Through Libya by campervan

LIBYA 2009 The itinerary Italy: Arezzo - Civitavecchia. Boarding with Grimaldi Lines with a stop at Trapani, arrival in Tunis. Libya: Nalut-Ghadames-Takerkiba-Akakus-Waddan- Cyrene-Apollonia-Benghazi-Gulf of Sidra-Tripoli-Sabratha. Tunisia: El Jem-Tunis. Boarding, stop at Trapani. Civitavecchia-Arezzo.

30/9/09 - 01/10 At 1 pm we meet our travelling companions at Civitavecchia for boarding; at 4 pm we leave Italy. The afternoon and the night pass quietly; at 8 am on 01/10 we dock at Trapani; in Tunisia we arrive at 4 pm. Having completed the entry formalities in Tunisia we go into the centre of Tunis where, at 6 pm, we stop in a large car park less than 500 metres from the Medina. It's evening and we visit the central streets of Tunis; we have dinner in a characteristic little place. 02/10 We set off early, pass Hammamet, Sfax, Gabes, and finally reach Medenine where, after a bit of struggle looking for parking, we manage to stop for the night. 03/10 We are about 130 km from the Libyan border; we set off early hoping to clear the 2 customs posts quickly, meet our Libyan guide and continue to Nalut.

The route we travel is different from the one given in the programme proposed by the agency, which foresaw a stop near the Libyan border close to Nalut, that is south of the road we are now travelling, which winds along the coast up to the border at Ras Ajdir. We ask for explanations and DIARY we are told that our guide is waiting for us at this border because it is considered easier to cross!!! We arrive at 9.30, clear the Tunisian frontier and enter Libya, we pay the tax of €140.00 per camper, leave our documents with the Libyan guide to speed up the formalities and.......we stop for over 7 hours. Then, finally at 4.30 pm, with no explanation for the delay but only guesses as to why and how, our passports are returned to us and the Libyan number plates are handed over, which we fix to the campers.

We set off and quickly decide to pass Nalut, skipping a visit to its granary, so as to cover as much road as possible of what separates us from Ghadames, where we should stop at the campsite tonight, but which we cannot reach given the delay of over 7 hours accumulated! It is pitch dark and we are still driving at high speed; we reach and pass Nalut, but we can't see anything anyway because it's 9 pm; then the guide (from now on, meaning the Libyan guide) tells us we'll find a petrol station where we can fuel up and rest for the night. It is 10.30 pm and we sleep in the petrol station car park. 04/10 The sun has yet to rise; we have to cover about 300 km and we must make up the time lost at customs.

The stop to refuel, and it will always be like this for the whole itinerary, is always very complicated: there is only one, or at most 2, usable diesel pumps, so refuelling takes a very long time (there are 11 campers and 1 car). We reach Ghadames at 11.30 am; we go straight to visit the local museum and then, with the same local guide, we visit the ancient city of Ghadames, now listed by UNESCO as world heritage of humanity. An interesting visit: the dark little alleys of the old city open onto small squares where the tribes brought their wares. A good part has been restored to its former splendour and renovated so that we can see how people lived here in ancient times. The freshwater spring still exists that allowed the ancients to survive in these remote places.

The sun beats down on our heads and it is very hot; on the roofs of the houses, where we are told the women lived, the heat is even hotter, the sky has a turquoise blue and is crystal clear. It is 3.30 pm and we enter a house completely restored and now used as a restaurant for tourists. Here we go in barefoot and sit on the ground on the carpets; some ladies, Mary included, given the difficulties of