tunis - kairoane - dissensus special correspondent trip report
a buzzard, a few storks nested on pylons and a couple on the wing, not really seeming to make headway, overtaken by the traffic on the road
plenty of LBJs no crows or herons, some egrets
some other small wading birdies sandpipers or something leaving tracks on salt flats, vast salty marshy plains stretching out in the distance like mirages - didn't realise but the road was not that far inland until about 50k or so from the destination
lush agriculture, farms and scrubby scrub, no rivers to speak of, brown craggy hills as the road turns slightly upwards off the littoral, when we stop to buy almonds at the roadside - which all the passengers spend the rest of the journey remonstrating with the driver and the front seat passenger about, i'm back seat passenger side both there and back
olives and vines, plots bounded by prickly pear cacti, some in flower & big agaves. scattered patches of purple thistles
no palms particularly. occasional smashed watermelons on the side of the road at bends, and the smell of melons drifting through the minibus from the heavily loaded pickups in front on the way back to the capital, til we overtake. no aircon, all the windows open - really hot when we slow down, too noisy when we pick up speed to hear the autotuned pop on the radio
a few lonely donkeys, one with a little bird on it's back, some faraway horses, a couple of unhappy camels tethered outside a roadside butchers small and light coloured, plenty of road dogs, plenty of goats, some being herded, not a cow in sight
clouds getting dark behind us brought just a few drops of dusty rain on the way back, lightening over the sea in the evening and the heat broke for a few hours