Tunisia

[Santiagodc]

I had a chance to travel for one month to Tunisia back in August and sample many of the wonderful young Arab men available. Here are some of my notes:

Tunis: When I arrived, the messages on Grindr began to light up considerably. As I did in other countries, I would ask to video chat and most chose not to. It was clear in two instances that the men were contriving something as they insisted that I come to their place in the far rural section of Tunis. I agreed in one instance to meet, but decided to arrive two hours before. I sat at a café and watched the area. The young man in question arrived with four of his friends. The man sat at the bench in the center of the park where he wanted to meet, and his four friends scattered around the park. At that point I got up and took a taxi back to my hotel. I texted the guy and asked why he did not come alone as requested. When I showed him the long-range photo I took, he said he would report me to the police. Obviously, he would not and could not since he had no information. He proved the point that Grindr in Tunisia can be dangerous. I stayed the first week in a tourist hotel on Ave Habib Bourguiba (hereafter AHB) which is the main avenue in Tunis. Guests were not allowed back at the hotel so I had to try other venues. I had stayed in Tunis six times before, and usually frequented the three centrally located movie theatres where there were always some men available for action. Unfortunately, these movie theatres have now become strictly legitimate and do not allow any gay action in them at all. I also tried the Belvedere Park and Tunis Zoo which was where you could usually pick-up men and use the woods. Sadly, there were just families during the day and no men out in the evening. I had previously had good luck at both places. For this trip, I was able to find young guys only by walking the AHB. There are benches all along the central pedestrian section of the Avenue. Get yourself something to drink and just sit and watch the people. Inevitably, there will be some young guys that will walk up, sit down, and start a conversation clearly for money. In three instances I asked where we could go. In all three they took me to one of the theatres. So, while the theatre itself had no guys available, you could go in separately and then find each other in a quiet area. The biggest theatre in Tunisia (over 500 seats and three levels) is right on the AHB and is called Cinéma Le Colisée. I used to have great fun in previous years with guys in the lower section there, but now you need to find and bring your guy from outside. The second place to meet guys is at the corner where AHB crosses Rue de Marseille. Get yourself a coffee at the corner Patisserie Naouri and sit to watch the guys come by. If you smile and want to talk, you will need to get up and go chat as the servers are very careful to not allow bystanders to interfere with guests. The third place to find guys is at the east part of AHB where it meets Place du 14 Janvier 2011 (this is where the famous Clock of Habib is located). Get yourself a coffee from the corner Pomme De Pain and sit to watch all the boys gather in the park next to it. The park is located between the Pomme De Pain and the Café La Fontaine. You can have a conversation with the guys and most will know a place nearby in an alley or side street where you can do the deed. Almost all the guys at the first three places were active, while the guys at the corner park area were active and passive. I later returned on my exit from the country to stay one more week in an Airbnb that had a private entrance. In that case, I took guys back from the third location park with no problem. 

