Cairo to Cape 2010 Blog
Blog 5 – Sudan
It was a relief to finally board the ferry to Sudan after a few weeks in Egypt. Egypt really has amazing sites however the constant bargaining and hassle to buy this and that does begin to make one weary.
Adding to our weariness were the celebrations after Hajj (the holidays for the great pilgrimage to Mecca), night after night several celebrations were had until the wee hours. Not that we were complaining but after a few days we were all in desperate need of a good nights sleep.
In true African fashion the vehicle barge was late arriving in Aswan for loading. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, ready Thursday morning to hand in our licenses and number plates to the Egyptian police, and receive our certificate from a magistrate saying we had no traffic offences. Which meant all we had to do on Saturday (Friday is Sunday in Egypt) was head to the Port, be searched, fill in more paperwork with Port officials, complete the carnet formalities with customs and finally load the vehicles. Of course all great plans...
The barges were late and although being told the vehicle will still be loaded on Saturday...the reality was we loaded the 10 vehicles on Monday only an hour or so before loading ourselves onto the passenger ferry. Nonetheless, this was going to mean a night in Wadi Halfa before the vehicles arrived in Sudan.
We boarded the passenger ferry and moved into the first class section. It became rather apparent rather quickly that first class on this passenger ferry does not mean 5 Star!
This is the only way one can cross between Sudan and Egypt as all land borders are closed. The passenger ferry looks like it would have been a very nice boat some 30 years ago. Over the last 30 years it clearly looks like it has had a rather hard life. The cabins are standard size, bunk beds and a large air conditioning unit and that is about it! Thankfully there are no cats with the group!!!
We finally left Aswan at 6:30pm on our crossing of Lake Nasser. The ferry ride was smooth, with just a slight humming of the engines in the background. At 6am we sailed by Abu Simbel just as the early morning first light was appearing. This ancient temple truly is a marvel.
We finally arrived in Wadi Halfa, Sudan in the afternoon - not quite a 24 hour ferry crossing, which was great as the information Debs sent us said it could take up to 3 days to cross Lake Nasser. Although the ferry was a great experience it is was great to be back on solid ground!
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We arrived in Wadi Halfa and transferred to our little local hotel for the night while we waited for the vehicle barge to arrive. Wadi Halfa is a small desert village in northern Sudan complete with friendly locals who welcomed us heartily into their little town. Surprisingly this little town in the middle of nowhere had a buzzing local market with stalls overflowing with bread, onions, tomatoes, cabbages, bananas and pineapples! Our hotel for the night was small and basic but comfortable enough for one night.
The following morning we heard the vehicle barge had arrived, so we headed back to the port to clear customs for the vehicles. The process was painless and quick and within a couple of hours we were on our way off roading through the Nubian dessert.
The Nubian Desert is quiet, very quiet. The desert is surprisingly flat with only a few small sand dunes to negotiate; this is not a technical desert crossing. The scenery is breath taking - large open spaces, with no sign of life for miles. The only indication of life existing out here is the old tyre tracks on random desert tracks forged by previous travellers. The peace and quiet was a welcome relief after our time in the hustle and bustle of Egypt.
We continued on our desert crossing for 2 days, somehow Steve in the lead vehicle knew where to go...how he navigated his way through is still a mystery to most of us! The crossing seemed way too short before we reached tar seal roads again. We stopped to pump up the tyres and continued to Meroe Pyramids.
Meroe Pyramids are nothing like the huge structures we saw in Egypt – they are much smaller in structure and are in clusters. Apparently Sudan has more Pyramids than Egypt!
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We continued on our way on good tar seal roads toward the capital Khartoum. Just before Khartoum the lead vehicle experienced some mechanical problems. With Steve scratching his head over what the problem was he decided the best thing to do was to tow the vehicle the last few kilometres into Khartoum and sort out the problem the following day.
We arrived at Blue Nile Sailing Club, our home for the next 2 nights. Although not officially a campsite the management welcome weary travellers to camp in their grounds on the shores of the Blue Nile River. The setting is superb, in the middle of the Capital city right on the Nile! The Blue Nile Sailing Club is certainly the place to be seen by wealthy elite Sudanese. As the sun went down, brand new Mercedes and BMWs drove into the car park with well dressed business men at the wheel. We soon realised that this was the place where well off Sudanese men meet to catch up on business talk with fellow members over copious amounts of cups of sweet tea.
We pitched out tents on the shores of the Nile and enjoyed the cool breeze the river facilitated. The following morning we awoke to Steve already buried in his engine trying to sort out the problem with Kermit – the timing had slipped was the verdict – and Steve wasted no time in fixing the problem while the rest of us caught up on emails, washing and exploring Khartoum. The other Steve in his own Td5 Disco also experienced some problems with his vehicle needing a visit to the Land Rover centre for some plug in diagnostics.
While Blue Nile Sailing Club is a wonderful setting, the toilet facilities have a lot to be desired....the old worn out facilities, lack of detailed eye of the cleaner and poor water pressure put a damper on this amazing place. However one must remember that Sudan has been war torn for over 25 years and maybe we are looking at it only from our Western perspective.
Khartoum is a surprising city, in some respects it looks very Western however when you start to look more closely the scars of war are still very evident. The local people are warm and welcoming; in many ways they try to overcompensate for the bad reputation the Western World has given them.
After a well earned recovery day it was time to hit the road once again and make our way toward Ethiopia.
Photos from Anna and Phoebe
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