Into Sudan we go

Wednesday 8th August

We left at 7.30am and were back in Gonder by 10am where we met up with the overlanders again at Terara Hotel where we are all camping tonight. We made ourselves bacon and egg rolls as we had not eaten yet and then we set off for a walk to town. We saw the Fasil Ghebbi( Royal Enclosure) which is surrounded by high stone walls and contains six castles. These castles date back to around 1640 when Gonder was the capital city of Ethiopia for about 250 years, while it is now the 4th largest city in Ethiopia. We walked through the town, going to the internet and then having a fresh juice – Ethiopia is famous for these and we had a mix which was layers of mango, pawpaw and avocado juice – attractive to look at in the glass and delicious! We then bought a few groceries before heading back to our camp at the hotel. I worked on the figures for Ethiopia, while Dave pottered around with Garfield – fixing a small leak in our shower water tank and can you believe it??? Sourcing and fixing a leak around our radiator cap!!! It seems we are to be dogged by radiator problems!


Thursday 9th August

We left at 6.30am after a cup of coffee as we knew we had a long day ahead of us. In Ethiopia we had 200kms to do until the Sudanese border and of course it was up and down dale. Unfortunately, it was misty and rainy, so we missed most of the last beautiful scenery of Ethiopia. It took us 4 hours to get to the border and Garfield was once again covered in mud! The Ethiopian official was really slow and our exit took a little while but then we drove across to Sudan. It is always exciting to move on to another country. The Sudanese officials were really friendly and chatted to us non stop – the one really wanted to keep the photo of my children but I said it was the only one we had!
We had read in the travel guide that there was 150kms of bad dirt road to cover before we got to tar. What a pleasant surprise awaited us – beautiful tar roads right from the border! And of course, our outgoing text messaging on our cellphone was working once again – I am SO delighted. Sudan, itself was a total surprise – flat and green as far as the eye could see! Admittedly, it is their rainy season, and it did get drier as we went further N. The villages were neat with groups of 3-6 huts enclosed by reed/grass fences. There were open spaces where we didn’t see people!!! In Ethiopia, we couldn’t travel 100m without seeing paedestrians and huts. Also, all the screaming children had disappeared! Really, Ethiopia is one of the most picturesque countries in Africa, but there were just SO many people and they were so in ‘your face.’ Ethiopia has a population of 70+ million and Sudan(the biggest country in Africa) has 38 million, and we could immediately see the difference. The temperature was hotting up – we were now about 600m altitude and 30 degrees! In Ethiopia we had nearly always been over 2 000m altitude and between 15 and 20 degrees. The two countries are quite different.
We were making 100km an hour and it felt like we were sailing along! We had only hoped to get a little way into Sudan, but the going was so good, that we decided to push through to Khartoum – not one of our best decisions – as the last 150kms, the traffic congestion became unbearable and our average speed went down to about 40km/hour! The sun began to set and half the vehicles had no lights, the road itself had no ‘cats eyes’ and no road markings at all. There were huge trucks that we had to try and overtake and because Dave is on the right he can’t see and I have to try and look for him, so it is very stressful! By 8.30pm we were on the outskirts of Khartoum, the traffic was chaotic, there were no street lights and no street names! Luckily, the Nile River is a good landmark and we actually found the Blue Nile Yatch Club fairly easily, only having to do one U-turn! But, it was 9.30pm – we had been on the road 15 hours and were both exhausted. We really should not have pushed through in one day, but you are always wise in hindsight! As we drove in to the camp ground, we spotted Johan & Betsy, fellow SA travelers that we had met in Bahir Dar and who are also coming on the ferry to Egypt with the overlanders. After a quick supper we were not long out of bed!


Friday 10th August

Well, it is hot! We are only 400m altitude and the temperature is 36 degrees! We had a day of spring cleaning – Garfield was washed, the laundry was done including our tracksuits, jackets and sheets! Then we just relaxed as we couldn’t do anything else – this is Muslim country for real and Friday is the holy day – nothing opens, not even the internet cafes! Anyway, we have really caught up and I have even done the mending.

