems...

　
　
...and much more.

　
From Croatia, (Split), we are going to Italy, (Ancona), by ferry. Than Ancona - Civitavecchia on the road and finaly Civitavecchia - Tunis on the farry again.

Split - Ancona...

Ancona - Tuscany - Civitavecchia...

　
Were is the road my friend?...

　
I didnt do it...

...belive me.

　
Tuscany...

　
Sienna

　
Quik lunch...

　
New T-shirt for Ivan...

　
The ferry is 10 hours late, so...

Zeus Palace, sea bus, non-stop on the route Italy - Tunisia...

　
　
We come late at night in Tunis. Night view from our hotel...

...and morning one

　
Tunisia

It is cold so we decide to go more south that we think for first day. Tunis - Tamerza...

　
Hot grips are "must have" in Africa...

　
Tamerza, our first station...

Not for us, thank you...

Our accomodation...

...next... Tamerza & arround ...

 

[croatia]

Tamerza & arround...
　
Breakfast. Uf, strong coffe.

Somebody has some problems before...

Lets go...

Snake skin, for good luck...

　
To Chebika...

　
Chebika, popular tourist point in this area...

　
Chebika Gas Station...

After Chebika we are on the way to the mountains arround...
　
　
Just ask and you will find the way...

...after asking, help the man with his job.

We see the road to the mountains but...

　
From 3 celzius in the morning to 17celzius in the afternoon...

　
Lunch...

　
　
No comment...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnm_LEAQg9Q　


Lets go south. To Douz...

Just ask...

Just ask...part 2...

Tozeur...

Some lady on the street see our plates and call us on Croatian. Strange... I think first that i didnt heard well. Lady is from Austria and she has two houses in Croatia. She speak Croatian very vell. She invited us to lunch. Thank you Mrs. Nada.

　
More Tozeur...

...and than, salt lake.

They said that salt is good for motorcycle...

　
Douz, the gate to Sahara. Lets find the hotel.

Motorcycles have a better room than we are...

...next... Sahara - part one

 

[croatia]

Sahara - part one

From Douz we are going on a tour of the surrounding villages. Part on the road, part in the desert.

Warming up...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oljx2vObYO4&feature=channel



Ups...

Let's go to the dunes...

Ups, again...

Flight over the steering and broken windshield..

We must do something with this windshield now, so we going to the small place called Zafrane...

...final touch...

...Ta-na-na-na...

"Designed by Zafrane"

　
Back to the desert...

Ok, we are going from Douz to Ksar Ghilane just now. If we make it, we will sleep there, if not, we will sleep in the desert...

First you can see traces and later they were less and less..

Everything was as it should be until we come deeper into the desert. After Ivan¨s jump over one dune, I heard plastic cracking. The plate and bikes rear end, resting on the tire. It is not good, probably the shock absorber. No, it is not. The entire rear end hanging. Thats good, frame is broken. Why do I say, it is good. I learned one thing in Africa. When you have some bike failure, the best that can hapend is anything related to iron. Here there are always a hundred welding machine per square kilometer. Take of Ivans top case, lets see the situation.

As you can see from the color of the break point it was cracked before. As I supposed. Anyone who knows what Ivan do with his bike could expect something like this before. Ivan in his topcase never have less than 20 kilos. And this topcase carrier is an ideal lever. So, we're not surprised. This image was made after we raised the rear of the bike.

Small down part of the frame is still not broken all, so we will go back slowly. Very slowly.

His topcase is behind me. Believe me, it is not easy to drive deep sand with something on the back of my bike. Interesting experience.

Very nice...

...and interesting.

　
First free welding man is ours. We have chosen older one.

Ok, lets do it...First on the one side...

...litlle bit on the other...

And here it is. Easier than the tire change. If they see this work in the Yamaha would take this duo in Japan.

"The Mean Machine" is in the game again...

Tea time for our expert...

...and for us.

More bikes...

Ok, I know whats the problem. We are too light, so my friend has too much space for jumping arround. Tomorow, we are going overloaded. Thats the formula. What do you think?


"Oh, my new wheel! Everybody will look at me tonight. All womens will be mine."

We need some petrol for tomorow...

This is only motorcycle we see in Tunisia so far. He must be soon of the city mayor...

Dinner. Top chef...

Tomorow is D day. No, no, S day. Sahara - new attack.



...next...Sahara - part two

 

[croatia]

Sahara - part two

Breakfast. We are the only guests at any hotel so far, except that first in Tunis, and they hold us like a little water on a hand. Lets go, Sahara is calling!

　
5 Celzius. Not bad for Sahara.

In the begining you can see the tracks. But after... We are little bit too havy but who cares...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMML3gh2uMA&feature=channel


After half hour of riding you can feel that back shock is out of working. Every bump the shock comes to the end. The oil inside must be like water. And the shock is warm, so warm. But after 20 minutes of resting everything is ok again.

The last station before hard part. Desert Cafe. We are only guests here, so the owner is very happy to see us.

It is time to go. We still have some ride to reach Ksar Ghilane...

　
After some time we cant see the tracks. But GPS is here, so no problem for us...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GTQQ1iiZws&feature=channel

　
The best part...Biger dunes...

　
And finaly...Ksar Ghilane...

I leave my bike in the sand...happy to do this without fall...

　
Here is where we come from...Not bad...

　
You can see that the bikes did good work so far...We change the oil in this forks and put 2cm spacers before the trip so you can imagine where will be the marks without that...

