Sudan

Upon leaving the port town, we headed straight into the desert, hoping to get three or four hours driving in before sunset. We were forced to turn around after just half an hour however as M overheated constantly it was now late and everything was closed – we’d have to wait until morning to find some more coolant – essential for our 2 day trip across the Nubian desert.

We camped just outside the town in the desert, our fish supper the night before surprisingly wasn’t a problem – and after flushing the cooling system we set off – hopefully with no more problems.
The hope was short lived – we overheated in the deep sand within half an hour, but decided to press on… After deciding to drive on the train tracks which the sand road follows the going became slightly easier – and overheating was limited to once every 30/40 minutes.

I never wanted to drive across a desert – it takes careful planning to be 100% safe – we have enough water (60l), more than enough fuel, but no means of communication… if we have any problems; we have to hope that someone will pass. We do know that a train runs today however, and despite not seeing another soul the previous day, or so far today, we know the “road” is well used.
Here’s a little advert for Douglas Motors – who kindly sent me this shirt when sending out a new transfer box oil seal… Nice place to overheat eh boys?!

At the first manned station we came across, we found Ashraf – who’d been stuck for 2 days waiting for transport southwards towards Khartoum, after asking for a lift, we gladly obliged, explaining we’d have to stop regularly for overheating problems…

The frequent stopping did give us a chance to cook (on the very hot engine) and gave Ashraf time to prey.

The desert’s beautiful, and when the engine’s not running (which is quite a lot of the time) it’s very peaceful… Not the kind of place you want to run out of water mind, or be stuck in for any length of time – but it’s still a great experience. The closer we get to the Nile, the more bones we see – animals, mostly camels who’ve ventured too far.

After sunset, we arrived in Abu Hamed – quite a way behind schedule, and still 4/5 hours from Khartoum, we slept in the desert – cooking Ashraf porridge for breakfast (which he didn’t seem to like that much)

We left Ashraf in Atbara, saying farewell – we’ve enjoyed his company, and Daniel’s learned quite a bit more Arabic.

One thing – that I’ve completely failed to mention about the desert is IT’S BLOODY HOT. We were both very amused when Ashraf started saying “it’s fucking hot”, in response to our new Arabic phrase “haar shadiid” (very hot)… it’s difficult to explain the heat – I’m quite enjoying it, but any hotter and we’d be in real trouble… it’s around 40 – 42 degrees, and it’ll be hotter in Khartoum.

The constant overheating meant we arrived in Khartoum on Thursday evening – too late to get our Ethiopian visas, so we’re here until Sunday at least.

It’s also bloody hot – far hotter than in the desert – it must be touching the mid 40’s right now.