Category: Tunisia

Fish Museum Aquarium – Carthage

Yesterday, we thought we’d go check out the Aquarium in Carthage, the Fish Museum as they call it, or “Dar El Hout” (Fish House) as it’s called in Arabic.

It’s located in Carthage near the old Punic Ports.

A number of people told me about the place before, and I was expecting a really cool aquarium, but I was somewhat let down, as it turned out to be pretty mediocre.

The “Fish Museum” is divided into three parts; a Historic one giving insight into the maritime/marine history of Tunisia, Fresh water fish and salt water fish.
There aren’t really that many unique species of fish to see, just the usual ones from the Mediterranean region; the same ones you’d see at the nearest Tunisian fish market, if not less.

It’s a shame that establishments such as this one and the zoo in Belv

Dumpukht – Indian Restaurant – Les Berges Du Lac

On our way back home today, we were both a bit hungry and felt especially like having some Indian food. Being in Tunisia, the options in this area are very limited, and the only place we could think of was this new Indian restaurant called “Dumpukht” that opened in Les Berges du Lac a few months ago.

The place is really nice, pretty well decorated, has Zee TV playing Indian music videos on a flat screen, and has this nice comfy feel to it. The waiters are all Tunisian, dressed in Indian clothes though, and the chef is Indian, which is the most important point to me.

I had some Chicken Tikka Masala and Eman opted for a Chicken Biryani; the food was really good and delicious. I personally really enjoyed it.

The prices are quite ok as well, with most main dishes being in the 8-13 Dinars range. Of course that doesn’t put it in the list of places you’d go to everyday, but once in a while when you feel like Indian food, it is a good option.

And as is the case with every good Indian restaurant, you go home smelling of curry and other Indian spices… Yummy…

The restaurant is in Les Berges du Lac, on the corner between the main road and Rue du Lac Windermere, close to Hotel Acropole.

Tunisia: 747 Thousand Rich & 376 Thousand Poor?!

According to the numbers released by Tunisia’s National Statistics Institute, Tunisia has 747 thousand rich people and only 376 thousand poor; which puts poverty at only 3.8% in Tunisia, the middle class at 80% and the percentage of the rich at 6.2%; which sounds great, but a bit unrealistic too.

Taking a closer look at the numbers behind the numbers as they were released in a recent Tunisian economic review, we find the following:

Rich people in Tunisia are defined as people who spend 4000 TND (US$ 3,120) or more per year, that’s around 11 TND (US$ 8.58) per day.

On the other hand, poor people are defined as people who spend around 400 TND (US$ 312) or less per year, so around 1 dinar a day (US$ 0.86).

It’s obvious these numbers are a bit unrealistic, especially with the soaring prices of everything from food to the different essential commodities to fuel …etc.

In reality, people living on only 4000 dinars per year are mostly in the lower end of the middle class, barely making ends meet and most probably living in debt.
Personally, I spend a few times more than that per year, and I’m nowhere near rich, in fact I consider myself to be somewhere in the middle middle class.

As for the poor; The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US$ 1 per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day; so that would put Tunisians living on around 1 Dinar per day mostly in the extreme poverty category with the best cases “moderately” poor, whatever that’s supposed to mean. That doesn’t mean that people living on a bit more than a dollar or two shouldn’t be considered poor as well; slightly less poor but not that much better off.

I don’t want to sound negative here, and I’m really not, in fact I think that if a person visited Tunisia a number of times over the past years, it would be clearly obvious to them that the middle class is steadily growing, poverty is decreasing, people are spending more, and that the economy is doing better and is more vibrant than ever before.

I just think that the definitions of rich and poor in Tunisia in this study are a bit unrealistic, and that the percentages don’t perfectly represent the truth on the ground. The percentage of rich people is less than 6.2%, and the percentage of the poor is a bit more, with the majority really in the middle class; and after all I think that’s normal; the bigger the middle class is and the smaller poverty and wealth rates are, the healthier the society and more balanced it is as a whole.

