It took us longer to drive from Gonder to the Sudan border than expected but the roads were good in general. The scenery was still beautiful over mountains and we kept our tank full of diesel, even putting 17 litres into large water bottles, as we knew fuel could be difficult to find from now on.
About 2 hours from the border, having descended into the valley flat lands, we entered a village and encountered 2 young men on bicycles: Lou and Colin from Canada on their way from Cairo to Cape Town. We invited them to sit in with us for half an hour for coffee and to share stories, with curious villagers peering in. We have great admiration for cyclists, especially in Ethiopia where bicycles are a novelty.
The border process was slow, probably because we arrived at lunchtime in spite of our dawn start. With the bad road from then on we did not make it far before needing to stop for the night. Fortunately the Sudanese are much more welcoming and give us no hassle so bush camping is possible. We found a quiet spot hidden in a watering hole and sat outside to cool off, watching the bird life and drinking cold illicit beer (Sudan allows no alcohol). As daylight faded flocks of sheep accompanied by goats and donkeys with their young herdsmen came to drink at the waterhole. Apart from that it was quiet but almost unbearably hot during the night.
Preparing to leave Saturday morning, just before sunrise we had a visit from a group of policemen checking we were OK. The wonder of mobile phones! We progressed slowly on the potholed tarmac but before too long we had a banging noise from underneath. It was one of the front roll bars which had broken - same one as we had break in Angola and repaired in Namibia.
At the first small town we were stopped by a policeman so Chris showed him the problem and we were directed into town. It may have been hard to find a welder but Ahmed, an ex Save the Children employee who spoke perfect English, followed us on his motorbike and showed us the way, plus told us the expected price. After 2 hours in a dirt street repair shop, and the loan of Chris's electric grinder, we were on our way again. A gift to them of some spare spanner sockets and tee shirts we hope was acceptable but not the chocolate requested as we had none.
After Gedaref where we ate a late breakfast while queuing for a diesel top up, the road surface improved a lot but was very bouncy. We reached the big town of Wad Madana on the Nile late afternoon and headed for the Imperial Hotel in a shady street. Disappointingly we could not fit through the gate so ended up at the rear of a closed petrol station where we plugged into their electricity supply to have the air conditioning on overnight.
Yesterday, Sunday, was an easy drive to Khartoum keeping to the east bank of the Nile as recommended by Lucas, the Swiss cyclist in Addis. It took us over the Blue Nile to the north of the city, avoiding a long drive through built up areas. We arrived at the German Guesthouse run by Norbert late morning. Norbert is a fount of knowledge for overland travellers and we spent an hour or so talking to him and getting advice.
First off, we needed to get our Alien registration so arranged for his guesthouse manager to do that for us this morning. Next: money. Chris managed to change some dollars into Sudan pounds at the border to buy fuel but we were almost spent up. The only way to get Sudan pounds is to change large US dollar notes on the black market as bank cards don't work here. Norbert was again able to do that for us.
The advantage of parking outside the German Guesthouse is that we can get electricity for the fridge and air conditioning and have the use of a shower and toilet. Even with the a/c on we are still pretty hot with outside temperatures over 40C. We are concerned about how we will fare in the desert after driving for a day.
As it was too hot to cook last night we went to eat at a nearby Syrian restaurant and had a typical Middle Eastern meal. Sudan is not renowned for its cuisine. Falafel sandwiches were all we could get in Wad Medana!
We will be staying here until Wednesday as we have an important meeting tomorrow morning. I will explain more in my next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment