Tunisia with a Pet

[Solstice]

We're heading to Tunisia from Croatia on our U.S.-flagged boat with our miniature dachshund on board. She has a European Pet Passport, but Noonsite.com says Tunisia requires a health and vaccination certificate within six months. Her European vaccinations are good for three years, so she hasn't had any since January 2009. We'll be stopping in Sicily on our way to Tunisia.

Does anyone have any recent experience with EU Pet Passport pets and Tunisia? Should we plan to try to get a new certificate and vaccination in Sicily?

[onotoa]

shirlee,
we are sailing and we own a transport company which just offers animal transports (by air)....so pls trust my information.....
for the import in tunisia you shpould have the eu pet passport, valid rabies vaccination plus microchip and a heath certificate (you can also use the pages in the per passport/fit to travel) issued in sicily - not older than 10 days prior arrival tunisia
BUT
keep in mind that you need a rabies blood test (RNATT) if you return to the EU and this test must be min 3 month old!!!!

i would highly recommend to get this blood test anyway, you will also need that in future and it remains valid as long as the cat has continous rabies vaccinations.

regards from greece,
helmut
email me at onotoa at gmail dot com if xou need any other information!

[Solstice]

Thanks, Helmut. I guess we'll be finding a vet somewhere in Sicily to get the "fit for travel" stamp. Funny since she's been traveling full-time for the past 4+ years, but I understand.

Poor old dog has had two rabies titre tests (I assume that's what RNATT is) because we sailed to Sweden and thought to fly her to the UK, and the timing for the two countries in relationship to vaccination and travel and test dates was different. The last titre was in March 2009 in Amsterdam.

Interestingly, no one has wanted to see her pet passport in Europe. We've been boarded in France and the Netherlands, and when when we've offered to show it, they waved us off. Maybe it will be important when we reach the Caribbean.

[fishwife]

I was in Rabat recently and a British yacht pulled in with a dog on board without a current health certificate, don't know if the rabies antibody titre was also missing. They were offered a choice of leaving immediately or having their dog destroyed. They went!

P.

[barnakiel]

US Boat and a dog onboard ...

And you think you can just sail into a Muslim country like that?

Do not know Tunisia, they say they are lenient there. But I have been to Marocco with an Israeli dog onboard and we had no problem there. In fact, the dog was allowed to go ashore and we met many people shocked by our behaviour (esp. arab children). Shocked and disgusted, but never hostile or unfriendly.

So, we gave them a shocker and we did not face any hostility nor problems (normal EU dog papers required).

How about you just call the marina in advance and ask?

barnie

[Solstice]

And you think you can just sail into a Muslim country like that?

Huh?!? Did you mean to add a wink to that question?

Thanks for the info on Rabat. We are planning to stop there too, and we'll make sure her health certificate is still current when we get there. Our dog rarely, if ever, goes ashore, but officials will see her when they board the boat, and we want to have the paperwork in order.

As for calling the marina in advance and asking, that would be my last choice. In our experience communicating over the phone with marinas in countries where English is not the first language is difficult. Marina staff also often doesn't have answers to questions for non-EU boats (we're a small minority of the boats in the Med).

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Solstice

Thanks for the info on Rabat. We are planning to stop there too, ).

As are we. The marina looks nice. I thought it would get us south a bit so we could go before the chance of autumn storms, plus keep us away from the Canaries while its full of ARC'ers.

There might be a full contingent of Cruisers Forum folks either there of in the Canaries this year!!!!!!!!!!!! Could be fun!


Mark

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Solstice

Huh?!? Did you mean to add a wink to that question?

Thanks for the info on Rabat. We are planning to stop there too, and we'll make sure her health certificate is still current when we get there. Our dog rarely, if ever, goes ashore, but officials will see her when they board the boat, and we want to have the paperwork in order.

As for calling the marina in advance and asking, that would be my last choice. In our experience communicating over the phone with marinas in countries where English is not the first language is difficult. Marina staff also often doesn't have answers to questions for non-EU boats (we're a small minority of the boats in the Med).

No winks. Read up on the place of the dog in Muslim culture. Dog is not a pet there. There are no analogies but (wink here) imagine someone walking a pig in your marina in a clean white US district. Again, shocking maybe, but unlikely to fetch any hostility.

It is interesting what you say about bad experiences with trying to communicate in English with marina staff in various countries. We never had this problem ourselves. Try French or Spanish, and if the area has much German tourism, try German. But French would be my bet, because of the history.

In fact, I must admit that in Arab countries there are people speaking all languages, probably because they all have so many family members immigrants in other countries. E.g. the manager of marina in Agadir speaks Arabic, English, French, Spanish ... and I am yet to meet a European or US cruiser speaking Arabic!

