In 1972 we took a VW camper by ferry from Sicily to Tunis - drove across North Africa thru Algeria and Morocco and ferry back to Spain - would like to do that again - but have some reservations about Tunisia and Algeria - any comments from people with recent experiences?
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
In addition to any replies you get here, the Africa sections of Lonely Planet Thorn Tree https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/africa and TripAdvisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/ListForums-g6-i9112-Africa.html are likely to have more information about these countries.
Posted by
Morocco and South Africa
29 posts
Hi Jeff,
Wouldn't it be nice?! How the world, including North Africa, has changed since 1972. Though having said that, much of what makes North Africa such a wonderful travel destination is still the same i.e. the people, their customs and traditions, the scenery, the ancient medinas, the desert. Having been at the heart of the 2011 Arab Spring, Tunisia was slowly reappearing on the tourism radar until last month's attack at Tunis's Bardo Museum, where 21 tourists and 1 Tunisian were gunned down. While the ensuing days saw a wave of national support against such attacks, the incident has made visible the growing concern that the troubles/lawlessness in neighboring Libya, Egypt and Algeria was going to make its way into Tunisia. Perhaps the same concern could be said about Morocco, though my rose-colored bias simply disallows me to think this way :-). Despite all of this, I'm afraid that the short answer to your desired "rediscovery" tour is that the border between Algeria and Morocco is closed, and has been since 1994.
Your fellow traveler,
Darren Humphrys
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32363 posts
Jeff,
Unfortunately the world has changed a lot since 1972, and the carefree trip you had back then may no longer be possible. Here's some further information on that point....
- http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/algeria-travel-warning.html
- http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/algeria.html (check "Safety & Security" section)
- http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/tunisia.html
- http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/morocco.html (note the warning about "unexploded Mines")
Given the situation with ISIL lately and the value of kidnapping westerners (and their subsequent possible fate), that's not an area I'd be comfortable travelling in at the moment.