[Source: African Manager (FR)]
[Via: Bilel (FR)]

Tunisian Mobile Network Problems

Starting yesterday 11:30AM, the network of Tunisiana, Tunisia’s only private mobile phone operator, has been having problems, even going down for hours, and with outgoing and incoming calls being impossible. The problems persist to this very moment for two whole ranges of numbers.

Tunisie Telecom, the first telecom operator, also ran into similar problems yesterday, with their network rejecting calls. But things got back to normal on their side a bit quicker.

Many Tunisian blogs have written about this already, and it has been covered quite enough, but well I want to talk about a whole different angle of this problem.

This critical incident has been an ongoing one for over 24 hours, and up to this very second, not one of these telecom operators has said one thing about it to their clients; nothing, nada, zip, rien, zilch.

Their websites don’t even have the tiniest of messages announcing or explaining the problem, apologizing for the inconvenience caused to millions of clients, let alone giving insight into the reasons behind it and how long it is expected to last.

The news yesterday didn’t say a single thing, the newspapers today didn’t mention it, and generally speaking, there’s an information blackout surrounding this problem.

Online, the only things I find about this problem are on blogs and on WebManagerCenter, a Tunisian business news portal.

I find this totally abnormal, unprofessional and unexceptable!
When are Tunisian companies going to learn to communicate more with their clients, be more transparent about their plans and problems, and own up to their mistakes?

We’re in an age where information goes around very quickly, and unless you want the wrong information and lie packed rumours going around behind your back, you have to be the first out there with the right information and with answers for your clients.

The relationship between a client and a service provider is all about trust, that is what generates customer loyalty. Trust isn’t just by providing a great service, it’s also about being honest with your customers and telling them that you’re doing everything you can to make them happy even when things go wrong.

Tunisian companies in general have to stop taking their clients for granted and start working on building clear and transparent channels of communication with them; providing better services and customer support; going out of their way to make the client happy and be sure they’re satisfied.

As a client, I want to know what’s going on, and I personally feel let down and dissapointed in how this situation was handled, just like many others; that translates into a big chunk of trust and respect lost.

Tunisia & Jordan Conclude Aviation Talks

So, some interesting news between Tunisia and Jordan in the travel area…

Jordan and Tunisia have concluded discussions on the issue of aviation on Sunday at the headquarters of the Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission.

The discussions led to signing a MoU aims at liberalizing air transport between the two countries and direct allowing aviation companies, designated by the contracting parties, to operate any number and any kind of flights without restrictions.

The two sides agreed to add Aqaba as an air route to the schedule of the bilateral air transport agreement to the Tunisian side and to add Tabarka and Tozeur to the Jordanian side.

[Source: Petra]

Well, maybe it’s not as interesting for everyone, but considering that I’m a Tunisian and my wife is Palestinian-Jordanian, and we travel to Jordan as often as we can, I think it’s pretty obvious why it’s interesting to me.

So, from my side, above all, I hope this results in cheaper tickets and more flexible flight schedules.

On the other hand, I wonder how successful the extra air routes to the selected cities will be, but well I guess if some tourism agreements between the two countries are thrown in there as well, they could potentially become pretty popular; especially that these 3 cities are great destinations for tourism all year round.

Good Marketing, Bad Distribution

The other day we were shopping at one of the big stores, and I went on to pick up a bottle of skimmed milk; I was just checking the expiry date and other stuff when I found a little something I’m not used to finding on Tunisian products.
There was this little message informing customers that the same company also sold 0% Fat Yogurt with different flavors.
This isn’t a form of marketing you usually find on Tunisian products, even though I find it one of the most targeted, unobtrusive and interesting forms of advertising and marketing around because you’re talking directly to a customer who is surely interested in the other product you’re selling and who has already given his confidence to your company by choosing one of your products over the competition.

This is all great, it actually put a smile on my face seeing that Tunisians were getting smarter about marketing and advertising their products, and I went to check out the advertised product.

This is where they messed up whatever effort they made and advantage they got through their targeted marketing; the product was nowhere to be found, neither in that store not any other I’ve been to ever since.

So even though these guys have a great way to market their product to the right people in the right market segment, they fail to distribute their product well and lose everything they worked for, maybe even generating customers that are frustrated because of a product they haven’t even tried yet. That would mean that their good marketing push is actually generating the opposite effect to what anyone would wish for.

