Sahara Douz Festival - 8 - 11 Nov 2008

Sahara Douz Festival

When:
8 - 11 Nov 2008 (annual)
Where:
Douz
Cost:

Opening Hours:

Website:
Sahara Douz Festival Website Festivl de Douz

Stemming from an original Bedouin marriage market, the Sahara Douz Festival has now mushroomed into a huge celebration, which attracts over 50,000 people every year, although the festival still has a really authentic feel to it.

Camels resting in the Sahara, Douz, at the Sahara Douz Festival you can watch some impressive camel and greyhound racing as well as the equestrian military exercises known throughout the Maghreb as "fantasias". These involve a veritable swarm of riders cantering across the ground, turning abruptly and stopping in their tracks before shooting into the air.

If this all sounds a bit much for you, you can always retire to the food section of the Sahara Douz Festival and gorge yourself on Douz's recently harvested dates!

i fly out on the 9th but will be in tunis till the 13th of november so i guess ill miss it too :-(

I wish for that is where i am to be married..... Douz ..im happy to be in love yet sad im going to miss the festival

Sahara Douz Festival december

Hello everyone,

The official SaharaDouzfestival wil be held in December for 4 day's. Most often it starts the 25th until the 28th.
Sometimes in November a 1 dayfestival for tourists or even for the President will be held, but just 1 day.






Anyone who likes to visit the festival please make hotelreservations in time!

Hello Kris, The Festival Douz website works fine under french, although not at all updated. It was my experience when I wrote them an email last year for the correct dates they send me an responce. I have to admitt there is no overall vision to develop work, chances and a smooth structure, but the again: the SaharaDouzFestival is not commercial it is free. But every year in December the hotels are fully booked and a lot of Tunisians themselves come and visit the Festival.
The Festival tribunes are renovaded, parkinglots are created.
For a couple of years they try to build a shoppingarrea but finances will perhaps be short?
Confusing messages with the wrong information don't help.
So again: the Sahara Douz Festival is held at the end of December, 4 days in a row, incl. a dromedary marathon of 42 km's, through the desert.
The festival can be visited for free. To sit at the tribunes a permit is neccesary which be will be provided -for free- at the tourist office.
The festival program is much bigger than just the parades and performances at the festivalplace, in hotels and other places lectures, poems and theater will be performed.
The activities at the festivalplace will always start around 3:30 pm.
Douz can be reached easily by public transport, by bus and louage. The festivalplace, from the village can be reached by taxi or public local bustransport.
The best hotels are in walkingdistance of the Festivalplace at the so called 'zone touristique'.

This is for now the best info I can give. Douz is still in the midlle of traditional Tunisia.
Modern visitors need to adjust themselves a little, which is in my opinion so welcome during vacations for having new experiences to take home.
The festivalparades takes place at the zone touristique at the permanent build Festivalplace.
I found your older message, Kris, wich has very nice info:

To keep this thread updated:

The Sahara Douz Festival is NOT organised in November - as mentioned in an earlier post above, that just used to be a 1 day private festival.

The original traditional Sahara Douz Festival will be organised for the 44th time in 2011 in Douz on the official Festival location and a lot of festivities are organised in town.
It is a 4 day festival, this year even 6 days with on the 26th of December a Dromadary Marathon of 42 km.
Visiting the festival is free of charge.

Anyone interested in a guided visit on Christmasday to the Festival and inmediately following a 5 day trek into the desert, please do not hesitate to send me a personal message.