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.
DOWN AND OUT IN KHARTOUM
The major problem we’ve had here (apart from overheating) is trying to get cash – we only have 200 euros on us, (54000 Sudanese dinars), visa and mastercard don’t work here due to the financial sanctions on the Sudanese government so we’re stuffed.
The city’s a nightmare to drive in – after finding out when the embassies open, and when we can leave for Addis, I took a turn onto what turned out to be a one way street – there were no signs saying this – just people honking at me… stopping immediately one of the policemen approached and said “you must pay 50000 dinars, follow me”. Oh dear. We looked at each other – not knowing what to do – it’d leave us with around $30, and we need to buy visa’s, food and pay for police registration, exit taxes and money to have the carnet stamped when entering Ethiopia.
Somehow I managed to talk my way out of it – the policeman waved us on after my pleas thankfully didn’t fall on deaf ears.
We stopped at the Blue Nile sailing club after our brief but terrifying money ordeal and reflected on how screwed we’d be if we’d have had to pay the man.
The eagles are soaring above us, and for the time being, we’re in luck
For the moment – we’re just waiting,
Our priority was to get cash – a call home to my Dad resolved that – this morning I received some cash via Western Union – apparently one of the few ways to get cash into the country at the moment,
Tomorrow will be the 22nd of April – which leaves me just over a week to drive from Khartoum to Nairobi, I’ll have to cross the second half of Sudan, the entire length of Ethiopia (dropping Daniel off in Addis for his flight on the 27th), and then continue through most of Kenya (in the rains, and on my own). It’s almost 2000miles, often on non-existent, or “impassable” roads. The car’s not 100 % and the nightmare scenario I envisaged when we missed the ferry in Aswan is now very real.
It’s going to be tough, but I’m gonna do my best (If I’m not in Nairobi on the 1st Karin, you can drink all the whiskey yourself!).
We left Khartoum as soon as we had our visas in hand – it’s 3pm, we’re hoping to make it to Gedaref by nightfall – leaving just a short hop into Ethiopia the following morning.
Our journey was once again marred by the usual overheating problem – which gave Daniel and I a chance at least to step outside the overheated Land Rover, into the 44 degree coolness outside.
This really needs sorting.
At times, we did overheat near some interesting sights, which makes the 5 minute wait for the engine to cool just a little more bearable
The road from Gedaref to the border of Ethiopia is famous for being absolutely shocking. Michael Palin in his pole to pole adventure was able to cover 7km in just one day. I’ve heard now that a new road has been built, and it’s asphalt all the way, but a conversation with a young petrol attendant in Gedaref contradicted that – he says the road is terrible and it’ll take us 7 hours to reach the border… After taking a wrong turn in the town centre, and having to go offroad in the dark through the fields to find the main road again we decided to head south – at least until the bad road starts.
Thankfully we didn’t find the bad road – it seems the young petrol attendant hasn’t left his garage for at least the last 8 years. I drove until I was far to tired to continue, and turned off the asphalt into the bush for potentially our last bushcamp in some time.
22nd April 2007
The last of the ‘bad road’ was still Asphalt – all the way to the border – quite a relief as our overheating issues aren’t nearly as bad on tarmac. The border crossing which we arrived at well before noon is the easiest to date. We haven’t had our Sudanese visas stamped by the police (which you’re required to do within 3 days of entering Sudan), so we expect problems – playing the dumb tourist worked a charm and within ½ hour we were leaving Sudan, having paid no exit fees for us or the carnet.
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