Read about Ron & Viv's journey so far through Africa - SUDAN - Khartoum; Meroe Pyramids; Abu Ahmed; Wadi Halfa - mid August - Sept 2007.
Sudan
Sitting high and dry at the Blue Nile Sailing Club is the resting place of Gordon's gunboat, the Gunboat Melik , which was used by the British, back in the days of the Khartoum siege in late 1894 and early 1885.
A typical local village or small township along the road from Khartoum north.
Camped on the edge of the Nile some 50km south of Abu Hamed. It had been a day where the temperature was nuzzling 50°C so to stop in the shade beside the river was a real plus.
The local nearby village people were very friendly & helpful, allowing us to top up with some water and take some pics.
Buses also travel this route (more often at night), and are they packed!!! How would you like to be the passengers on top (very hot & dusty!!).
We passed only one local with his camels, early on after leaving Abu Hamed.
Once reaching Wadi Halfa we camped by the waters of the Nile, now backed up by the Aswan Dam – it was as pleasant a spot we could use while we had the vehicles.
Neil pretending to be reading during the day (he is actually asleep); night time saw us out in the courtyard, along with the rest of the family, sleeping out in the coolness of the night air - it was so …ooo… hot in Wadi.
We passed a few temples along the shores of the lake, such as the Temple of Wadi As-Subua – there were 3 cruise ships anchored nearby.
AFRICA TRIPLate August – Sudan
Scorching Hot & Friendly People
Don't believe all that you read in the news or see on the TV about Sudan. We found some of the friendliest people in Africa, nobody hassled us, while officials were polite and friendly. We also had our best bush camps of the whole trip and you have a feeling you are safe no matter where you are.
To Khartoum
We left Ethiopia and crossed the bridge and we were in Sudan in the border town of Gallabat . There were a few stalls and shops but really nothing compared to the free wheeling enterprise range of stalls, café, bars and shops on the Ethiopian side. Less than a 100 metres and we had Immigration (GPS 12°57'34”N 36°08'54”E) to go through – Then we went to Customs – another 100 metres along the roadway. They too spoke a smattering of English and we again went thru' with little hassle – paying US$7 for each vehicle to come into the country. Everyone was friendly and smiled and said ‘Hello' to us.
Then it was into the Police post next door to fill in a form there and get cleared to go. No dramas there either. Back out at the car we thought we had done it all but a little money changer told us we needed to go to ‘ Security ', which was again 200 metres up the road with no signs on the door at all. Filled out another form. Another photo, a thumb print (twice) and we were thru. We could go!
The country as we traveled north was a lot greener than we thought it would be – but we guess it is the rainy season, so this is as good as it gets. There was also a lot more cropping going on than we thought there would be and even a few irrigated areas along the way.
Took a while to sort ourselves out in Gedaref and we checked out the a couple of the hotels. Ended up at the most western of the places here – and charges that way as well – 170SPd (A$100) for a double room, which is expensive, especially considering that the TV didn't work, there was no dunny paper or towels, there was water all over the bathroom floor, and the toilet stunk. The food was also expensive. But, the vehicles were safe and secure in a locked compound.
For a while the road north skirts along the edge of a line of rocky hills and while there is a bit of habitation around, as well as an army camp on the southern edge of the hills, there is also an opportunity to camp around GPS 14°6'55”N 34°12'31”E and 14°02'55”N 34°35'45”E.
As we entered the outskirts of Wadi Medani , we met up again with the Blue Nile, which was a lot wider than when we had last seen it in Ethiopia. The great triangle of land from here west to the White Nile and north to Khartoum is one of the great irrigation areas of the Sudan. Established by the British back between 1911 and 1920 there was over a million hectares of irrigated land set up, initially to grow cotton for the cotton mills back in England. The system of land ownership changed with this vast area with peasant farmers having control of their land, a share of the profits from cotton, and the freedom to grow any crop they wanted as long as a third of their land was cotton. Since then it has diversified somewhat and they grow most anything you can think of, while land ownership has been copied elsewhere in the Sudan.
We had another 8 or 9 checkpoints today – some are traffic control, some are police and some are passport checks. All were fine and forms had to be filled out at a couple, while others were just a cursory check, a friendly ‘Welcome' and away we were sent. Every day turned out to be much the same as far as check points were concerned.
The outskirts of Khartoum are busy with new roads, factories, houses and apartment blocks being built. The economy is booming by the looks of it. From what we read later, oil, gas and petroleum products have really come on stream since the mid 1990s when a major pipeline to the coast was built, followed by a processing plant. Since then, oil products make up 70% of the country's exports.
