Painting Sudan Red

Gonder Revisited
The day after we got back to Gonder we spent in and around Belegez doing
washing and catching up with journals and stuff. As a treat, we took
Rebecca to the Debre Berhan Selassie Church by tuk-tuk (not sure what
they're called in Ethiopia). The church was very interesting and highly
decorative with 104 smiley faces, all pretty Mona Lisa-ish, looking down at
one from the ceiling. Eat your heart out Leonardo!
The walls were also painted with various New Testament stories.
We got back to Belegez and ordered pizza for dinner. I had a beer, my last
one for a while as it was next stop Sudan.

Bye bye Ethiopia
We had heard some horror stories about the road to the border town of
Metema but no-one had told us what a stunning road it was scenery-wise. We
also made Ethiopian history on this road. We stopped for coffee and no-one
came to ask us for anything, in fact no-one came to see us at all! We
dropped from the lofty heights of Gonder at around 1800m to 500m above sea
level. The mountains were magic and the road was pretty good too. It just
goes to show, if you want the real facts, go check for yourself!

Sudan – Simply NOT for Sissies
We crossed into Sudan at about 3pm. We walked into Immigration to find
everyone lying down on the chairs watching a soap on the TV. One did get up
to help us though. They took photos off us and tried to get us to part with
SdP 390, about R1600 for something or other, we think a time extension on
our visa. Luckily we declined and were told to register in Khartoum.
Cleared Customs after the "head master" had come back from saying his
prayers. Travelling during Ramadan certainly does come with some
challenges, but also some interesting experiences.
We had to hand over another photo and be fingerprinted by the security
police before we were finally able to get on our way.
At sunset we were flagged down to break the fast with some villagers on the
side of the road. We declined as we wanted to get some more distance in
before dark. We were stopped at numerous police checkpoints along the road,
at some we had to have our passport details entered into a book at others
we had a chat and were waved on. It does get rather tedious especially as
this is the first country were the tourist is targeted by the police, all
the previous countries seem to have issued a directive saying – leave the
tourists alone.
We finally stopped in a village called Sabun and after asking for
permission to camp, we did so and spent our first night in Sudan free
camping. The natives did get quite restless during the night sounding
pretty militant at one point but they seemed to sort themselves out and all
quietened down just after midnight. We did wonder how they could go to
sleep so late especially if they had to be up before dawn to eat. We soon
found out! Outside all houses, shops, police outposts, you name it, there
are bedsteads in the shade and this is where everyone spends their
afternoons kipping!
Wow, much hotter than Ethiopia, The country so far is really flat and hot.
We bypassed Gedarif and hit Wad Medani for fuel for us and Tom Cruiser. He
simply loves the tar roads and the lower altitude. He starts better and
without a plume of black exhaust.
We managed to change money at the UA Exchange, the Bank of Khartoum either
didn't offer this service or the person I spoke to just couldn't be
bothered.
Diesel costs the equivalent of R4.65 a litre, what a pleasure! Food is a
bit dearer though.
Khartoum
We drove into Khartoum along the best roads into a capital city thus far –
tarred, signposted and new traffic lights - and headed for the Blue Nile
Sailing Club on the banks of the river. We had been warned about staying
here as there are nightly Ramadan parties nearby and it gets really noisy.
We hadn't seen any other alternatives so thought we'd take our chances. We
were lucky though. The party ended before 9pm and we had some cooling rain
overnight which resulted in a good nights sleep.
Someone from the club brought us a 2 litre bottle of ice cold grapefruit
juice – it was delicious! Kitchener's gunboat Melik is high and dry in the
grounds of the club and decaying gracefully.

The Alien Jameses
As tourists are fairly low on the pecking order and are obviously not to be
trusted, we had to find our way to the Alien's Registration Office to
register, aliens nogal. This little episode set us back over 2 hours and
another R320 each. This, after R500 for a visa, is starting to rankle!
We then had the rest of the day mapped out for us:
1. Buy tickets for the 1 October ferry
2. Visit the Omdurman souk
3. Find a nice shopping centre and Internet Café
4. Organise a car service
5. Decide whether to stay at Blue Nile Sailing Club or seek alternative
accommodation.
So, off we went to the ferry offices in Khartoum North. Once we found them,
and found someone who worked there, and with the help of the cleaner who
translated, we discovered that there was no 1 October ferry. It was a
holiday to mark the end of Ramadan and the earliest ferry after that was
only on the following Wednesday, the 8th! This meant that both our Egyptian
and Sudanese visas would have expired and we'd be up the creek without the
proverbial paddle! We finally ascertained that there was a ferry leaving on
Sunday, 28th September. As it was already the afternoon on Monday, 22nd, we
had just 5 days to get to Wadi Halfa, a trip of about 1300kms along roads
of unknown quality.
So, after a quick family meeting, we decided to hit the road immediately.
The only unresolved matter was Tom Cruiser's travel arrangements. These
would only become clearer in Wadi Halfa as he needs to be accommodated on a
cargo ferry. We did a quick circuit over the bridges from Khartoum North to
Omdurman to Khartoum City to see the convergence of the White and Blue Nile
Rivers and then plotted a course to the Pyramids of Meroe, our Khartoum
to-do list not done, but, hey, that's life.

Magical Meroe
As always, there is a bright side. We got to the pyramids at sunset. We
drove around the pyramid complex to the northern boundary, about 800 m from
the main road and set up camp for the night. We had sundowners and
reflected on how lucky we were to have a workable solution to the ferry
problem and to have such a beautiful campsite under a starlit sky. Kaz and
I sat up in the cooling air until after 11pm, watching Scorpio, chatting
,drinking coffee and eating chocolate and spotting shooting stars. I can't
remember when last we'd had the opportunity to do something like this.

Are we getting soft or what?
I hope that anyone who knows us well is sitting down at this stage. If not,
sit down now!
We used Tom's air conditioner for the first time today. The temperature is
well over 40 degrees. A far cry from the chilly mornings in the Simien
Mountains.
Weather is too hot to really eat, we are surviving on water, fruit and
bread rolls. The fridge in the car is working overtime. We are purifying
water at night, storing it in the fridge and then using it during the day.
The second battery usually drains overnight and then charges up again as we
drive the following day. The temp at our coffee stop was over 50 degrees,
so needless to say the aircon is on all the time now. Luckily at this price
for diesel, we don't care!
Nothing soft about Kaz though. So as not to upset the locals or tread on
any religious sensitivies, our shorts-and-vests gal has covered up! She has
worn skirts and a long sleeved shirt over her tops all the time in the
Sudan and in this heat this is a real feat!

The road to Wadi Halfa
Luckily, the road has been tarred all the way to Dongola via Atbara which
means that we have been able to chew up the kilometres quite smartly, well
as quickly as a 4.2 litre diesel donkie can anyway. We have managed to camp
wild each night in some beautiful spots in the desert but are now starting
to dream of a shower! Our bush toilets are generally preferable to the
normal smelly squatting long drops provided in campsites.
At Atbara, we needed to catch a car ferry to the western shore of the Nile
River to head down towards to Karima where a new bridge carries one over
the river towards Dongola. From Dongola the last 400 km stretch to Wadi
Halfa is untarred and very corrugated in sections. There are stretches of
soft sand and, as the wind blows constantly in these 'ere parts, you also
have to contend with sandstorms reducing visibility to nought in places.

Our last night's camping before reaching Wadi Halfa was in a small village
called Farqa. The road moved away from the Nile near here and we preferred
to spend a night next to the river as our previous nights had been spent in
the desert. We had searched for a secluded spot but to no avail. Our
presence was soon noticed and we had the village busybody/beggar come
scrounging around. Some time after that a man from a nearby house came past
and invited us to his house to break the fast at sunset. His name was, yep,
you guessed it, Mohammed and he lived with his mother, her sister and his
brother and sister. His English was marginally better than our Arabic, but
we were on a par with the rest of the family. It was very nice to be
invited in. They seem to sleep in a covered shelter or in the courtyard.
Dinner consisted of fuul (a bean dish) which you scoop up with the
ubiquitous pita bread, some other little beans eaten on a spoon, some
greenish flakes mixed with sugary water, dates and some orange juice made
with powdered orange and nice untreated Nile river water. The meal finished
with some sweet black tea.

We retired to our tent and had a good night's sleep, the wind less intense
and the heat slightly less too, thank goodness. We seem to be experiencing
a berg wind at the moment. The temperature ranges from 30 deg at 8 in the
morning, screaming into the fifties and sixties (if the phone temp is to be
believed) and then plummeting to early forties by 7 o clock in the
evening, and people choose to live here??

Driving along the Nile has been really interesting. The houses all have
flat roofs and courtyards and I'm sure haven't changed much from biblical
times. Ramadan seems to be a time for renewal so many of the houses are
being given a new coat of paint. Some villages settle on white and brown,
others yellow or orange. The gate posts and doors are generally colourful
geometrical shapes, often in blue, white and black. The crocodile is an
important totem around here and also appears on walls and gate posts. We
haven't seen a real live one, nor the Egyptian plover which is the
crocodile's dentist, but there is still time.

Wadi Halfa
Wow! We really did get a move on. We arrived in Wadi Halfa at Thursday
lunch time. We were spoiled by a 40 km stretch of tar just before the town.

We met the man from the ferry company, Ali Salih, who was not particularly
helpful. In fact, he was pretty clueless! We then sent a text message to
Mazar Mahir, the local Mr Fixit, who we'd been in contact with some time
before and met him in the main street. Someone had alerted him to our
arrival, shades of Biruk from Ethiopia! After chatting to him we are still
none the wiser regarding Tom getting to Egypt but at least we are confident
that all will be sorted in due course. Nothing happens on Friday here
except that we'll visit Mazar's house to use his internet to get this
uploaded and check emails. On Saturday we'll do Tom's oil service which is
overdue and will keep him going until Cairo. On Sunday we should have
finality on Tom and we leave on the passenger ferry in the afternoon, did I
mention, First Class! Mmmm….! Not expecting the QEII though.

The sudanese people are magic. We have felt perfectly safe camping anywhere
and the fact that they open their houses to complete strangers, whiteys at
that, is nothing short of fantastic. I can think of many places in SA where
I wouldn't stop, let alone pitch a tent!

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