Sweating in Sudan

So we ended up spending two nights in Wadi Halfa waiting for the truck to arrive. There is not a great deal to do in Wadi Halfa so we were all pleased to get back on the road again. As it was late afternoon by the time the truck arrived and we had restocked with food, we just had a short drive out into the desert before finding yet another fantastic bush camp. Great to be out in the desert again, enjoying the solitude and fantastic camp food - pumpkin soup for dinner was amazing!

We encountered a few scorpions and camel spiders (or Colins as Clare calls them) the following morning. One even managed to make its way on to the truck which livened up our journey. Friday was a long, hot driving day. The desert is really dusty so we were all happy when after some skilful off road driving from Rogan, we found a spot by the Nile for a refreshing swim. The cold water felt fantastic particularly as we had not showered properly for days (a bucket shower doesn't count!).

Saturday morning, we left camp early to climb up Jebel Barkhal (Holy Mountain). Then it was more driving and more sweating on the truck, interspersed with one of Bruce's quizzes from time to time to keep us entertained. The outside temperatures are so hot that opening the windows just means you get blasted with hot air and dust. Even at night, the temperature doesn't drop enough to stop you sweating so sleep is difficult. Those of you reading this in the UK will probably think us mad, but we all just longed for rain. So imagine our delight when it actually did start to rain. Albeit only a brief shower, it did help us cool down a little. It also made for interesting times trying to get to our camp when the truck got stuck in wet sand. Still, I guess that's what the sand mats are for. Getting stuck, along with quite a few police checks that day, meant we got to camp late. Despite that, Alison still managed to bake a chocolate cake for Sue's birthday. Bad luck for Sue having a birthday in Sudan as alcohol is banned and anyone caught with it is subject to forty lashes. Sue's birthday celebrations will have to wait until Ethiopia..

Sunday morning, we got up at sunrise (well, some of us) to climb over the sand dunes and visit some temples. We then drove to the town of Shendi where we got some cold drinks and wandered round the markets whilst Alison and Rogan did some food shopping. Our 45 minute stop became considerably longer when the security police decided they wanted us all to go to their office so that they could check our passports and visas. Despite being the largest African country, Sudan is not exactly inundated with tourists due to the ongoing civil war and unrest in the south west. Whilst the north and east of Sudan through which we are travelling is peaceful, tourists are rare so we attract a lot of attention. The police then decided they wanted to see our cameras. Photography in Sudan is not permitted without a permit and you can only obtain one in Khartoum, the capital. As we hadn't yet reached Khartoum, I guess they knew we wouldn't have permits and were thinking they could make some money out of us. We quickly removed memory cards before handing over our cameras to be checked. The language barriers make all the negotiations difficult but eventually they were satisfied and let us go on our way without us needing to hand over any money.

Later in the day, we headed off road to visit some temples. However, conditions were too boggy to get the truck through so we ended up aborting that plan and heading to Khartoum a day early. We are now in a camp site with showers (oh, the joy of being clean!). Tomorrow, we continue on through Sudan and then into Ethiopia. Not sure when my next blog update will be as I understand internet in Ethiopia is not the best...