Found our way thru' the afternoon traffic, which is pretty hectic but not as manic as Nairobi but worse than Addis. Still once we got to the airport – a detour having put us out a little and found our way back on the Africa Road - we knew the way and Viv got us to the banks of the Blue Nile and we cruised up the boulevard to the Blue Nile Sailing Club , (GPS 15°36'41”N 32°32'05”E), where we booked in and parked and set-up camp in the carpark. It was muddy from recent rains and trying to get a spot was a bit of a hassle and we upset a few of the club members when they arrived later to enjoy their club. There's a flush toilet, cold showers, a street-side stall where you can get a few cool drinks and snacks, while a small mosque sits tucked in one corner. Camping costs about A$13/night for a vehicle and two people. Not bad considering you are in the heart of Khartoum – and Sudan, as we are finding, is expensive!
Khartoum – Gunboats and Dervishes
The sailing club is also the site of Gordon's gunboat , the Gunboat Melik , which was used by the British, back in the days of the Khartoum siege in late 1894 and early 1885, to try and break the cauldron around it. The Khalifa won in January 1885, much to the embarrassment of Britain while Gordon was killed on the steps of the British head office. Abandoned, the old boat is held by the deep silt of the Nile and about 30 metres from the now flowing waters of the river. It's still in pretty good nick with the hull intact, although we doubt if it would float. Once used as a restaurant it is now the living quarters for some of the staff with mops and drying clothes festooning the 75mm cannon at the bow that was once designed to show British naval power to all and sundry in the mutinous Sudan.
Went out to the Omdurman , which was once the capital of the country, but is definitely the poorer cousin to Khartoum nowadays with only a few of the road bitumised. We crossed the Nile below the confluence of the White and Blue Niles, to the tomb of the Hamed al-Nil, a respected 19 th century Sufi leader of the Qadiriyah order whose followers ( tariqa ) have a celebration around the tomb every Friday evening (Ramadan excepted). Known more famously as the ‘Whirling Dervishes' this religious sect dance and prance to the sounds of drums and the chant of the surrounding practitioners. Only a few really ‘whirl', lost in their own world of trance and getting closer to their god.
There were quite a few people already there, even though it was early – about 5.30. It is quite a carnival atmosphere to the whole scene with a few people selling food while others had small stands set up selling religious artifacts, incense and the like. There were even a few sellers close to the gate as we came in. Still there was no hard sell about it, as this is very much a religious festival and not a tourist attraction.
The amount of people began to build as it got closer to sunset and a few bohemian like figures with long hair and green robes came out and moved the crowd into a large circle. Others were dressed in more traditional white robes, which was a bit dirty though and along with their long dreadlock hair and gear they were wearing made them different to the rest of the people (Sudanese are generally pretty conservative) milling around.
The drummers then came out and with the drums beating the green clad and white clad religious figures shifted men into the front row (women were shifted to the back and to one area) and urged them to chant. The religious figures danced and pranced around, while only a couple got to the whirling stage.
They were all friendly people though and we were soon in conversation with different people and small groups of two or three. Viv had some women laughing and carrying on but the conversation got serious when Viv asked if these young educated girls (in their late teens early 20's) had a boyfriend. Their shocked reply was, “Oh no, we can't do that until we are about to be married, We'd get my throat cut!” And they meant it! Their marriages are arranged for them, which is all pretty cut and dried, we guess.
Khartoum – Alien Registration and Permits
One of the things you must do when visiting Sudan is register with the Alien Registration office. In Khartoum the Alien Registration office (GPS 15°35'59”N 32°31'06”E), is well away from the place shown in the guidebook, and is now within 100 metres of the US Embassy. It took over 1.5 hours to get registered and you need a letter from where you are staying (The Blue Nile Sailing Club manager wrote one out for us, no worries – once we found him), along with photocopies of the front page of your passport and Sudan visa page. You must register within 3 days of entering the country.
You are also supposed to get a Photography Permit from the Ministrey of Tourism if you want to take a photograph or a video of absolutely anything! These are free, but try getting to the ministry in the heart of Khartoum on a Monday morning is a challenge we found we were not up to! We gave up and were not asked for it on any occasion.
You were once supposed to get a permit from the Dept of Antiquities to visit any ancient site such as the Meroe Pyramids, but this is no longer the case. Permits can be issued at the entrance to the pyramids, although we could find no one who wanted to do that when we were there.
