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euzkadi Says: This Old watchtower is located in the midle of the Pansea Camp, it was reciently restored ( i couldn´t get any history of the tower). It´s a four story construction well decorated and with a great viewpoint at the top, and with some of the best views i´ve seen to the immense...
euzkadi Says: One of the most beautiful moments of my stay in Ksar Ghilane, was when we climbed into the old watchtower (now restored) to see the sunset and the train of camels bringing back the tourists to the camp.
euzkadi Says: The Camel Riding is the main activity in Ksar Ghilane, the place is wonderful, and the ride over the camel with such stunning views and the silence of the desert is something special, of course there are hundreds of tourists but in some way they disappear in such immensity.
euzkadi Says: Berber is the majority of populaton in North Africa in terms of race (the Arabization of the Berber culture swept away the language and the identity) and represents 60% of the population of Tunisia. They often live in the mountains or in small settlements, and some of them...
euzkadi Says: There are dozens of camels ready to ride the tourists into the vast inmensity of the Sea of Sand, the camel is a cute animal but sometimes they try to bite you or at least they try to spit you when they are angry.
euzkadi Says: The second largest Sea of Sand in the Sahara (the other one is the Occidental Erg in Algeria), the Grand Oriental Erg starts in Algeria, continues into Tunis and ends in Lybia. Ksar Ghilane is located in the southern shore of the Erg. When you think about the endless sea of...
NourElakel Says: In addition to what has been written about Ksar Ghilan, photgraphy lovers might enjoy the different contrasts to take great pictures in a quite milieu. Make sure that you take advantage of the Tower in the 5 star hotel to take panoramic pictures. Shooting with a zoom is a...
JLBG Says: Sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you will find between a couple of dunes a dozen of palm trees. Why are they growing in that particular place ? It is a mystery. Of course, they are growing here because they have found some underground water, but the question is why is...
The stone is carved by the ropes !
JLBG Says: Look at these edges of the Bir Soltan well. What do you see ? Thirsty people passing by this place have for centuries thrown a bucket into the well and waited for terrible minutes to know whether the well was wet or dry ! Life or death ! Now you understand why it was so...
JLBG Says: In the desert, there is always wind and even when there is not what is called a sand wind (the sky would look whitish-yellowish), the rim of the dunes can "smoke" sand as it does on this photography (enlarge !) and gusts of sand fly across the track.
JLBG Says: In some parts, there is no track besides ours and we have to zigzag between the barkhanes. Of course a good detailed map and a compass are a need. If you take care, this is not dangerous. However, there is a real risk to loose the way. This is why a good supply of water and...
Grilled slices of bread: A fire in the desert
JLBG Says: In the evening, we usually lit a small fire though we were not able to cook on this fire as the locals did, but that was enough to warm up a little (nights can be cold in the desert in March) and to grill a few slices of the excellent bread that we had bought in the last...
Open air food !: Desert food !
JLBG Says: The menus were not very varied and we always used as much as possible local food. In the evening, we usually cooked rice (not local !) and prepared local hard boiled eggs. At noon, we made a salad with the rice, the hard-boiled eggs and very tasty local tomatoes, possibly...
JLBG Says: While the quality of the trail did not make any problem, orientation did. Road signs were very scarce and almost absent. It is amazing to see that there are so many tracks in the desert and sometimes, even with a good, detailed map (1/200,000), it is difficult to choose the...
JLBG Says: We took a shortcut from Ksar Ghilane to Bir Soltane. As it was on a short distance (20 kilometers) and we had detailed maps, it was perfectly safe to drive outside any trail and that gives a very special feeling to be completely responsible of our way !
Desert shop !: Where is next shop
JLBG Says: Where is the next shop ? Ahead, on the right, on the left, who knows ! When the land is flat, the only place from where you can have a wider view is to get on top of the Landrover ! Actually, I am kidding, climbing on the Landrover was to take a photography !
JLBG Says: The puppet industry must have been learned at school as ten kilometers later, another little girl was on the side of the track with half a dozen puppets, more elaborate. We began to wonder if she was actually the one that made them !
JLBG Says: Sometimes, you will also meet young girls keeping a flock of sheeps and goats. These two had made puppets with colored rags and sold them to visitors. I suppose that it could take several day before they sold any !
JLBG Says: The local way of keeping water is in a “guerba”. It is a goat skin that’s has been sewed and made tight with vegetal gum. The skin let some water permeates, which evaporates and cools the content. Thus the water of the guerba is always cool but taste like goat but who...
JLBG Says: In the desert, water is an absolute need. Depending of the temperature, the wind, etc… each person needs from 6 to 8 liters of water. It is always safer to have a lot more water than what is reasonably needed. We had two 13 liters jerricans set in the front of the car and...
Plan a Qasr Ghilan vacation with reviews, tips and photos posted by real travelers and Qasr Ghilan locals
Most often, the surface of the sand of the barkhanes has ripple marks that make a fingerprint like design. It is especially spectacular when the sun is low on...
Q: I will be travelling to Tunisia, and hope to get to Qsar Ghilane. but definetley will be in Douz for some days. I am...
A: That sand it gets everywhere, canging lenses on an slr is a nightmare....take your little blower -brush doofus. Dont know about Tunisia, but in Morocco all I found...
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Ksar Ghilane, the Grand Erg Oriental .
Ksar Ghilane is improperly named Qasr Ghilan in VT destination database and I had to struggle a while before finding it. It is only 70 km from Chenini, improperly named Shanini in VT destination...
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After a four hours drive from Tozeur, passing through Chott El Jerid and Douz, we reached this wonderful Oasis. Our ride was hard, in some places the road was covered by sand, so the drive was not so...
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Ksar Ghilane - Oasis in the Desert
One of the attractions of K. Ghilane is the pool, this is created by a constant flow of warm water from an undergroung spring. Back in the sixties the French were drilling for oil, they found water,...
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