PROLOGUE
What led me to make this walk
My little family
Born in Kairouan (Tunisia) on July 8, 1997, my parents brought me to France so that I could study and ensure a better future.
On July 29, 2017, my father passed away from cancer. After burying him, I promised myself I would return to see him once I finished my studies. I made that promise.
5 years later
In August 2022, after finishing my studies, I decided to return to his grave to commemorate the five years since his death.
However, I wanted to do it my way: a walk across Tunisia to find his grave.
2022
PREPARATION
Dreaming of becoming an explorer, I preferred to make this walk my first expedition in memory of the person who has always inspired me.
A cart, my backpack, a camera, an MP3 player, and a 200-kilometer walk across my native country while raising funds for the fight against cancer.
2022
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SEA
A ferry to Tunisia
Leaving Marseille by ferry was an opportunity to reconnect with that summer routine of my childhood, when we returned home to see our family during the school holidays.
It was the first time in my life that I left Provence, where I grew up, alone, to return to the land where I was born.
Overwhelmed with nostalgia, I was unable to stay in the cabin and happily watched the sea dance to the rhythm of our boat.
Upon arriving in Tunis, I stayed at my aunt's house to prepare for my departure.
THE WALK
Crossing Tunisia on foot
The goal was simple on paper: to walk from Tunis to Kairouan and find my father's grave there.
So I walked from city to city, filming, photographing and writing. It was also an opportunity to see what had become of my native country more than 10 years after the Jasmine Revolution and five years of absence.
The heat and many other difficulties encountered were insignificant compared to the wonders encountered along the way.
Alone with my thoughts, a routine was established, automatic behaviors were created, and lessons were learned at every moment.
2022
MY FATHER'S GRAVE
Returning to my homeland
Having reached the end of this walk, I was finally able to see my father's grave again and tell him what I had to say. I took the opportunity to rest for a while in our house and see my family after many years.
However, for me, this was only the first step on a path that I still intended to continue.
A historic city in the Arab world, I spent all my summers in Kairouan, from my birth until I was 16.
This part being more personal, I'd like to keep it in a book. In the meantime, let's move on to the rest of this adventure.
2022
THE DESERT
Bouhedma National Park
It all started with a stuffed camel when I was 8 years old, when my father saw me playing and told me about a long walk he took across Tunisia with his friends in his youth.
This story sparked in me a love, a fascination for the desert, and it was time to have a first taste before tackling the Saharan depths.
Leaving from Kairouan, I was finally able to experience the arid lands that fueled my greatest fantasies as a young explorer.
I was also able to see my first oasis there, a thermal spring where I met some young people with whom I ate couscous over a wood fire.
Cut off from time and from any sound other than that of my cart on these burning rocks, I gazed along the gentle ridges delimiting the Bouhedma Park.
With a slow and contemplative step, I fell in love with this slowness, transforming my expedition into a meditative walk.
These landscapes that my father described to me when I was a child came to life before my eyes.
THE RESCUE
Rescuing my little buddies
Arriving in Kairouan, after encountering many stray animals without being able to do anything, I met three balls of fur that I wanted to help find a family.
The expedition ended in the best possible way, with the help of these little buddies and the help of VETS TUNISIE.
Bobby was a stray dog; he trembled chronically because he had been poisoned with arsenic by thieves.
Bob & John, two stray kittens encountered in Kairouan, one found rummaging through a garbage can and the other sleeping under a chair.
As soon as I was contacted, VETS Tunisia sent a van to pick up Bobby and agreed that I could come with Bob & John to take full care of them.
After that, the kittens found a family and Bobby became the mascot of VETS who adopted him and prevented a burglary a month after his rescue!
BACK HOME
Back in Marseille
It was in September 2022, after such an intense month that a book and a film will be dedicated to it, that I finally took the ferry home.
After walking across Tunisia to revisit my father's grave, I realized that he had been with me from the beginning.
As the waves rolled, my thoughts oscillated between this expedition and what I was able to say to him once I arrived at his grave.
Having arrived in Toulon, I was finally able to see my companions again before leaving again a month later, going from the Desert to the Arctic for the Nordlys project.
THANKS
To those who supported the adventure
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who supported this adventure, whether through your encouraging messages, your contributions to keeping this project alive, and to those who gave me a helping hand when I was in need.
To everyone, I would like to dedicate this section in memory of the kindness you have shown me towards my foolishness.
SPONSORS
I would first like to thank Reynald Delille and the entire team at Domaine de Terrebrune for sponsoring the Ya'aba expedition and supporting me throughout this adventure, from its preparation to its shipment.
CONTRIBUTORS
A huge thank you to all the donors to this fundraiser for the Ya'aba expedition making this adventure possible:
Marie Huguen ; Dan Ali Saleh ; Eve Galland ; Mélissa Mi ; Michael Walter ; Alexandra Grimonprez da Cunha ; Niels Guillouzouic ; Anonyme ; Rodolphe Mouniapin ; Quillaume Garcia ; Cass la Menass ; Anonyme ; Anonyme ; Charles Cantrel ; Julie Pala ; Samia Kad ; Tom Escavabaja ; Julia Jacquet ; Anonyme ; Nicolas Froment ; Jimmy Soto ; Anonyme ; Jennifer Cara ; Margaux Teulier ; Neena ; Jérémy MIGLIORE ; VETS TUNISIE ; Laure R. ; Géraldine Murat ; Tamar Hisarli ; Claire Girardot ; Cindy Rizzo ; Justine Tange ; Rose Bova ; Solène Verdin ; Aurane Carchio ; Marie Béguin ; Myriam E. ; Marie Roudon ; Hervé et Samba ; Charlotte Henquinet ; Mehdi Ouadfel ; Carl Jung ; Corentin Frémy ; Quentin Lecaudey ; Tania Knaebel ; Justine Frédéric ; Herbert Gaelle ; Laurine Gheda ; Orane Ait ; Seb Vic ; Hervé Chevalley ; Anonyme ; Anonyme ; Emma Aline.
But also to the donors of the fundraising campaign for the League Against Cancer:
Anonyme ; Fanny Andral ; Sébastien Parot ; Jimmy Soto ; Claire Girardot et Jonathan Cravi ; Maily Detrez ; Victoria Boissy ; Myriam E. ; Camille Fournier ; Ouarda Bouhasssoun ; Amine Ybd ; Mathilde Stella ; Charlotte Henquinet ; Charles Cantrel ; François Pouderoux ; Dora Mallekh ; Justine Frédéric ; Noël Flantier ; Laureen Feige ; Wahbi Ben Ziadi Wahbi ; Marianne Médot ; Perrine Bergmann ; Giada Frana ; Fanette Couturier ; Loic Baradel ; Camaimiti ; Alicia Thierry ; NeeNa ; Tania Knaebel ; Sofiane Seghir ; Charlotte Henquinet.
VETS TUNISIE