Khartoum – Internet Café's, Supermarkets and Credit Cards
Once in Sudan you'll quickly realize that credit cards are near non-existant! American based cards such as American Express, Mastercard and Visa can rarely be used, if at all and all transactions must be in cash.
We found the only place our Visa and Mastercard could be called upon to work (forget the Hilton and other hotels) was at the Byblos Bank, the finding of which takes a bit of doing. The bank's only branch in Sudan is in the suburb of Amarat (south of Khartoum 2), Street 21 (GPS 15°34'40”N 32°32'51”E). Here you can withdraw cash directly from your credit card as a cash advance. At least we now had some money.
Internet Cafes are springing up around the town (most are closed, like everything else, on a Friday) but the best ones we found are at the Meridian Hotel and the Hilton Hotel.
Supermarket, such as we are used to are pretty rare in Khartoum. We found a couple within cooee of the Byblos Bank and the one we used was at GPS 15°35'04”N 32°32'29”E and right beside it is a delightful icecream and milkshake outlet.
Heading North to Abu Hamed
We crossed the original Blue Nile Bridge (GPS 15°36'47”N 32°32'40”E) to North Khartoum and headed north. We only got stopped and paperwork checked about 6 times that day.
Got to the Meroe Pyramids which are located just off the road (GPS 16°56'12”N 33°44'50”E) Stopped at the gate to be quickly surrounded by a few people and camels offering goods to buys and camel rides or photographs. Shifted around the perimeter fence and stopped there, setting up our chairs in the shade and had a cool drink. Got joined by our locals and with their camels hunkering down and the guys sitting in the shade they began by offering all they had to sell but once that was over they were content to just yarn – as much as we could with their smattering of English and our complete lack of Arabic.
Got up early before sunrise and headed around to the main gate, parked and went to explore the pyramids. These ancient monuments date back 3,000 years or so and while most Sudanese will tell you they are older than the pyramids in Egypt that is not really true. They are split into two sections about 1km apart and the northern section is the most impressive with about 60 pyramids in this group although only about 20 are easily seen or relatively intact. Some of these have been restored by the Sudanese antiquities department back in the late 1970's early 1980's.
As we headed north the occasional truck and bus went past and about 50km south of Abu Hamed we stopped to help a truckie who needed a couple of spanners. We also set off to find a camp on the edge of the Nile. We turned off the highway, passed thru a small village and crossed the railway line and an area of soft sand to camp on the edge of a large area of date palms right beside the flooding river at (GPS 19°09'12”N 33°34'15”E), some 50km south of Abu Hamed.
It had been a day where the temperature was nuzzling 50°C so to stop in the shade beside the river was a real plus – our Patrol's air conditioner wasn't working, even though we had two ‘experts' look at it – in Nairobi and in Addis – such is Africa! We set up a shower and tried to survive the rest of the afternoon.
Headed up the blacktop for Abu Hamed , where we stopped to fuel up at a relatively new servo. There is a lot of ground work going on around the town in preparation of an irrigation area being set up. Stopped at the check point and because we were heading on to Wadi Halfa we were sent to the Police post to register there (GPS 19°32'11”N 33°20'19”E). They were most concerned that we were set-up for the crossing. “It is very, very bad road!” they insisted and asked if we had a, ‘good 4wd, a GPS, water and fuel' and then sent us off to buy softdrinks. We did, and at a 1.5SPd a can of Pepsi or Miranda orange – it was cheap and it was cool (not cold) from the little stall we found of the number spread along the road heading into town.
Found our way to the north side of town where the main dirt track and the railway track meet (GPS 19°32'48”N 33°18'54”E). From here we turned north, the road being upgraded nearly all the way to Station 10, which seems to have a major building programme going on for some reason.
The Wadi Halfa Railway Line
The still used (freight every day, passenger service once a week) railway line and now unused telegraph line, which parallels it, stretch across the harsh Nubian Desert for 348km (accurately measured with a Brantz Laser 3 tripmeter) between Abu Hamed and Wadi Halfa. If it wasn't for the railway or the poles of the telegraph line, which helps make navigation across here a cinch, a crossing of this desert would be quite a challenge – and that is an understatement, given the harshness and the soft sand.