Ok, we are in Ksar Ghilane. It is time to find place to sleep and look arround.


...next...Ksar Ghilane & Stony Desert...

 

[darkhelmet]

Nice pictures, tells a great story, you must've had a blast!

 

[BlueBull2007]

Absolutely Brilliant!!  :hello2: :hello2: :hello2: Youre brave on those big bikes in that sand!

I cannot wait for the next installment!

 

[croatia]

Thanks!

Ksar Ghilane & Stony Desert
　
Lets see arround...

Our camp...

　
Our accomodation...

　
Ksar Ghilane in few photos...

Swiming...

...and relaxing...

　
Exchange, horse for "horse"...

　
Fancy part of Ksar Ghilane...

　
And on the end of a beautiful day...

......

　

Good morning. This is temperature in 8 AM. So you can imagine 4 AM. Sahara, sahara!

Breakfast...

You can see group of tourist in the salt spring. They all come with the jeeps from the big tourist resorts...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xoUjZfCLsE&feature=channel


Lets go...

We are going to Tataouine. Off road, off course.

Lost again...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlpBE-WDOR0&feature=channel


Stony desert...

　

When you see first normal sign, the road is somewhere there...

Chenini, beautiful place...

　
We have some bad camera with us, so thats it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zDDPfJovw&feature=channel

　
After Chenini we are on the road to Tataouine...


...next... Ksars and all the wonders of Tataouin & Matmata

 

[badballie]

:happy1:

 

[popipants]

'ish
awesome!!!
I have no words.

 

[croatia]

Ksars and all the wonders of Tataouin & Matmata



Ksar Ouled Soltane...

　
Ksar Ouled Debbab. Pure tourism. Completly diferent than the Ksar before...

Inside...

　

It will be hotel here...

Nice lunch...

　
　
We are on the way to Matmata. Off road, again. We like that. This part is beautiful.

　
And in the late afternoon...Matmata...

... next... Matmata & Kairouan...

 

[Buzzlightyear]

Amazing stuff, keep it coming. Nice to see a Ten getting out.

 

[newguy]

Very nice, thanks for posting. keep it comming  :thumleft:

 

[Frohan Visser]

Very nice and some stunning photo's!!!!!

 

[Gryshond]

Great report, and I love the pictures especially this one.

 

[croatia]

Thanks everyone! 


Matmata & Kairouan

Our hotel room in Matmata...

In the morning our friend Mustafa take us on the quik tour arround Matmata...

Star Wars...

View from the "roof"...

Museum...

Tipical Berber house...

　
You must pay your debts or ...

This is the real motorcycle...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5XNaq7B5v8

Next point, Kairouan. Off the road.

Mam and the baby from the distance...

On the road before Kairouan...

You must be very lucky to take out this thing and the tire is still OK...

Kairouan. I dont like big cities. Too much people, too much trafic, too much everything...

Our Hotel...

...and look from the Hotel.

Our big 5 star room...

...with huge bathroom.

　
On the old market...

Lunch...

We are litlle bit tired of the "may friends" who want to show you something, sell you something, find you something....

Tea time...

We find internet point to look when is the ferry from Tunis to Italy...

Breakfast with the local people in the hotel and we are on our way to Tunis...

We come close to Tunis so early, so we decide to go in Yasmine Hammamet. Real Tunis at least?

Do you know how I feel here? Like in the theater. This is not Tunisia, my friends. This is big tourist show. And I dont like it.

Tea time.

We are in Tunis, waiting for the ferry. First on the custom line...

The best cabin on the boat...

Palermo, but not at the time. 5 hours late...

Italia...

Who will eat this later...

Sleeping in Calabria...

In the morning we take the road to Ancona. When we come there in the late afternoon somebody tell us that we dont have ferry for Croatia today. Oh, no! Another day in Italy.

Sunday morning. 1 Celzius. We take our road to San Marino but we didnt come there. We end up with hundreds of motorcycles on some fiesta.

On the mountain somewhere arround Ancona...

Back to Ancona...

On the end we have very nice day in here. But when we come to ferry port we find out there is no ferry today also. We can belive this. Another day in Ancona.

We come on the ground of Italy in Friday and come home four days later. Good organization.
　
... next ... Food and few words about Tunisia ...

 

[Andy 950]

WOW keep it comming, stunning photos!!

So many places so little time

 

[EddieS]

Fanatastic! I would love to have the opportunity to experience the Sahara like you did.

Thanks for sharing guys.

 

[Tubeless]

:thumleft:  :drif: :thumleft:  :drif: :thumleft:

Thanks for sharing

 

[JAmBer]

Epic!

Loving the pictures  :thumleft:

 

[croatia]

Food in Tunisia...
　
You always know what you will eat here...

Before every meal you get this...oliv oil, olives, some chilli...

First plate - Brick...

Chorba...

Khus Khus...many kind of it...

Beens...nice one...

Tunisia is close to Italy...

Tunisian fast food...

Desert...

　
Traditional tea is very nice. Coffe is to strong for me. Non-alcoholic beer everywhere. Very nice natural juices. Thats what we try.

　
Tunisia in a few words...

Beautiful country. Breathtaking nature. Particularly the southern part (green on the map). North part is also very nice but we like south. Large cities like large cities. People are very friendly and hospitable. We like Tunisia very much. And we will be back.

　
　


Until next time,

Cheers!