If you do not want to try calling the marina maybe you can send an e-mail to a relevant governmental body in Tunisia, or to its equivalent office in your home country? In my country it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (but big travel agents are in fact even better and faster in answering e-mails on such subjects).

barnie

[Solstice]

As I already said, Barnie, I've checked Noonsite and was just looking for real life experience from other cruisers, which you haven't offered, by the way. Cruiser experience is often different from that of people traveling by more conventional means.

I also said that our dog rarely leaves our boat. Most people don't even realize that we have a dog. She wasn't a problem in Guernsey, where she had to stay on board, but we skipped the U.K. proper and won't be going to Malta because of the restrictions there.

We haven't been to an Arab country yet, and my comment about marina-staff English over the telephone is based on Europe, primarily Germany, France, and Italy. Perhaps I just don't hear them clearly enough on the phone.

Perhaps you're really just trying to be helpful, but I read you as being condescending and making assumptions about my cultural and linguistic ignorance--perhaps because I'm a U.S. citizen--and I'm feeling a bit offended as a tri-lingual person who hasn't lived in the U.S. for four years now.

[fishwife]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

In fact, I must admit that in Arab countries there are people speaking all languages, probably because they all have so many family members immigrants in other countries. E.g. the manager of marina in Agadir speaks Arabic, English, French, Spanish ... and I am yet to meet a European or US cruiser speaking Arabic!
barnie

How do you do Barnie, pleased to meet you Besides myself, I know of at least one other Westerner on here who qualifies as a cruiser and speaks Arabic I suspect there are quite a few more.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Solstice

Perhaps you're really just trying to be helpful, but I read you as being condescending and making assumptions about my cultural and linguistic ignorance--perhaps because I'm a U.S. citizen--and I'm feeling a bit offended as a tri-lingual person who hasn't lived in the U.S. for four years now.

Now c'mon - honestly and frankly no offense meant! And I apologize if what I said sounded rough or rude. Simply, I am not English and when I try, I sometimes express thing too straightforwardly for people raised in an English culture where the manner of expressing oneself is much more indirect.

Yes, I noticed this before, and I do apologize - let's call it a culture clash (except perhaps in OZ, where they are even more straightforward than my rude self).

Anyway, As I have said and since you speak three languages - try French (Tunisia was briefly occupied by France and many people there speak French), Spanish probably second best.

Maybe Fishwife can help?

barnie, the lippy one

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by fishwife

How do you do Barnie, pleased to meet you Besides myself, I know of at least one other Westerner on here who qualifies as a cruiser and speaks Arabic I suspect there are quite a few more.

I suspect this too.

Yet it is different to meet and know such people and to know they exist. The only cruising speaker of Arabic I know is not a Westerner, she IS an Arab.

No wonder there is so much tension between Arabs and the West given the fact that there are so few Westerners able to speak with the Arabs rather than build their opinions based on what West owned media present as facts.

Drifting! Bad barnie!

Cheers and love to all,
barnie

[YOG]

Barnakel!

Please don't lump Arab countries and Muslim countries together. Both are independent entities, as are people of the Muslim religion, and people of Arab ethnic (not a good word but it'll do) heritage.
There are Muslim countries for example, where pets are doted upon! Turkey is one of them, but it is not an Arab country either, naturally.

I am a North American, who studied Arabic for both the love and usefulness of it.

You are quite correct to say that many countries of the world do not look upon dogs as fit for indoor human companions. A couple of them are European countries, too.

I, myself, am a cat person, but I don't think we should go there!

Actually I was looking for a thread on living aboard & blue-water sailing with cats.

[Solstice]

YOG, send me a private message with your email address, and I'll ask a couple of people I know who are (or have been) cruising with cats to get in touch with you about it.

[serah]

Though I've never cruised in Tunisia, I did live there for 6 months, and spent a fair bit of time sailing out of some of the Marina's (mostly in Bizerte) .

Dogs and cats are not generally considered household pets, as from what I understood, they were assumed to be dirty. It wasn't a particularly pet friendly place, though there are lots of strays everywhere. In my time there, I doubt I saw even one dog on a leash, though I was chased by a small pack of semi-feral dogs on more than one occasion. Stray dogs were sometimes shot in the street at night, and I witnessed cats that got too close kicked. That being said, there were many individuals who were quite fond of pets, and would tend to and feed them.

As for language, many of those I met there were completely bilingual, in both Arabic and French, especially the young. Many were also competent in English and German. Their education system teaches French from grade school on, and most students (at least in the cities, and certainly Tunis) took yet another language in high school. Most government services are available in French and Arabic. It's a lovely country, relatively liberal, and quite friendly. They say that if you go to Souse (sorry. I can't remember place names well - seaside village on the east coast) you may even see a Tunisian

NB. The countries of the Maghred is a better descriptor perhaps.