White desert by night. /Pentax
We reached the White desert late in the evening in complete darkness. The white desert is supposed to offer unique scenery and strange rock formations but all we could see was the stars and the sand track in front of us. After driving around on sand tracks with dead ends trying to find the camp site, we realised we could just camp anywhere. Waking up in this magical place is a dream like experience, and the fact that we arrived in the dark made it even more amazing. We would have liked to stay a day here exploring this strange but beautiful landscape but unfortunately we had to move on. We only spent one night in Luxor and much to our disappointment we had no time to see all the interesting ancient sites such as the Valley of the Kings, Karnak and the Luxor temple. We had a boat to catch…
Where have we just landed? /Pentax
Oliver. /Pentax
An amazing sand pitch! /Pentax
Tuvalie in the white desert. /Pentax
Strange rock formations. /Pentax
To reach Aswan, where the boat leaves from, you have to go in a convoy from Luxor. At eleven we all met up to start the journey (two police cars, three buses, us and an English family we met already in the Sudanese embassy in Cairo. They, Martyn and Tanja are traveling with their two children to south Africa). The convoy sped through all the check points and small villages and we struggled to keep up with the pace.
In Aswan, it was time to deal with the dreaded task of organizing our ferry crossing to Sudan. The easiest and most common way to do it is via a agent. We contacted mr Mohammed Abuda who helped us out with all the paperwork. Firstly, you have to hand in your Egyptian number plate and confirm with the court that you have not committed any traffic offense whilst in the country. It sounds simple enough, but in reality it means that you have to visit five different offices in one building, two offices in another building and then back to the first office you where at to get your final stamp! Half a day later we were ready to buy our tickets for the 16 -24 hour long journey. (We set our minds on 24 uncomfortable hours. Since we were late buying our tickets we only managed to get one double bed cabin to be shared between the eight of us. Cosy!)
The boat was to leave in the afternoon the next day (no exact time) and we were told to be by the boat at 9:30 am in order to leave enough time to do further paperwork and load the cars that were going on a separate pontoon. Few things seem to be really quick and easy in this part of the world. An hour late we turned up to get our carnet and passports stamped and around three we got on the boat. Richard and Milan had to wait by in the sun for their turn to load the cars on the disturbingly overloaded pontoon. They teamed up with a German biker, Claus, who also is heading for south Africa. Two hours in the heat they finally squeezed the cars on in between boxes of sunflower oil, refrigerators and tomatoes. It was quite an interesting sight, and with a concerned mind we saw the heavy pontoon steer away as we were still hanging around by the port. (The pontoon travels slower and would arrive a day later.) Finally around eight our boat left the harbor. By this time we had already spent five hours trying to entertain four children in an 8 square meter dirty, but luckily air conditioned, cabin, and we still hadn´t travelled a single meter… With the children asleep, maybe not in the cleanest of sheets, we had a chance to wander around the boat for a bit. Which proved to be almost impossible since most floor space is covered by luggage or people resting. Most passengers do not travel as luxuriously as we did, and many travel on the top deck where they all roll out their carpets for the night.
Yes, our cars are supposed to get on there somewhere... /Pentax
Loaded! /Pentax
After a cramped night we woke not entirely refreshed but happy to hear that we would arrive in Wadi Halfa around lunch time, at least six hours earlier than what we had expected. Once off the boat there is quite a procedure you have to go through with customs, transport, hotel and security registration. Luckily we had an agent also here helping us out with all this so everything went very smooth. Together with Claus and two other travelers we met on board (Andy and John, both from England) we checked in to a simple hostel and waited for our vehicles to arrive or the train to depart
Richard and Milan spent the next day watching the sunflower oil, refrigerators, tomatoes and everything else slowly coming off the pontoon whilst the cars remained. Lastly, at around six in the evening they were allowed to drive the vehicles off the emptied boat, only to find out that the customs office had closed for the Ramadan breakfast and that they had to come back the following day to pick up the cars. We came to the conclusion that probably some “backshish” (=bribe) to the captain would have saved us the long wait and the extra night in the hottest hotel room on earth…
We all somehow liked Wadi Halfa, a village with nothing special to it that comes alive only two days a week when the ferry from Egypt arrives and departs again. Maybe it was because of the friendly Sudanese, the laid back atmosphere and the endless numbers of tea ladies lining the streets. We were finally in Africa and it felt good. Like a relaxing haven compared to hectic and, to be honest, quite exhausting Egypt.
Feeling at home in Wadi Halfa. /Pentax
On the Thursday we set off south along the Nile road towards the capital Khartoum. Our first goal was a small village south of Abri, where we were going to drop off a Sudanese guy, Ahmed, we met on the boat. He was returning back home after four years in Egypt. The roads in Sudan are not great to say the least. For eight hours we battered the land rovers through an incredible mixture of corrugated roads, dusty trails, and deep sand tracks. We had been warned that Sudan would be incredibly dusty but had not understood how dusty something can get....
Ahmed's village south of Abri. /Pentax
Our guest room. /Pentax
The local shop. /Pentax
Ahmed, back home after four years in Egypt. /Pentax
Ahmed's neighbors. /Pentax
More neighbors, relatives and friends. /Pentax
After a very pleasant and cool night in Ahmed´s brother´s house we were looking forward to another day of mistreatment to our cars. But by now the Land Rovers started to protest, and in a way that would hit us hard. The air conditioners decided to pack up. Lina and Richard could luckily get theirs working again after removing a couple of kilos of fine dust that had found its way in to the electromagnetic plates. But Pia and Milan had lost all their gas because a pipe had finally rattled lose. So, with windows down they had to continue through the heat with an unbelievable amount of dust getting in absolutely everywhere.
With one AC broken down, we decided to go all the way to Khartoum, although it was too long a drive really. Around midnight, after fifteen hours in the car, we reached the, despite the late hour, buzzing city and camped at the Blue Nile sailing club. The next day was spent cleaning the cars… as was the next.
After two terribly hot nights in the tents we moved to a youth hostel, which turned out to be a good idea since we had the most rain since the start of the trip that night. We now have organized our Ethiopian visas, done a lot of cleaning and washing and seen hardly anything of Khartoum. All packed and ready we set off towards the Ethiopian boarder tomorrow, together with John and Martyn, Tanja and their children.
Pia and Milan's AC decided to give up. /Pentax
Dust and sand and open windows... /Pentax
