THE TRANS-SAHARA EXPEDITION, 6300 Km of pure sand and adrenaline. Looking for new adventures, Gunnar followed an old dream: knowing Sahara trough an incredible trip. Feel free, since now, in the desert with him, following each moment closely. Tunisia Station!

After 8 times in Antarctica, 5 times in the Atacama & Bolivian altiplano, Siberia and the North Pole, I thought it was about time to do something very different.

I decided to join a German Trans Sahara expedition. I met the group in Frankfurt and we flew to Tunisia where we met the red bus/truck with 600 Hp of Rotel Tours that would take us all the way down to the Golf of Guinea, in Benin. We were a group of Germans, Austrians and Swiss. There were retired folks, nature lovers, photographers, all of them with the idea of seeing sand dunes, camels and the real Sahara.

Tunis, the capital of Tunisia with a population of about 620,000 is a modern city that receives lots of European tourists because of the good warm weather and beautiful beaches. We did not spend time there because the idea was to get us out to the desert as soon as possible. Our first night was still a luxury in comparison to what we would face ahead. There were proper toilets & showers at this first camping sight.

Wake up call was at 5 AM, at 6 AM we had breakfast and at 7AM precisely we were on the road. We were all at a stricked German expedition timing schedule that I came to respect through the entire length of the trip as the only way to make such long adventure in such a difficult area to last and work out. Horst, our driver and Erwin the expedition leader were exceptionally well trained and experienced men in this desert environment. They were fun, made lots of jokes, but were very tough on discipline and schedule.

We stopped several times to see small towns like Kan and Kairouan, we crossed the Oasis of Gafsa and stopped for the night in a very nice oasis of El Hamma with lots of palm trees (dates) and a night's cool night rest surrounded by sand dunes .

Every day around 6 PM we would stop and at 7 PM our driver had cooked a wonderful dinner. All passengers would help out setting up the tables and benches. The ladies would help with salads and vegetables, men would help to set up the sleeping quarter that was in a big trailer behind the truck. After dinner every one had to do their dishes . Some of us set around the tables enjoying the stars in the ski, drinking wine and talking about our past and future adventures.

By 11 PM our camp ground was quite. Three of us ventured out to the sand dunes. We climbed the highest dune around mid night carrying flash lights and guided by the moon light. We were completed exhausted when we reached the top. I believe it must have been around 200 meters high. Climbing sand dunes mean 2 steps forward and one backwards sliding down. We crashed and "slept" right on the sand. By then the wind had picked up and covered us in sand and by 4 AM we could not stand the cold any longer and walked back where we arrived at 6 AM for a nice hot breakfast.

As soon as breakfast was finished, we would be on the road again at 7 AM on the dot! Our first boarder crossing in to Argelia was an all day adventure! At 5 PM finally we got our immigration papers done, after 10 hours of hot sun, lots of flies in a very boring spot. At least we had a wonderful sunset dinner over looking some beautiful sand dunes.

Photo: Cortesia Sven Sabrowski

INEMA Team