Hi there
I know the thread is old, but I feel it is better to use this than to open a new one.

I plan to ride my BMW F650GS (2006) from Switzerland to Tunisia (ferry Genova- Tunis) and tour Tunisia in October 2021.

Tunisia is basically composed of 3 zones. The northern coast with more than 600 mm rain a year, blue forests, hills and many roman ruins. The middle part with 300-600 mm rain, where the olive trees are planted at the double distance, with many Berber and Arabic vestiges. The south with very low rain, salt lakes (Chot el Jerid is the largest in Africa), palmy oasis, sandy dunes, rocky hills, dry rivers and generous people.

I would like to tour the country counterclockwise using roads, small trails and off-road parts. We could also take a guide to go south to the Grand Erg.

I speak French and a tiny bit of Arabic, and know the country since my mother lived in the south for 10 years. But it will be my first trip by motorbike there.

I am used to couchsurfing and to camp or use smaller hostels. I have already email contact with 16 motorcycling clubs and got tips and offers to ride a bit together.

According to the swiss embassy, the security situation is still similar with the one posted previously in this thread. Don't go to close to the Libyan border, nor at some spots of the Algerian one, or you might be kidnapped. Curiously none of my local contact mentioned that, but of course I don't want to try free holidays in Libya.

I am vaccinated against Covid19. The situation is tensed, since oxygen supplied started to fail in the country, having 200 death per day for 11 millions inhabitants by mid July. The peak seemed to be attained around the 20th of July but as you know nothing is constant and there could always be a new variant. I am monitoring the situation.

The country is not shutting its borders - since tourism is a vital industry - but some bigger cities are not visitable. So not a perfect situation but good enough in my opinion for vaccinated, cautious, assistance insurance holding, bikers that will not always mix with people.

I am still flexible with the dates and itinerary.

It would be nice to have one ore more companions during the whole trip or only for the wilder south part. We could also have a guide for a tour in the real desert.

Please join or share your experience with me.