All this to say that one missing link in the chain is enough to spoil everything for the customer and the company, especially when that link is distribution.

So please, don’t market a product that doesn’t exist or is never available. It works against you and annoys the customers.

Tunisia To Award Fixed-line Phone Licence

Tunisia will launch an international tender soon for a fixed-line telecoms licence.

The news was published by Reuters, based on an article by Tunisian newspaper Le Quotidien.

This move comes upon a recommendation by the Tunisian President to speed up preparations so as to open up Tunisia’ s telecommunications sector.

A team charged with this project in the telecoms ministry is preparing an international tender to select a second fixed-line phone operator, thereby ending Tunisie Telecom’s monopoly.

State-controlled Tunisie Telecom still holds a monopoly in fixed-line services and controls 72 percent of the mobile market. Dubai’s Tecom holds a 35 percent stake in Tunisie Telecom after outbidding France’s Vivendi.

This is one of the best pieces of news I’ve heard in a long time, I can’t wait for this to come true and for Tunisie Telecom’s monopoly to end. Their service has been pretty mediocre when it comes to my case and their customer support is one of the worst I’ve ever had to deal with. I know a lot of other people who have the same problems as I do with Tunisie Telecom, but I’ll resist the temptation to generalize, even though maybe I should.
Anyway, the new company can count me as one of their first converts, if not even an evangelist.

My Top 10 Favourite Tunisian Dishes

I posted a couple of years ago about my 10 favourite dishes, from different origins, but to be honest, no matter how many countries I’ve been to and how many cuisines I’ve tried, I still think that Tunisian cuisine is the best when taken in its entirety.

This is why I thought I’d share with you the list of my top 10 favourite Tunisian dishes.

1. Mloukhia: I personally worship Tunisian Mloukhia, and so do most other Tunisians. It’s the greatest dish created by mankind with a magical taste and smell that enchant your senses.

2. Couscous: Our Tunisian national dish, whether with meat, chicken or fish it’s just perfect. With a cup of fresh Lben on the side, I’d have this meal any day.

3. Nwaser: Another Tunisian delicacy that I love. Its small steamed square-shaped pieces of home-made pasta covered in a delicious tomato-based sauce just take you to another level of food joy.

4. Dwida Mfawwra: Another steamed pasta based meal that I enjoy so much.

5. Njara: A dish from my home city of Bizerte, also steamed pasta based, and very delicous as well.

6. Kleya: Small pieces of meat, liver and whatnot spiced and cooked with some onion and parsley thrown on top. Great dish.

7. Tunisian Pasta: Pasta may have its origins in Italy, just across the mediterranean, but it only lives up to its full potential when cooked in a Tunisian household with our Tunisian tomato sauce.

8. Keftaji: A great Tunisian fast food made of a mix of vegetables, topped with a fried egg. Love it.

9. Leblabi: Another Tunisian fast food; boiled chick peas and bread crumbs, spiced and mixed, very yummy.

10. Blankite Salad: Slices of baguette bread, soaked in a tomato-based sauce, topped with Mechouia Salad, a slice of egg, a slice of cheese and a slice of olive. Amazing.

If you’re ever in Tunisia, you have to try some of the mouth-watering dishes above; you’ll never forget the tasty experience.

Why Don’t Tunisians Pay Online?

E-commerce never really took off in Tunisia, and a lot of people I know think that it’ll be a while before it even starts to work. There aren’t that many Tunisian websites that offer possibilities to pay online, and on the other hand not that many Tunisians are willing to use these possibilities if they exist.

I think it is important to try and understand why Tunisians aren’t ready or willing to pay online in order for businesses to search and find solutions to making the internet into another effective sales and services channel.

Some of the factors that could be behind the Tunisian’s unacceptance to use online payment are:
– Fears regarding the security of online payment platforms
– Not being used to paying online, neither locally nor internationally
– Lack of incentives to pay online, in term of access to cheaper prices or wider choice of products
– Lack and complexity of payment options
– Unawareness of the online payment options that exist in the Tunisian market today

I personally think it’s a combination of all of the above.

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