Sousse: I stayed in an Airbnb with private access. You can easily figure out the places to stay by reading the reviews of places on Airbnb. If a gay had a problem bringing back a guy, you will see that he compliments the owner for the security of the place and the night guard. He likewise compliments the owner for private access to signal to the rest of us the option to bring a guy back. I stayed in Sousse three weeks this time, but have also stayed six times before. The main road for finding guys is along the see wall pedestrian area starting at the northern end on Ave Hedi Chaker (hereafter AHC) where it meets the Hotel Riadh Palms, and then simply walk down the sea wall pedestrian area south past the Place Bou Jaaaar and down the Habeeb Burgioba Street (hereafter HBS) until you get to the Claridge Hotel. I walked that several times a day and you can always find young men. I found guys this time for service at two places. The first was by sitting with other gay men at the famous Café La Sirene at the Place Bou Jaafar. Sit there at the outside covered tables, have yourself an orange juice, and just watch the many many guys that parade by. If you are interested in a guy, you can ask him to join you and the staff will have no problem. The second place is the Café Jus Glaces at the corner of HBS and Rue Palestine. Sit, get a drink, watch the boys, and invite some to sit at your table. Do a google maps search and it will even show you ME sitting at the bar watching the boys go by. The go-to bar for guys keeps changing every year it seems. It used to be a bar on the northern end of Sousse near Mongi Slim, but this time it was closed. As for where to have sex, Airbnb was the way to go this time. I was able to invite many men back with no problems. Now, I did have two guys that showed me ID and they were clearly 19, but they looked much younger and I did not want to risk it. So, I asked THEM where we should go. In one instance the young man had me pay for an unofficial one-hour hotel. It required him to first talk with the clerk with me outside, then he waived me in, I passed the money to the clerk, and off we went to the room for an hour. The same happened with a second guy who took me to another place. I was very cautious because I would not provide my ID to get a room as is normally required by law. So I told the young men that I had no ID and they knew a place to go. It went so well that I always first asked a guy if he knew of a place to go. If they did not, then I would use my Airbnb.  Interestingly, several other guys told me they come to Sousse from the rural areas to make some money for a few days. If they don’t get a room, then they have to stay on the streets or in a Hamman. The final place for me was the legit theatre on HBS known as Cinema Le Palace next to the Bar Tapas. This smaller theatre shows legitimate movies and is VERY frequented by couples to make out. However, there always seemed to be at least one guy for sex there in the afternoons that you could meet in the smallest bathroom stall I have ever encountered. Interestingly, the two young men who run the theatre for their family (an old man or old woman always takes the money) were both available for blow jobs when I was there. One is a bit strange with glasses, and the other seems to dye his hair a different color each time I visit. 

GRINDR: Be warned it can be dangerous. 

SEX: Most of the guys are active, like to get sucked, will fuck, and many will also kiss. Tunis and Sousse both had passive guys, but they were usually dressed with lipstick and overtly effeminate. As you will note from police reports, Sousse especially has very young guys for trade. In turn, Sousse is very active in arresting those who pay for underage sex. Two German men were arrested the week I was there because one of them took back an underage boy to his apartment and was reported. Stings are the norm and money/bribes will not help out. As one French gay couple told me, there are weekly stings that are set-up precisely to entrap foreigners who prey on the underage there. There are plenty of young boys/guys that are available of legal age. 

PAY: The street guys usually wanted 30-50 Tunisian dinars ($11-$18 USD) for a quick blow job. When I took a guy back to my place, they usually asked for 50-75 dinars ($18-$27).

LANGUAGE: Arab and French, although the boys seem to know German and English as many gay tourists come from Germany and the UK. 

[tm_nyc]

Another great report-- thank you!

I paid one short visit to Tunis a while ago & had no luck at all with the local talent.

[Xclay]

Wow, thanks for the thorough post!

Any thoughts on pickup on sellers in the souk? 
A few years ago, I had some luck with hot guys working there.

Do you go into the desert Berber areas?

[Santiagodc]

A FEW ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS ASKED: 

Do you go into the desert Berber areas? Yes, just as I also described in the Morocco section. With Tunisia there was less of the exotic Berber camel and tent experience. I visited three places in Tunisia for this where I had luck with the young men. My first excursion was to Matmata, Tamezret, and Toujane. This is once again a case of finding the vendors and people who were alone and having a private location to go to. Several of the young men at Matmata (I visited because of Star Wars) offered their crotches to me. I had two in the nasty bathrooms that they took me to do the deed. One other one was selling the pottery outside his home door. He rubbed his crotch and then motioned me to come into his home. As I started, he suddenly yelled for his wife and kids to exit the house… scared the shit out of me! He closed the door and presented his already hard dick faster than I could get on my knees. The second set of Berber places was Tataouine and Chenini. I had very weird experiences at both. Seeing me walking alone, the young men and boys would approach and ask for money. I would say no, and then would make my way down the roads past the vendors. Within a few minutes I would see some of the same boys standing at the corners of buildings looking at me and rubbing their crotch. They were not just itching, but clearly offering their services. It was as if the young men of these places were vying to see who could get my money. In Chenini a young woman even offered her son or husband (not sure which he was) to me by pointing to his crotch and making the gesture of a long dick. It was crazy! I was so flipped out that I did nothing at these two places. The final place was in Kesra. I decided to take a two day tour of Roman and Byzantine sites, and that included this place. The view from the top is nice, but the buildings as such were quite shoddy. Even the supposed colourful steps were badly painted. But, there was a young man selling fruit so I stopped to buy one. He then proceeded to show me byzantine coins he had found. I decide to buy one and we negotiated. I gave him the money and then he looked at me to ask if I wanted “shisha”. Now, I had presumed he meant the tobacco that was placed in a houka. I looked confused and made the motion for a houka mouthpiece being put in my mouth. He then laughed and shook his head NO. He then pointed to me with his right hand and did the houka mouthpiece gesture, whilst rubbing his crotch. Ahhh, I said, and then smiled and licked my lips. I then was escorted around the corner between two buildings where I had a Berber houka without the tobacco. So, shisha has become my go-to-word to use in northern Africa with a gesture to show that I like to give a blow job.   