In the afternoon, the 4 of us caught a taxi to the Hilton Hotel, in the hope of finding an ATM. No such luck! However, it was a pleasant outing. Alcohol is completely illegal here in Sudan, so Dave had a ‘non alcoholic’ Becks – he said it tasted good and it was ice cold. And so it should have been, as it cost R45!!! Hilton prices are definitely out of our league.

Our costs for Ethiopia were:

Visas R 420
Vehicle repairs R12 314
Accommodation R 1 730
Eating out R 1 469
Groceries R 177
Drinks R 249
Internet R 156
Sight seeing R 1 550
Taxi R 116
Tips R 31
Firewood R 19
Purchases R 658
Headphones & Cell charger R 189
Laundry R 42
Umbrella R 40
Bank charges R 80
Petrol R 6 652


Saturday 11th August

Today is apparently a public holiday – our timing is really bad! We are totally confused about the money, as, as yet, we have been unable to find an ATM to draw and the banks are all closed, to do an official money change. The guide book informed us that the Sudanese pound was the old currency, and that the new currency is the Dinar. However, everyone is using pounds! We have now discovered that this is the ‘new’ pound which was only introduced one month ago when the dinar was abolished! We think 1 Sudanese pound is about R3.50 but we are not 100% certain.
Most people do not speak English, but now we have managed to work around that one. When we find someone who speaks English, we get him to write (in Arabic) where we want to go – it looks like complete gibberish to us! But we glibly show this to the taxi driver and hey presto, we get to where we want to go!
This morning we went to a hotel, the Meridian, that has internet, and we managed to catch up with correspondence. Our Libyan visas are on track and a Libyan guide is meeting us at the Egypt/Libya border on the 10th Sept – I had set this in motion from SA in February but we just had to finalize the exact date. Johan and Betsy are going to join in with us, so we will travel together through Sudan, Egypt and Libya, and then they continue round and down the west coast of Africa, while we go over to Italy.
Afterwards, we went to see the confluence of the Nile. From the south, the White Nile comes, wide and lazy from Lake Victoria in Jinga Uganda. And from the east, the Blue Nile comes, a torrent flow of muddy water from Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The two streams meet and the 2 distinct colour waters merge to form the mighty Nile that flows through Egypt.
We are now back at the campsite and I think I am going to colour my hair! I have had enough of being grey! Tomorrow everything will hopefully be open, as Sunday is a full trading day, and we can get the rest of our shopping, archaeological permits and ferry tickets bought, as we hope to travel N into the desert on Monday.


Sunday 12th August

The 4 of us set off at 9am with Abdulla, our taxi man, for the bank. There are no ATM’s that can take international visa cards but the bank manager can phone for authorization, charge you R175 admin and then you can draw cash! We did that and we now know for certain that 1 Sudanese pound is equivalent to R3.69. Today is a fully operational business day and in fact it is the first day of the new school year here in Sudan, so all the children are back at school! The traffic in Khartoum is absolutely crazy with virtually no traffic lights, just 3 or 4 traffic police at each intersection! We certainly would have battled to drive around as there are no English signs or street names and a lot of streets are one way or else completely blocked with traffic- Abdulla then shoots down a side street. With 5 of us in an ancient Toyota corolla, we were really hot, and it took the entire day to drive around to a supermarket after the bank and then looking for the office to buy the archeological permits. After 3 attempts at finding this office, we gave up. If they are needed to see the pyramids it will just be tough luck as nobody seems to know where to get them in Khartoum. Eventually, we got back to camp at 6pm – totally exhausted!
At about 8pm, Harry, another traveler we have met on the road, pulled in. He is an Irishman who has been living in JHB for quite a few years and is now traveling with his son up to Ireland to join his wife and daughters. We introduced him to Jeff in Bahir Dar and he is also joining the overlanders on the ferry, so we are now quite a group.


