Three of the Star Wars saga films were shot in Tunisia, and by the time I went on this movie pilgrimmage it had been eight years since filming last took place in the country for Episode II which came out a year later in 2002. It may surprise many that to visit these filming locations was actually very difficult when I went there in the late 2000s. The political unrest in the country certainly didn’t help in the intervening years but for a long time after that there were no special Star Wars package tours * and very, very few Tunisians had even heard of, let alone seen the sci-fi saga.

The wheels for this trip of a lifetime were set in motion earlier that summer when I booked my air tickets at a travel agency! There really wasn’t too much information out there about these filming locations. There was very little on the internet and so all I had was a book called ‘Trip to Tatooine’ by Mark Dermul and a ‘Star Wars Insider‘ magazine article (issue 27) by Dr. David Reynolds from 1995 which were both incredibly useful.

Having finally made it down to Tozeur the day before after an arduous bus journey or three, I set about the following morning to get started on my journey to the galaxy that was now not so far away! Having walked the streets of Tozeur in the early hours I’d found nothing that could help me such as a tout or a tour operator. In fact the whole town seemed to be closed!

Eventually I returned to one of the higher-end hotels (I was staying elsewhere in a cheaper option!) and enquired at reception about hiring a private 4WD driver for a few hours. I had to pay what was expensive by local standards but still very reasonable when converted to pounds or dollars. My memory is a little hazy but I think it cost roughly 130 TND which is about $40 in today’s money!

My driver Amar first took me to Sidi Bouhlel which is known (outside of Tunisia) as Star Wars canyon and was used in ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope‘ (1977) as well as  ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark‘ (1981). The same view of the canyon below was flipped in post-production.

It was an absolutely awesome sight. Next, I went down into the canyon where some of the scenery (Artoo’s hideout and Jawa rock) was so instantly recognisable. It was a great start to the tour and I was completely alone.

Ong Jemal (a.k.a. camelhead rock) followed. That was seen briefly in ‘Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace‘ (1999) but is maybe more famous for being in ‘The English Patient’ (1996) which I had watched as part of my preparation for the trip.

A short ride away from this was the Yardangs (protruding rocks resembling shark fins) which was the duel site between Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul.

Next up in the middle of the desert was the Mos Espa set from Episode I which just sits there alone without any fencing, security, entrance charge or whatever. It truly was amazing and probably the highlight of my whole time in Tunisia.

The set itself is made of wooden moisture vaporators, multi-domed buildings and archways made of plaster with nothing inside apart from a few sleeping touts waiting for the next tourist bus to arrive. This place is supposedly on the tourist circuit for people coming to this area though it’s only billed as “The Star Wars”.

I guess I must have arrived in between buses as unbelievably I was alone again and able to wander at ease locating the likes of Watto’s junk shop, Qui Gonn’s alley, Sebulba’s café and Jira’s fruitstall.

I was in my element and absolutely delighted but my world was about to come crushing down soon after that if I can be slightly overdramatic! I was looking forward to seeing the Skywalker home exterior which was one of the sites I was most excited about seeing. However, I was dealt a crushing blow when I couldn’t find the tiny igloo and communication problems with the driver made it difficult for me to really guide him to where I wanted.

After showing a photo of the place in my book to a local I couldn’t believe their ignorance in just saying it wasn’t in the area but what can you expect when a foreigner tries to tell you that something you’ve never seen is in your neck of the woods! It was a truly frustrating experience and I really regret not stopping the driver at the 26 km marker and looking for it on foot. However, he drove a little past that point to a turning where there was a side-road to follow but we just couldn’t locate it from there.

A sign has since been built by the author of the aforementioned book when he and a group of other volunteers went there in May 2012 to repair it. I’m pretty sure that the GPS co-ordinates are out in the public domain these days, and no doubt some YouTubers have been there too but too much research into the subject would bring back bad memories for me!

It was then over to the other side of Tunisia the next day to the most well-known and  commonly visited of all the Star Wars locales. The Hotel Sidi Driss doubled up as the Lars Homestead in the original 1977 movie, and then again in the second prequel in 2002.

You don’t need to be a Star Wars fan to be intrigued by this type of underground “troglodyte” home as is proved by the many, many buses which make a stop at this place on their way up and down the country.

I was one of only two guests to be staying in the hotel that night as it is rather rundown with poor service but small matters like that were never going to deter me! It cost me just 16 TND ($5) for the night and meant that I could leisurely line up photo shots aplenty  throughout the day inbetween all the tourists popping by.

The following day was a taxi tour of a few Ksours which are types of fortified villages in North Africa. The first one with a Star Wars link was Ksar Hadeda which was the location of Shmi Skywalker’s home in Episode I for the scene where she told Qui-Gon Jinn that her son Anakin didn’t have a father. It was sadly a bad time to visit this place as it was going through some repairs and was a bit of a building site that bore little resemblance to what had been seen on screen. I believe it has been spruced up since then and looks far more like its former self.

The final Ksar was in Medenine where a back alley was used as the home of Anakin and Shmi Skywalker. The scene where Anakin had to say bye to his mum was filmed there with sand added to the street to make it look more desert-like so inevitably it looked a little different in 2009 with no set dressing remaining. It looked like people actually lived there too.

My penultimate day in Tunisia began early with a short trip across the sea to Djerba where I found a taxi driver to take me round the three places I wanted to see. First stop was the marabout of Sidi Jemour which played Anchorhead in a deleted scene in the original movie, and was also used as the outskirts of Mos Eisley. I wasn’t too bothered about this place but as I was in the vicinity I thought I may as well see it.

Further down the coast near the ferry port was Ben Kenobi’s hermitage; a lone derelict building which appeared on screen for about one second with Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder outside it.

The film portrays it as being in the middle of the desert by using a low camera angle but it is in fact right next to the sea. It was actually exciting to see this fisherman’s hut with nothing whatsoever inside. No doubt the studio was used for the interior shots.

My final port of call on the Star Wars trail was the Mos Eisley Cantina bar where Luke and Ben were introduced to Han Solo. This was incredibly difficult to find and it took a while even with the maps provided in my locations guidebook. At that time, it had been over 30 years since the movie was filmed there so it was no surprise that the buildings were not in such good condition.

Nearby sidestreets were used for the the stormtrooper checkpoint and the blast-off alley where the protagonists escape in the Millennium Falcon. It was nice to finish my Star Wars pilgrimage at such a pivotal place in the whole saga.

There was just enough time back in capital city Tunis to see the Grand Hotel du Lac which may have been an inspiration (or inspired by) for the sandcrawlers in Star Wars.

Not seeing the Lars Homestead exterior was (and still is!) a crushing disappointment, and maybe back then I thought I could even return to Tunisia. Indeed I might but life is quite different for me now and likewise for Tunisia. I may have missed out on that but I did get to see everything else as well as plenty of non-Star Wars sights so I can’t be too down about it all.

* These days there are some specially-themed tours of Tunisia such as Galaxy Tours and Star Wars Tours. 

Click here to read ‘TF Flashback: The Pain & Ecstasy of Spending A Week In Tunisia (2009)’

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Star Wars Filming Locations’

Click here to read ‘A New Hope Filming Locations: Star Wars Traveller – Yavin 4 (a.k.a. Tikal)’

Click here to read ‘Star Wars Traveller – Scarif (a.k.a. Canary Wharf Station, UK)’