Have you been to Brazil? It seems like Sousse is similar in access to guys. Completely different! I have been going to Brazil once a year for 25 years. You simply cannot beat the sauna scene there for the sheer number of affordable, gorgeous guys, passive and active, in a safe and clean location where you can experiment and do so much. Sousse is a different type of experience where you can easily enjoy young horny straight arab men for an affordable price. They are everywhere on the streets and beach boardwalk. The challenge is that it takes longer to get to the action and you are more limited in what sex you can have. 

Any thoughts on pickup on sellers in the souk?... and… Have you tried the Medina in Tunis and Sousse? My answer for this is similar to my answer in my post for Egypt and Morocco. Let me first say that I had absolutely no luck at the souk in Tunis. The challenge with the Medina in Sousse is that most of the shops spread out onto the walkway and offer absolutely no privacy. My only luck there was as you walk from the Medina towards the port/Pirate ship everyone uses as a landmark. There were a number of fabric shops and a section where the rural vendors come to sell their produce. I had luck with two of the fabric vendors in the late evening (during the day they were swarmed by old ladies). They closed their doors and let me enjoy them. The produce vendors were interesting. I happened down an alley way where a young man was cleaning and separating some apples. Behind him was an open door and what looked to be a storage room. So, I started to look, gave him the eye, and he motioned me into the room where he closed the door. Two minutes later we were finished and I bought the most expensive single apple in my life from that encounter. I should mention that my first day of walking through the Medina just brought the usually pleas to enter their shop. When I came back the second day, they seemed to remember me ignoring them from the prior day so they usually said nothing. On the third day of walking through, the young men, by now seeing my glances, started to rub their crotches. It was playful, but nothing would usually come of it. So, the problem is that the young men are so proliferous on the streets that the souk challenge, at least in these two cities, was not very productive.

[Santiagodc]

17 hours ago, tm_nyc said:

Another great report-- thank you!

I paid one short visit to Tunis a while ago & had no luck at all with the local talent.

I generally only stop in Tunis now for the night before heading to Sousse. That corner I mentioned by the traffic circle next to those two cafes had quite a number of guys. A friend from there sent me a photo from two nights ago showing there is still action. You’ll just need to find a place to go. Take a look at that corner on google maps and you will even see the older gay men sitting at the outdoor tables looking at the guys cruising. Still, the guys there just don’t compare to the young men in Sousse. 

[tm_nyc]

This is all very interesting-- Thanks!

More questions:  Have you traveled in Turkey?  If so, any experiences to share?

[Santiagodc]

3 hours ago, tm_nyc said:

This is all very interesting-- Thanks!

More questions:  Have you traveled in Turkey?  If so, any experiences to share?

I did a post on the gay Europe board based on my very limited recent experience in Turkey. 

Cheers 

[MikeSyd]

Hi, thanks for the great report. The tips about what to look for in the Airbnb reviews was brillant. Cheers

[Marstata]

No fresh news from Tunisia?

[Baska]

I still hope to visit Tunisia in 2023 - if you had to choose one Berber camel trip to meet camel drivers, which would you choose - Matmata, Tamezret or Toujane?
If so, please provide justification for your choice.