Monday 13th August

Harry, Dave and I went back to the Meridian to check on email and then at about 11am, Johan and us left to travel N. Abdulla led us out of Khartoum, helping us to negotiate the hectic traffic! Once on the outskirts, we stopped to fill up petrol and bade Abdulla farewell.
We were now traveling through real desert – the temperature was 42 degrees and we were sweltering! About 30kms N of a town Shendi, on the righ hand side of the road, we stopped to see the pyramids of the Royal Cemetery of Meroe. These pyramids date from 800BC until the fall of Kushite rule in 400AD and were the burial sites of kings and queens. These pyramids are smaller but steeper in pitch than the Egyptian pyramids at Giza. Unfortunately, most of them have been decapitated, largely by a treasure hunter, Guiseppe Ferlini in 1834, and all for no good, as apart from some jewelry in one of the pyramids, he found nothing!
We continued N and then found a ‘bush camp’ in the desert, just off the road next to a green irrigated patch. Within minutes the owner had come to introduce himself and to tell us that we were very welcome. He hacked off a whole branch of dates and gave them to us. What delicious dates they were and we now have a whole packet of them as ‘padkos’
N 17 55.951 E 034 00.000


Tuesday 14th August

We woke up at 6.30am and it was still 28 degrees! But it felt cool in comparison to 42degrees. We had cereal and fruit for breakfast and then set off. This is real hard and hot – don’t get any romantic ideas about driving through a desert – it is not really fun! But it is an accomplishment and when we get to Egypt we will feel great. We drove till midday and then decided to stop as the road N was going to veer away from the Nile, and we were concerned that we would be unable to find any shade to camp under. We have found a spot under a huge thorn tree about 100m from the Nile and we have stopped here. We haven’t set up camp yet as it is TOO hot. So we are just sitting under the tree and spraying ourselves with cold water every now and then!
We sat the day out, drinking about 4 litres each, not doing one wee, even before we went to bed! Once again, the owner of the land came and welcomed us and later on he brought us a bowl of washed dates- he actually said that he had cleaned and prepared his home for us to sleep there! We politely declined, showing them our roof top tents. They are SO hospitable and polite, it is unbelievable?
The sunset over the Nile was beautiful and we were relieved to see the sun go down – it was 7pm and still 43 degrees! Slowly the temperature began to drop and by 10pm it was 36 degrees. With dark, all the bugs came out! There were beetles, bugs, spiders and flying insects that stung you really sore! One saving grace, was that there were no mosquitos. We went to bed at 10.30pm still really hot and unfortunately, the wind had dropped, but we chanced opening our tent windows to get what little breath of wind there was!
N 19 07.218 E 33 35.116


Wednesday 15th August

We woke up at 6.30am to a cool breeze and the temperature gauge said 29 degrees – it felt like heaven! Within a few minutes, we saw our hosts coming across the sand with a tray of tea. They are wonderful people and so humble and not in your face like the Ethiopians. They (3 men and 2 boys) sat with us while we had tea, and then Dave got out the printer to print them the photographs we had taken of them. They were absolutely astounded and showered us with thanks and blessings, and then they bade us farewell and left us to have breakfast.
We set off to tackle the Nubian Desert! At Abu Hamed the Nile River veered S in a big loop away from our road and we continued N towards Wadi Halfa. Soon the tar disappeared and we were literally in the middle of the Nubian Desert. Our only beacons were the disused telephone poles next to the train track and we followed these religiously. The train track was laid in 1897 and was the key to Kitchener’s Anglo-Egyptian Conquest of Sudan. The track was laid across 360kms of unsurveyed and waterless desert, from Wadi Halfa towards Khartoum and into enemy territory. Survey teams went ahead, followed by teams of workers that laid the plates, then the sleepers, then the rails and finally the team that leveled the line. Apparently the line advanced by between 2 and 5 kms a day – under the blazing desert sun! Stations were built every 30kms or so and we passed these along the way. It was the train line that won the war in 1898 as it brought in men and munitions in an unstoppable advance. On our journey, it was the train line that led us to Wadi Halfa!

At times there were 100’s of various tracks through the sand and at others a single well-worn track, while at times there was no track at all! We have no air conditioner and so we had the windows wide open – but with an outside temperature of around 43 degrees, the wind was hot. Occasionally, we went through huge dust storms and one time, I am not sure how Dave managed to keep his eyes open? We were continually thirsty, and I had to regulate our drinking – 250mls each every 30 minutes – and we still didn’t wee the entire day! It was a grueling 9 hours! But we made it! Dave really hit a ‘low’ in the evening – I think the day had just been too much for him – his skin was irritated and his eyes were totally blood shot – he had had enough! I have been there a few times, so he certainly was entitled to one ‘black evening!’
We found a bush camp behind a koppie on the outskirts of Wadi Halfa – set up camp, had a cold dinner, a shower and then tried to sleep in the stifling heat.


