Star Wars: why the desert in Tunisia was the perfect location for original film, and how to visit the area
In the film it was Luke Skywalker’s home planet, but now an underground hotel offers tourists photo opportunities and an insight into life as a troglodyte on the edges of the Sahara Desert
There’s a reason the original Star Wars film was filmed in the deserts of southern Tunisia. This stark, remote landscape looks like another planet.
One of Tunisia’s vast desert regions is even called Tataouine, like Luke Skywalker’s home planet, Tattoine. And the underground home where Luke Skywalker first appeared living with his uncle and aunt is a real hotel in the town of Matmata, one of various desert locations used in the films.
“It looks just like the film,” says Lorenzo Bresciani, one of two young touring Italian professional tennis players who recently visited the Hotel Sidi Driss. “When you see it on the film, you say, ‘OK.’ But when you are here, it has another effect.”
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Hotel owner Masoud Berachad says visitor numbers have fallen since Tunisia’s democratic revolution in 2011 and since terror attacks killed tourists in 2015.
Still, Star Wars fans keep the hotel in business. “They come and take so many pictures,” says Berachad. “You can see how happy they are. They can stay here for hours and hours.”
Before becoming a hotel in 1969, the dwelling was a traditional home used by indigenous Berbers. The Berbers played a major role in the history of North Africa and Europe after forming powerful alliances with Romans and Arabs.
Remember the Jawas from Star Wars, the hooded fellows who trade in scrap metal and capture C-3PO and R2-D2? Their dark cloaks and pointed hoods resemble the garments of traditional Berbers, as does Obi-Wan Kenobi in his cloak.