Hammamet Tunisia

When we were looking through the hotels before booking and reading the reviews we kept seeing the term ‘animation team’ and ‘animations’ mentioned.  I had never heard of this term so didn’t pay it much attention but when we arrived at the hotel we realised just what it meant.

The Animation Team are similar to holiday reps or the Red Coats you find at Butlins.  They are in the in-house entertainment team and provide the animation events or entertainment that takes place at the hotel.  During the day there are animations for the children such as gymnastics, pool activities and mini golf and in the evening there is a children’s’ disco which is then followed by some ‘fun’ for the adults.  During the day the animation team hang out at the hotel practising their dance moves, chatting up the female holiday makers and trying to entice people to the evening animation event.

Typical evening animation events included a cabaret, karaoke, Tunisian night, a disco and belly dancing.

Normally I’d give this kind of thing a wide berth but the animation team are a persistent bunch and my girlfriend seemed quite keen so on the second night we went to the cabaret.  I didn’t really know what to expect and it was a very surreal experience but by the end I was enjoying it as some of the unbridled enthusiasm of the animators rubbed off on me (plus I’d had a few beers).  We went to a few more evening events during our stay but the caberet was easily the best and the great heights set on our second night were never reached again.  Each evening event is followed by a round of bingo in which I won a CD of songs performed by the animation team of 2009.  I haven’t listened to it yet but I’m sure it is fantastic!  After the event animation team round up a few lucky ladies to accompany them to Jimmy’s nightclub next door to party the night away.  Unfortunately my girlfriend didn’t make the cut so I never got to find out what Jimmy’s was like.

Most hotels in Tunisia seem to have an animation team but I cannot guarantee they will all be as good as the team at the Sol Azur hotel in Hammamet.