Thursday 16th August

We woke up at 6.30am and decided to try and look for a better place to camp as we have a weeks wait here in Wadi Halfa! Wadi Halfa is a dry, dusty, sorry looking town with not one tree in it!!! The best hotel we could find was the Nile Hotel – a mud brick structure with sand floors and rope beds. The beds are all out in a courtyard as the rooms are too hot and miserable. There are various bodies lying around in this communal area, waiting for the ferry. And to top this, there is no running water so only bucket showers for all and sundry to use and smelly long drop toilets! Apparently, the original Wadi Halfa, used to be shady and tree lined with old houses built in the traditional Nubian style but all this was sent to a watery grave in 1963 when the High Dam was built in Aswan in Egypt and Lake Nubia(in Sudan) and Lake Nasser(in Egypt) were formed.
We drove around the Lake Nubia shoreline a little way and bingo, we came across the water works with a couple of trees in their grounds. We drove in and chatted to the locals, who informed us to wait for the boss. He duly arrived and we have been given permission to camp here, under a tree. Best of all, there is a hosepipe and a continual water supply so we are in our element. Every hour or so, we stand under the cold hosepipe and wet ourselves, clothes and all! Can you all imagine Dave (who hates cold water) enjoying this?? Well he does – it is actually the only way we can get through the day, and today is the first day that we actually feel hungry – I think because we have been a bit cooler with our regular ‘showers’. We can also plug into their electricity so our fridge can work at full capacity without flattening our batteries.
There is no internet here in Wadi Halfa, so I am afraid we will only be able to update all this Sudanese news once we reach Egypt.
It is going to be a long, hot, dry, thirsty week ahead of us.


Friday 17th August

What a night! Dave and I feel as if we are on the brink of Hell’s gates. The heat is ongoing and we sleep completely naked with the tent windows wide open, but we are bathed in sweat – the mattress is soaked by morning, as are our pillows. Dave got up twice in the night – when his tongue felt twice the size it should be – and got us cold water to drink. We will make it through these days, but it is a real endurance.
We got a sms from Harry to say that him and the overlanders are on their way here, today.


Saturday 18th August

Happy Birthday Rayanne!! How I miss my family on days like this. We phoned her this morning, but there was a terrible time delay on the phone and it was not easy to chat normally. The weather in Cape Town is apparently lovely today and her and her friends are going for a picnic up the mountain. We hope you have a wonderful day, my Babsie Boo.
We are still sweltering and today there is a sand storm all around us. Visibility is quite obscured and we cannot see the lake as we could on other days. Last night we hosed our entire car and tent down before we went to bed, and we took our spray bottle up to bed with us so that we could keep spraying each other! It helped marginally but we still battle to sleep at just below 40 degrees.


Sunday 19th August

Well this morning it is 27 degrees and we had the most wonderful nights sleep! We feel so refreshed as we didn’t toss and turn all night in a bed of sweat. The dust storm has cleared and there is a marginally cool breeze coming off the lake. It is now 9.30am and the temperature has crept up to 32 degrees. But we can cope with that. I even feel that I have enough energy to do a bit of tapestry. We have packed bags to take with us on the ferry, as we may load our vehicles onto the barge tomorrow morning. Jeff and the overlanders are expected today.
The overlanders arrived at 11.30am and we had a joyous reunion. There are only 8 of them left but still it made life a lot more interesting. We all sat around in the shade and chatted in between hosepipe showers! They have now gathered 4 vehicles (us, Johan, Harry and an Austrian couple) to join their truck on the barge. The other 2 vehicles were in town at the hotel.


