Two, three or four nights deep in the Tunisian Sahara, built around you. Your local guide from Douz plans the route, the pace and the kind of night you want.
Book on WhatsApp – +216 96 149 699
Choose your style of night
Wild bivouac – the real experience. Sleep under the stars at a spot chosen by your guide, with dinner cooked on the fire and a sky full of stars. Your guide bakes traditional bread under the hot sand and cooks meat slowly in pots buried underground, the nomad way. Simple, quiet and real.
Luxury desert camp near Tembaine: Tiniri Camp. Spend your nights at Tiniri Camp, a permanent tented camp at the foot of the Tembaine mesa, with real beds and meals served at the camp.
You can mix both, for example one wild night and one camp night.
Circuit 1 – Douz to Tembaine
The classic route south from Douz along the edge of Jebil National Park, through sandy tracks and small dune fields, to Jebel Tembaine, a lone rocky mesa (about 239 m) standing in the sand sea. Climb to the plateau for a 360° sunset.
- Distance: around 120 km each way by piste (to confirm with guide)
- Driving time: about 3 hours by 4x4 each way (to confirm with guide)
- Length: ask Aymen on WhatsApp · Price: Price on request – ask on WhatsApp
Example itinerary, to be confirmed:
- Day 1: Leave Douz in the morning, tea stop at a desert café, drive to Tembaine. Sunset on the mesa, night at a bivouac or at Tiniri Camp.
- Day 2: Walk in the dunes at sunrise, explore around Tembaine, second night (optional).
- Day 3: Drive back to Douz.
Circuit 2 – Douz to Jebil National Park
Jebil is Tunisia's great Saharan national park (150,000 ha, created in 1994): a rocky table massif, small dunes and the northern edge of the Grand Erg Oriental. It is home to protected species such as the dorcas gazelle, the slender-horned gazelle and the fennec fox. Entry requires an authorization; we arrange it for you (to confirm with guide).
- Distance from Douz: around 70 km to the park (to confirm with guide)
- Length: ask Aymen on WhatsApp · Price: Price on request – ask on WhatsApp
Example itinerary, to be confirmed:
- Day 1: Douz to the Jebil gate, drive into the park, look for wildlife, wild bivouac.
- Day 2: The Jebil massif and dunes, second bivouac or a night at Tiniri Camp near Tembaine.
- Day 3: Return to Douz.
Circuit 3 – Douz to Lac Houidhat via El Mida and Dekanis, with two return options
The deep Sahara expedition. From Douz the route heads into the Grand Erg Oriental by El Mida and Dekanis (Dakianos) to Lac Houidhat Erreched, a hot spring (around 37–38 °C) hidden among the dunes. For experienced travelers, with technical dune driving.
- Distances (estimates, to confirm with guide): Douz – El Mida: distance to confirm with guide; Ksar Ghilane – El Mida – Dekanis about 90–120 km; Dekanis – lake – Tembaine about 90–100 km; Tembaine – Douz about 100–110 km (Douz – Tembaine about 3 h by 4x4); Douz – Ksar Ghilane about 80 km by road
- Length: usually 3–4 nights, ask Aymen on WhatsApp · Price: Price on request – ask on WhatsApp
Example itinerary, to be confirmed:
- Day 1: Douz to El Mida, the well and small round hills that are a classic waypoint of 4x4 raids into the erg. Night at a wild bivouac: bread baked under the hot sand and meat slow-cooked in pots buried underground, the nomad way.
- Day 2: El Mida to Dekanis (Dakianos), hills and dunes north-east of the lake, then on to Lac Houidhat. Swim in the hot spring, night by the lake.
- Day 3: Start the return, choosing one of two options. Option A – via Ksar Ghilane: the hot-spring oasis where you can bathe, next to the ruins of the Roman fort of Tisavar. Option B – via the dunes: Zmelet el Hit (location to confirm with guide) and the high dunes of Tinsouane (Teneswan) to Jebel Tembaine, with mint tea and sand-baked bread at Café Tembaine.
- Day 4: Back to Douz (by road from Ksar Ghilane on option A, or by piste from Tembaine on option B).
Circuit 3 – stops and return options
Outbound: Douz → El Mida (a well and a group of small round hills/plateaus south-west of Ksar Ghilane, a classic waypoint of 4x4 raids into the erg) → Dekanis (Dakianos) (hills and dunes north-east of the lake, also spelled Decanis, Dykanis or Dakanes) → Lac Houidhat Erreched (a warm-water lake around 37–38 °C fed by an old borehole, also called Aïn Ouadette).
Return, option A – via Ksar Ghilane: lake → Ksar Ghilane (hot spring and Roman fort of Tisavar) → Douz by road.
Return, option B – via Tinsouane and Tembaine: lake → the high dunes of Tinsouane (Teneswan) → Jebel Tembaine and Café Tembaine → Douz. Your guide can also add Zmelet el Hit on this return (location to confirm with guide).
Stops along the way
- Café Tembaine – a simple palm-and-wood café at the foot of Jebel Tembaine, the flat-topped rock (about 30–40 m high) that nomads and drivers use as a landmark in the Grand Erg Oriental. Mint tea, coffee, and sand-baked bread.
- Jebil National Park – the piste from Douz crosses the Jebil park; a small roadside café, the Café La Porte du Désert, is a usual tea stop on the way (exact location to confirm with guide).
- Zmela – a long-running desert camp at the foot of the dunes, about 15–20 km south-west of Ksar Ghilane, close to the lake–Ksar Ghilane leg (whether the route stops there: to confirm with guide).
- Ksar Ghilane and the Roman fort of Tisavar – the hot-spring oasis on the eastern edge of the Grand Erg Oriental, and the hilltop ruins of Tisavar, a Roman border fort built under Emperor Commodus (AD 184–191) on the Limes Tripolitanus. Best visited at sunset.
- Bir Soltane – a well and former travellers' café on the road from Ksar Ghilane back to Douz, famous for walls covered in visitors' cards. A 2025 report says the café has closed, so treat it as a landmark, not a supply stop.
Good to know
- Best season: October to April. Summer is extremely hot.
- Nights can be cold in winter, so bring warm layers.
- Phone signal is weak or absent in the deep desert.
- Permits for Jebil National Park and any restricted areas are arranged by your guide (to confirm with guide).
Plan your trip on WhatsApp – +216 96 149 699
Tiniri Camp near Tembaine
For guests who prefer comfort, we stay at Tiniri Camp, a luxury desert camp near Tembaine in the dunes of the Grand Erg Oriental. Photos from the camp:
What to expect
Nights in the desert the traditional way. Food and camp photos are from our own trips.
Illustrative photos (tea, stars): Mint tea: Adam Harangozó, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Starry nights: Mustang Joe, CC0