The Wadi Halfa Railway was conceived by a truculent General Kitchener who, in 1896, saw it as the means to ferry his troops and ammunitions south to beat the hell out of the rebellious Khalifa, who had taken over the Sudan with the defeat of Gordon at Khartoum in January 1885. Many said it was impossible but that didn't deter Kitchener. By January 1897 Wadi Halfa had been transformed from a small river village to Sudan's first industrial town as coal was brought in from the Mediterranean, rolling stock from England and workshops and machine shops sprang into being. By May 1897 work began on the line, which advanced at an average of 2km a day – not bad for the heat of summer – over 350km of un-surveyed and waterless desert.
A telegraph line followed and stations were erected every 30km or so, with water being found in deep wells at Stations 4 and 6. In October 1897, just 5 months after work had begun, the line reached Abu Hamed, even though work had slowed to allow for military operations to be fought … and won … before the line reached there.
The Khalifa's army was routed at the Battle of Atbara in early 1898 and in September of that year, Kitchener's army absolutely wiped out the enemy at the Battle of Omdurman, with the Khalifa fleeing the scene leaving over 10,000 dead. The railway line was soon at Khartoum and was hailed as ‘The railway that won the war'.
Once passed Station 10 (GPS 19°41'48”N 33°08'46”E), about 30km north of Abu Hamed, the amount of traffic slowed somewhat and we only saw a couple of buses – one piled high with all sorts of gear, and a bloke, on the roof and a camel man with is group of four camels heading for Abu Hamed. There were a couple of areas tinged by green from recent rains or the floodouts of water gathered from nearby hills, but these soon gave way to relenting desert. If you ever wondered about the power of the Nile River and what it means to everyone, even just a passing traveler such as ourselves, out here away from its life giving waters, you really understand its magic and how important it really is.
A few of the stations are inhabited by railway workers or travelers, or people running a small store for the passing trade (Station 8). Once we were in the heart of the desert, north of Station 5, their was little sign of anything living or dead, grass or dried up bush and the scene was tinged brown – dark brown rocks, light brown sand, bleached brown telegraph poles and blue brown sky (from the dust in the air). The rocky hills that we saw occasionally on the horizon floated above a shimmering mirage of mercuric silver. It was bloody hot – around 50°C! The wind was an absolute scorcher adding another hot dimension to the whole hellish scene.
Also north of Station 5 the sand becomes thicker and drier and is soft with the tracks on each side becoming less tangible as most travellers take to the firm base of the railway line to drive along. We did and while it's a bit like driving on a slightly corrugated road for the most part the going was pretty good and we cruised along at 60-70kph.
We stopped to camp at the small Station 34 (between Stations 3 & 4) (GPS 21°25'17”N 32°07'04”E), 257km north of Abu Hamed and 90km south of Wadi Halfa. which consists of a couple of buildings and a few outhouses. What was good was the low concrete water tanks near the line had some water in them, and it was cool, so we helped ourselves for water for a cooling shower and to rinse some clothes.
Wadi Halfa
The town is much bigger than what we thought – my thoughts having been of a few mud huts, a near derelict railway station and a grotty port area with a few seedy pubs and stores. In fact, Wadi Halfa is a lot bigger – 19,000 people live here by all accounts and while there are a lot of mud-brick buildings and compounds there's a few trees, date palms and painted doors and fences to enlighten the drabness of mud brick and the parched surroundings.
The town is really in a couple of parts, the main part being set back from the water's edge. In the heart of the town, around the ‘market' and hotels there's a few fancier buildings, one of which is the ferry office (GPS 21°48'00”N 31°21'04”E), but the streets are all dusty and rough and away from the protected houses there is no vegetation. A few rough, rocky and bare hills dot the confines of town, while a few government buildings, schools, along with an electricity plant and water plant … and a university, make up the rest of the town which sprawls over quite a large area. There's a km or so of rough road which leads down to the port area of the town.
We found the ferry office and rang Mazar Mahir (Mashan Sharti Tours, ph (mob): +249 122 380 740; email: mashansharti@gmail.com) who is the local Mr Fix-it when it comes to catching the ferry, shipping out of Wadi Halfa, or anything to do with immigration and custom, either coming or going from Wadi Halfa. Yes, you could do it all yourself, but this guy has all the contacts and knowledge and can move the paperwork thru the corridors, get the right stamps in the right place and even get decisions changed if required, like he did with us as we got told initially our vehicles couldn't go for another week. He saved us an awful lot of hassles and frustration. Mazar's brother, Midhat Mahir, is in Khartoum and has Mashan Sharti for Tourist, ph: +249 912 253 484; email: midhat.sudan@gmail.com.