Monday 20th August

We were up bright and early to pack up our campsite and finish packing our bags for the week ahead. We left at 8.30am and went into town to meet Mazar, the agent helping Jeff. Then we booked into the Nile Hotel – we have no choice and we have had a few days to get our heads around this idea, so it doesn’t seem so bad now. The drivers then set off to the lake to load the vehicles onto the barge – it is quite a thing saying farewell to Garfield for a few days!
We moved into our rooms – sand floors, mud walls with a plaited reed roof (I don’t think it ever rains here) and plastic strung beds! Within minutes we had moved our beds out into the courtyard, where we get shade and a bit of a breeze. Then we just sat the heat of the day out. The men returned 2 ½ hours later, having loaded the vehicles and joined us. Luke, has taught us to wrap our water bottles in a wet towel and it is amazing how cool this keeps your water! At about 4pm we ventured out into the sunny streets as Haan said he had found a pastry shop with ice cold yogurt! We all converged on the shop and enjoyed an afternoon snack with some cold drinks. Life is certainly more interesting with the company of the overlanders and we enjoy all the banter and jokes that go on – also Dave has extra people to play cards with and cause trouble with!
At 7pm when the sun set, we all had a cold bucket shower and then took a stroll up the road to the restaurant where we had roasted goat meat with omlettes and fresh bread. Then it was back to our string beds and the thick syrupy air to try and get some sleep.


Tuesday 21st August

We woke up and took a walk across the street to the tea lady who sits in the shade opposite the hotel. Here we all sat around enjoying her doughnuts and a selection of teas and coffee – the Sudanese really enjoy their tea and add all sorts of herbs, for example mint, cloves and even hibiscus. Dave and I were just delighted to be able to get coffee with milk. Jeff is Maltese and his mother tongue is similar to Arabic so he can make himself understood which is a great help. After that we crept back under cover away from the vicious sun rays. At about midday the ferry arrived from Aswan – the lake is about 3kms from Wadi Halfa, but the ferry’s arrival is heralded by the cloud of dust as every tuk-tuk, taxi and donkey cart races down to meet it! More people arrived at the hotel and we got some first hand news about the ferry that we are hopefully going to be on tomorrow – if the train from Khartoum which is expected this afternoon, does not arrive on time, the ferry waits for it!
Mazar is busy doing all the paper work for our group, that is customs etc and on top of that he is assisting Dave and I and Johan and Betsy, to get registered – we were supposed to register in Sudan. We knew about this and we had gone to an office at the border where we thought we had registered as they took our finger prints and a photograph from us. However, this was apparently just a security check and not the required registration! Anyway, it should all be sorted out this morning; we will just have to pay a penalty on top of the $45 registration fee!!
At 7pm the train arrived – hooray! More beds were hauled out from who knows where? And the hotel now really looks like a second world war field hospital – wall to wall beds with bodies lying everywhere! The town itself is alive and doing tons of business. Bottled water is already sold out! Every Tuesday is Christmas trading here in Wadi Halfa.


Wednesday 22nd August

It was a very noisy night with lots of snoring, snorting etc and it seemed to be a lot hotter with not a breath of wind. Anyway, it’s our last and tonight we will be on the ferry.
Mazar was back and forth to the hotel with various forms that we had to fill in. He has been an absolute gem, and anyone needing to cross this border would be wise to contact Mazar Mahir at mashansharti@yahoo.com Finally at 1.30pm we all bordered a minibus taxi and traveled the 3kms to the departure hall – here it was another long wait and then just before 5pm we boarded the ferry and were shown to our air conditioned cabins!!! What a pleasure. We set sail at 5pm and at about 7pm we actually crossed over into Egyptian waters.
At 9pm we passed Abu Simbel on the left hand side – this is a monument consisting of 4 gigantic statues of Ramses II (1304 – 1237 BC) which he had hewn from the mountainside to confront all travelers from Africa coming into Egypt. This amazing monument would have been drowned with the building of Lake Nasser in the 1960’s, but UNESCO stabilized the brittle sandstone with injections of synthetic resin and then cut the monument into 1041 blocks weighing up to 30 tons each! It took 4 years from start to finish but Abu Simbel was reassembled 210m behind and 61m above its original setting and out of the waters way, at a cost of $40 million. We passed within about 200m of it and had quite a good view of it as it is floodlit at night. Then we went to bed in our air conditioned cabins – Bliss!


Thursday 23rd August