Sabratha Ruins, Libya

10th October 2007 Sabratha ruins, Libya
We spent a peaceful night in the tour group's guest house, Dar Arkno.
Arkno Tours had efficiently managed everything through our now good friend and guide, Saleem. We walked through the Tripoli 'souk' (market) last night which opened at 9pm and didn’t close till 3am. We left the hotel at 9.30am, in very little traffic as most people surface from sleeping off the Ramadan nights at 10.30am, earliest. We proceeded west towards Sabratha through entirely populated areas and it rained for the first time since we were in Khartoum, Sudan, but only for a few minutes. One thing that "the Colonel" (Ghadaffi) has got right, is that the people here seem content, and although they may not agree with all his policies, they have a thriving economy going and he is looking after his own people in a socialist manner. 75% of the working population is employed by the government. Everyone get R20 each for basic food coupons (for sugar, oil, bread, milk, meat etc) from a government shop that sells produce at 25% cheaper than commercial shops. Local fruit and veges cost about the same as in SA. Fanta cost R5.00 for 2l. Alcohol is forbidden and crime is very minimal. The price of commodities seems to be fixed and they pride themselves that you don't have to bargain like one has to in Egypt. With fuel being cheap and cars 25% less than in SA, transport is very cheap and you can catch a taxi and go around the city for R20. We still cannot believe that we went right across Libya (2000Km) on R150 worth of fuel!!! There are many minibuses, but hardly any busses here. The population is very controlled by their strong religion claiming 100% are Muslim in this country. The houses are three-storied blocks of flats for the "middle class”. There are also many free standing houses. Everyone has a home, there are no squatters or 'houses' like Bruntville. No-one is on the street absolutely destitute and everyone has sufficient for their needs.
People earning R2500 to R5000 pay 1% tax and above that they pay a small bit more but our guide didn't think anyone paid anywhere near 10%, even in the top bracket. Government workers do not pay tax. There is no VAT.
There are no donkey carts in Libya like in all the other countries from Botswana north. Dogs are not kept as pets here but the many feral dogs go around in packs at night hunting and barking. Another strange thing we have found in the Libyan coastal route is that there are no wild animals and virtually no birds, not even seagulls. We have seen three herons, some egrets, a few mossies, crows and a few unidentified starling type birds and that's it!
The only problem we saw was the garbage disposal, or lack thereof. Plastic bags, bottles and everything that animals (dogs, cats, camels, sheep and goats) cannot eat gets blown around by the wind. The beaches are littered, the roadsides are littered, and the Libyans just don't see it. Their rich archeological sites are being spoilt by the lack of tourist control.
We walked around Sabratha, another ancient Roman settlement destroyed in 365AD earthquake, not as good as Leptis Magna but still fascinating with their drainage, water borne sewerage, toilets, magnificent temples, saunas, baths and general living. There were a surprisingly high number of tourists here, up to six bus loads.
We drove around the town, stocked up with lamb (R55/Kg), chicken (R25/Kg) and camel meat (R45), (beef is R50/Kg) fruit and veges for the next few days. We had stewed camel meat tonight which was quite delicious.
We are camping in a site again within sight of the lit-up ruins, and the deep blue Mediterranean Sea.

Tuesday 9th October 2007 Dar Arkno Guest house, Tripoli, Libya
We went to the museum next to the site this morning. A very well presented and well preserved place and we spent 2hours reading the way they found the various buildings. Archeologists were outside covered in white dust, restoring a huge column to its former glory.
Archeology is such an exacting, slow-moving, detailed science. Nev would have lost patience and gone in with a front-end loader to dig up what was there!!
We went to the amphitheatre about 1Km away overlooking the sea. It was designed then as Kings Park Stadium is designed today. It was huge, still in excellent condition and held 12000people who watched the lions eating the Christians, and gladiator slaves killing each other.
Most of the area between Al Khums and Tripoli is built up. The vehicles are mostly modern with some Chinese cars apparent, (called Gonow) with double cabs and look exactly like the Toyotas and Isuzus and sell for under R100,000. Single cabs are R60,000 but look better than the "Chana" in SA.
Libyan drivers are very aggressive and drive very fast. Saleem has learned how to use our hooter and leans over me and parps the hooter while swearing out the passenger window while waving his fist at the other car!!!

Monday 8th October 2007 Leptis Magna, Al Khums, Libya
We left early and went through boring country except at Sert. This is Gadaffi's city where he is trying to set up a model city. As a result there is irrigation on the approach and the small farmers each have a huge reservoir from the "Great Manmade River" GMR, which pipes water 1000Km from the desert through 4m pipes to the coast. There is a government farm at Sert with several small center pivots (3-6 towers) along the road and everything looks lovely and green.
We arrived at Leptis Magna and spent the rest of the day exploring the ruins caused by the 365AD earthquake. This Roman and Greek city is huge and, unlike the ruins in Rome, have not been built upon, so there is an amazing area still to excavate. We were fascinated by the Hadrian's Baths, where they had saunas, huge swimming pools and exercise areas with marbled walls, mosaic floors, granite pillars and marble statues in abundance. We marveled at how little has changed in 2000 years regarding water reticulation, sewerage (flush toilets) and piped water. The stadia held 10,000 people and looked like the ABSA stadium in Durbs. We could summon up the atmosphere of old so easily as we wondered among the buildings. They used to plant olives and export olive oil to Rome, more than 1mil litres per year.
We camped in the car park overlooking the ruins (free) and had a lovely shower in their shower rooms. It rained a few spots in the night and Nev had to jump out of the tent and bring in our washing.

Sunday 7th October 2007. Rubbish Dump at Djdabiya, Libya
Today we had a looooong boring drive after waiting for Saleem to come back from having our passports registered (a la Sudan) where we have to register within a week after arriving in the country. We traveled along Karroo type country often below sea level with shallow salt lakes and herds of camels grazing the short scrub. There was also a little bit of irrigation with lucerne, dates and olives, all K&P type irrigation but not more than 100Ha.
We drove far too long as Saleem needed to get to a mosque and a restaurant, and we found one near a garbage polluted area with a camel pen on the side. I couldn't believe we were going to stay there but there was nothing better, it was getting dark and we were all tired, but I stated that we were going to leave at sunrise the next morning!