I left Kef early in the morning to go to Tajerouine, just 35km down the road. It has a hotel into which I checked as soon as I arrived in town. My plan was to got to ‘Jugurtha’s Table’, a massive flat-top mountain very close to the Algerian border. Before deciding on the transport – bike or taxi – I wanted to fetch some money from an ATM and get some lunch.
Well, the ATMs were destroyed and robbed. Fortunately, I was not depending on them today. Right outside a bank I met Hatem who started asking about my plans. He showed me a place where I got some (overpriced) food and offered to drive me to Jugurtha’s Table. I was a bit skeptical at first, but he didn’t want any money and even wanted to join in on the climb to the top. So I agreed and we set out to conquer the mountain. Actually, if one insists, like Hatem did, it is possible to drive almost all the way up, and there are stairs covering the last few meters.
The place is really amazing. Go see for yourself!
Later we met up with a friend of Hatem’s, head master at a village school a few kilometers away. They asked whether I wanted to stay one more day and offered to show me around some more the next day, and also offered a real couscous meal with that friend’s family. Again, I was skeptical at first but checked my schedule anyway. It would work out, somehow, and I happily accepted the offer.
