Sudan's Story
Trip Start
Apr 11, 2009
1
33
38
Trip End
Jan 08, 2010
Khartoum, Sudan
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The final day's drive in Ethiopia lead us down from the highlands into the hot desert. The border crossing was hot and confusing, but we managed to get through within a couple of hours with no hassle. Shortly after stopping at our first bushcamp in a good few weeks, local farmers walked out of their way to shake our hands and be on their way – the type of open friendliness and hospitality we came to expect in Sudan...but that always seems the way – the most hostile landscapes nurture the most genuinely hospitable cultures.
The first couple of days drive lead us from the sub-saharan cultures (with their mud & grass roof huts, black skin and circular village layouts), to typical Arabic villages (with mud and brick square block housing and angular compounds, arab people and islamic community facilities – such as water jugs and minarets everywhere).
We arrived in the capital Khartoum after a couple days of driving and bushcamps. The roads, quality (or even existence) of cars and the increase of public amenity (such as bus stops and billboards) indicated a wealth of civilisation that we had not encountered for a few months. We even discovered plenty of internet cafes, with ready access to our modern drugs of FB and email....Sudan was full of surprises!
After spending a couple of days trying to 'register' our visa (the Russians and their communist ways have a lot to answer for) and investigating the ferry to Aswan (the only access to Egypt), our driver informed us that due to Islamic holidays in Sudan and Egypt that we must take the passenger ferry to Egypt in 2 days time and he will come back in 2 weeks to collect the truck....panic ensued, with regard to our ability to pack light and travel like backpackers once again!!
The long drive up to Wadi Halfa was broken by a visit to the Pyramids of Meroe – a dozen or so pyramids built hundreds of years after the Egyptian ones....I suspect the lack of tourists and extortionate entry price will be considered refreshing after going to their Egyptian counterparts. I managed to purchase a couple of souvenirs from the only tourist stalls I saw in the entire country (the locals probably sit there for weeks with few westerners coming through).
The desert landscapes were the most stark and vegetation-less desert I've ever seen...though the rocky hills and sand expanses seemed quite majestic. Wadi Halfa sat on Lake Nasser like a mirage, after several hundred kms of desert landscape. The last couple of bushcamps were enjoyed with beautiful desert sunsets.
The ferry to Aswan (Egypt) was an experience. After filling out 3 forms, getting 4 stamps and 2 stickers, the stickers marked off and stamped forms handed in...over 6 bureaucrats in total to exit Sudan, we boarded a bus to take us 200m along the pier, over another barge and onto our ferry before 2pm. After we spread our gear to secure our deck space on the ferry roof, we were called for dinner at 3pm....finally the ferry set sail after 5pm. Will little to do and the wind picking up, most were settled into their sleeping bags and asleep by 8pm...jumping up again to view the floodlit statues of Abu Simbel near 11pm. I had injured my tailbone on the truck a couple of days previous, so awoke when the painkillers wore off and watched the stars for a couple of hours – saw over 7 shooting stars...it was a pretty cool experience....the joy of which wore off quickly when dealing with Egyptian bureaucracy the following day.....(more of than in the next blog).
Overall, Sudan was short but very sweet...just like their tea (served often in glasses everywhere).
Comments
You must spend as much time writing as travelling :)