An example of a date palm with fruit. This one actually happens to be in Morocco.
...and also the land that I visited not too long ago. We welcomed in the year 1999 in Tozeur, an oasis town in the south of Tunisia. We being my family, the Harveys, and lots of other Belgians. This, my first trip ever to Africa, began when my mother learned of a great package trip to Tunisia. Not so many many months later, we broke with family tradition and boarded a plane at some ungodly hour to spend New Year in the Saharan Desert, as opposed to the snow-covered Austrian Alps. Despite our initial protests, it was well worth it. Armed with our trusty Lonely Planet guidebook, we delved into the mysterious world of oases, camels, couscous, and Ramadan. And dates. Lots and lots of dates. Dates are an important crop in Tunisia and the oases are filled with date palms bearing their fruit. (Very yummy!).
An example of a date palm with fruit. This one actually happens to be in Morocco.
Our adventures began with a visit into the center of Tozeur, where we saw the old town and sampled the local cuisine (most notably, bric (deep-fried phyllo dough filled with egg) and the couscous that became our staple for the rest of the trip). Not to mention the sweet mint tea that was consumed in great quantities. In the old town, we saw lots of old doors decorated in Berber motifs and visited the local museum, where I was married to Severin Tunisian-style.
As were my parents. 
We also took lessons in learning how to ululate. It takes a very mobile tongue. : )
But let me get on to the more interesting aspects of our trip. The journey to Douz and our visits to the mountain oases. Douz is the last town before one really hits the desert, located to the southeast of Tozeur. Getting there was an adventure in and of itself, since we had to rely on the infamous louage. Public transportation in Tunisia is interesting. In order to get between cities, one can take a bus, or if one wants more freedom, one can take a louage, a sort of taxi, which drives between cities. Usually, these are station wagons and hold about five people. However, the car won't leave until all seats are filled. Furthermore, the car is really only allowed to drive between certain cities. Hence, in order to get to Douz, we had to change louage along the way. Not a problem on the way there, but quite a problem on the way back. Douz is famous for its weekly camel market, which occurs on a day other than the one we visited it on. However, there was still a large selection of shops selling Tunisian goods to tempt any tourists eye. Not surprisingly, we succombed and bought carpets. Mine happens to be in my room right now. Perhaps the biggest highlight in Douz was visiting the Sahara and riding camels. This was the Sahara as I had always imagined it, rolling sand dunes, bright sun, no vegetation in sight except for the oasis at Douz. Camels, on the other hand, are interesting creatures to ride. They have a rather wobbly gait and aren't all that comfortable to sit on. Not to mention that the get up with their hindlegs first, meaning that one is thrusted rather violently forward in the process.
Tanja's camel.
My father's drooling camel. Conveniently, it decided to wipe its face on me.
The most exciting part of our journey to Douz happened on the way back - we almost got stranded. As I mentioned earlier, we had to switch louage in a town between Tozeur and Douz. I also mentioned it was Ramadan. Ramadan makes travelling different. As soon as the sun is about to set, everyone disappears to eat dinner. (I certainly would). We reached the intermediary city shortly before dusk, and after a long wait, only one louage was available. Of course, there were eight of us, so we needed two. Consequently, the group was separated with the future of the remaining group somewhat unclear. Luckily, they did eventually turn up. A driver agreed to come back after dinner on the condition that they pay for the remaining seats and the ride back. It's not surprising that from then on, we decided to rent cars. But is was well worth it.
On our last day, we rented two cars and visited three mountain oasis towns at the Algerian border. The towns themselves were uninhabited. Sometime in the 60's, if I remember correctly, there were 16 days of torrential downpours, and the walls of the houses, which were made of mud bricks essentially melted away. New towns were built near to the location of the old ones, using more durable material, but the remnants of the old houses remain in a testament to the strenth of water. The mountains that the oases were built around are fairly small, but rather fascinating from a geologic viewpoint. The bedding layers dipped at about 80 degrees and seemed to suddenly appear out of the surrounding desert. At Chebika, we were able to see one layer composed entirely of shells. 
Standing in the desert in front of the mountains. As you can see from our clothing, it's not all that warm in the desert in January.
In "new" Tamerza, we stopped for lunch at the local restaurant, and ate, what else, but couscous and camel. It was quite good, I don't remember the camel having any distinctive "camel" taste. So yes, one day we rode camels, the next day, we ate them. Perhaps its barbaric. On a completely unrelated note, I think camels have beautiful eyelashes - it makes their faces very feminine.
Tanja next to the camel restaurant.
The man who ran the restaurant was very interesting and enlightened us on the process of growing dates. Some of the best dates in the world (which I suppose is arguable) come from Tamerza. As he put it, first there is heaven, and then there is Tamerza, because of it's dates. By Western standards, the town was rather small and simple, hardly what we would think of as heaven. However, if one values dates, he might be right. As far as I'm concerned, Tamerza looked biblical. The remains stood on a hill overlooking the oasis, which was lined with reeds and other plants. Considering that the stories in the Bible occurred in this area, it's not surprising.
The oasis.
The last town, whose name has unfortunately evaded me, was most noted for its rather impressive gorge. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of it. On our way back, we passed the camel crossing sign just as the camel shepard was hearding his camels across the road. Being the tourists that we were, we became very excited.
On the last day, we drove to visit another gorge where the movie The English Patient was filmed. There was also a building of some religious value, but unfortunately, my memory has failed me. We also drove onto the Chott, which is a temporary salt lake, rather vast in dimensions. When it remains enough, the lake fills, however, it was dry when we saw it. The road to Douz actually crosses the lake - a narrow, elevated two-lane road which seems to extend on forever. A word of advice, it's difficult to make u-turns on the road so turning back halfway is not recommended. Apparently, on bright, sunny days, one can see mirages, but I never saw any. Our trip concluded with a flat tire and then another flight home at some strange hour. Most notably, the pilot woke us up at one in the morning, to tell us that we were flying over Nice. How nice.
As if I haven't written enough. Tunisia was a fascinating introduction to North Africa. I certainly hope to go back and expose myself to more culture. Besides my visit to Bosnia, it was also my first time travelling in a Muslim country. Southern Tunisia is more conservative than the North. Most woman were completely covered in a black veil when they walked in the streets. In respect for their traditions, we dressed conservatively. It was quite upsetting to see tourists who made no effort to understand the culture of the land they were visiting and as a result wore shorts and other generally unacceptable clothing. And yet, there was a flip side to conservative dress in the form of the belly dancer who performed at the hotel and mesmerised all the men. The difference in standard of living was also quite evident-unfinished houses, dirt roads, the birds a carriage-driver caught to eat for dinner. While tourism helps bring money to the area, it also creates problems. Not only are tourists insensitive to local tradition but they damage the envirnoment as well. The date palms in the oases were dying due to lack of water. Excessive water consumption (primarily as a result of hotels) has lowered the water table, and the oases can no longer be supported. Oases are actually quite complex. The date palms help provide shade to the other plants that grow there, meaning that less water is lost due to evaporation. A quite intelligent system. And then there was Habib Bourgiba, Tunisia's president. His picture appeared everywhere. So while he may have helped to put the previous dictator out of power, I'm not sure how democratically one can interpret his cult of personality. Go and visit, and see for yourself.