On the ferry were two other whites, in fact the only Westerners we’d seen in the Sudan yet, a Kiwi and a German. The German was particularly interesting, aged 21 he is attempting to cycle alone to Cape Town. He was completely mad and I only hope he gets a good deal of luck on his side as he seemed to have very little forward planning – crossing the Nubian desert at this time of year would kill most people…Good luck Adrian!
The four of us have come to the conclusion that the Nubian people of the desert of Northern Sudan are among the most decent and genuine you could ever hope to meet. After leaving Wadi Halfa, which is the Sudanese border post on Lake Nasser, dock for the ferry and barge, and undoubtedly one of the most God-forsaken out posts on earth, we headed south across the desert, destined eventually for Khartoum…Outside of Wadi Halfa the tarmac ceased, to be replaced by vague desert pistes. These were generally rocky with huge tracts of corrugations (thousands of closely packed ridges which vibrate the vehicle and everything in it, so much so that nuts undo themselves, electrics are shaken loose, you can’t hear yourself think – all in all they are an overlanders nightmare, and a persistent one at that!) Often the tracks descended into deep heavy sand which meant progress was slow and the going was tough. And the heat! At somewhere around the 50˚C mark the heat was undoubtedly our worst enemy. If you can imagine there is no air con, no swimming pool, no cold drinks even – only the breeze created by the movement of the vehicle, then you will understand just how uncomfortable things can be. Trying to rehydrate your constantly sweating body with iodine flavoured bath temperature water, is far from refreshing – in fact it makes you feel worse.
On the second night we appeared out of the desert on the bank of the Nile. There is about a 50 metre fringe of browny-green on either side of the huge river and then its pure desert again. Where we stopped for the night was in a tiny fishing village and we camped on an ancient old mans scrap of land by the river. He was sitting fiddling with his fishing nets when we arrived and was delighted to have us on his patch of earth. He was a toothy old boy in a flithy robe and leads such a simple unspoilt life but was so friendly and generous (as all the Sudanses are). They have nothing to give but always offer us tea or water or food. He took us down to the river and excitedly stripped off his robe and dived in, so we followed. Amazing to cool down and wash some of the sweat and filth off. But you can't go far out as there are huge crocs (up to 7 metres) around! Leaving the village the following morning there was a crude wooden tripod on the fringes of the desert with an animal hanging from it by its hind legs. We looked closely and saw that it was either a hyena or a large jackal, semi decayed. A local came up and told us it was a "wolf" although I think thats just their word for jackal but we weren't sure. That evening we camped in the middle of nowhere and at about four in the morning we were all sharply woken to the howling and strange barking that was anything but a dog. It sounded almost crazed and wild and was getting closer and closer to our tents. Sleeping in those tents with the fly sheet rolled back is just like being under a mosi net and you feel bloody vulnerable to marauding animals. We all shone our torches quickly around the area to scare the animal away, which seemed to do the trick - but nobody slept particularly well for the rest of the night. My only real worry is that if the animal was rabid it could easily have mauled any of us through our tent netting and being literally hundreds of miles from anywhere it would be a serious problem. Walking around the campsite with a torch after dark is always quite interesting as depending on where we are (how sandy or scrubby it is) you see countless little gerbils scurrying around, large light beige scorpions with evil curled over stinger tails right in the campsite as well as huge camel spiders etc - that is why we don't just sleep in the sand without tents!
We’re staying here in Khartoum with the British Defence Attache who has been very kind in giving us the use of his house for three days. It’s also very interesting to hear reliable and up to date information about what is really going on in this country. With recent and future events it seems that Khartoum is rather an exciting place to be at the moment…would suggest keeping an eye on next weeks news…! (written on the 10th July.)…In fact we were warned that President Bashir was about to be indicted and that we should be out of the country by Monday. As it turned out we crossed the border that day and later met a German overlander who was close behind and had witnessed rioting and tyre burning etc; he said “he thought it was time to leave!”
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