What Mazar couldn't fix was 460 illegal Egyptian immigrants who were being shipped back this Wednesday – which meant that the ferry was full! There was no argument; the Sudan government taking precedence over our wants and needs. The ferry company was running an extra ferry – leaving on the Saturday and we could get on that! The vehicles could go on the barge leaving on Thursday and that was that.
Found a spot to camp on the edge of the lake , on a narrow inlet that is often dry, south of some rocky hills (GPS 21°46'08”N 31°21'41”E). It wasn't a great spot to camp with no shade but we were beside the water and it was sandy spot with a few bushes and protected a little from the wind being behind a bit of a rocky bluff. The camp was better in the evening, a coolish breeze coming off the lake.
Over the next few days we sent our vehicles off on the barge north to Aswan, the perilous and nerve wracking job of driving onto the barge being something Ron would rather forget.
Home Life Nubian Style
We were so lucky to be invited by Mazar and his family to spend the next few days staying with them during our enforced stay in Wadi waiting for the passenger ferry. Staying at Mazar's mother's, Badria Osman, house gave us a bit of insight into the life of a relatively well off (not by our standards, by there's) family. These people are Nubian (Nubia was, in ancient times, a separate kingdom and Nubians can be found in northern Sudan and southern Egypt) – as well as Sudanese - and are Muslim in their religious belief.
The house was set in a courtyard which was a rectangular shaped mud brick compound about 50x30metres, the long side fronting the road, the walls about 8' high. The house was L-shape and set back against the back wall and one side wall. The main living and sitting area was mainly open and faced north and allowed a lot of air flow while only receiving the morning sun on its low walls. Off that were a couple of other rooms acting as the TV/lounge room, a kitchen area and another bedroom. Mazar's bedroom and sitting room took up the far end of the rear wall. The other corners of the courtyard had a shed and in the other was the toilet and bathroom. Through the northern end wall a gate went into another enclosed courtyard, which had a few more basic mud brick buildings and was more a workshop, storage and kitchen area .
A small garden of fruit trees (lemon, orange, grapefruit, guava, mango) adorned the centre of the main courtyard of which Mazar's mum was very proud. It provided a bit of shade and in the centre of the shaded area there were a few chairs.
Electricity was available all-day long (occasionally it went off); as well as the TV, they had some fans, a chest type freezer where everything that needed to be cool, cold or frozen was kept, and a washing machine (brand new and taken out of its box when it was to be used). There was a smattering of fluro lights around the place and a few power points while radios and portable fluros were commonly used during the evening. Mazar has his computer and other electronic gadgets in his ‘wing'.
Water was only available from one point for a few hours each day, although this will change with the new pipeline being run thru the town at present. Plastic barrels stored water for the toilet (Middle east style toilet, not a bowl), bathroom and washing up of dishes and clothes, and everything had to be ladled from barrels to pot or pan. Drinking water came from three large clay urns set in a cool part of the house and these acted as a filter and as a cooler for the water which dripped into buckets underneath.
There's Mazar's mum, Badria Osman, as the senior and most respected person of the household, whose house it is. Mazar's sisters, of which there are three (or four) are all at home, the older married and living with her husband and 2yo daughter in the house. The younger girls (say 19-22yo) all work around the house and every day wash dishes, clothes, sweep the courtyard, water the garden, etc. They spend their free time – when the heat starts to build up - in front of the Sat TV which is on all day until they go to bed. The young school girl who we only saw on the last morning goes to school during the week. Mazar's brother-in-law works down at the port.
Not much happens between midday and 4pm – it is too bloody hot. Even in the coolest part of the house the temperature was 41°C. Around 4pm people start to move around and may wander down to the shop, or to see friends at around 5-6pm.
Tea with a biscuit was drunk after getting up – say 7am. A meal was served at around 10am. Later in the afternoon another round of tea was served while the main meal was not served until well after 9pm. Mazar's mum had served us at about 5pm today after she realised we went to bed before 9pm the night before! We felt very privileged to be part of it, and accepted with our western ways.
Leaving Wadi Halfa
Getting thru Customs (GPS 21°48'19”N 31°19'59”E) and Immigration turned out to be a long drawn out affair as the boat was again full with over 500 people. We took hours to be processed and the boat didn't leave until 8pm (it would have been worse without Mazar). You couldn't believe this small port in the middle of bloody nowhere could have so many people moving to and fro!
You could never call the old Nile ferry the QE11, but the crew were friendly and the food turned out to be pretty good. At least the 1st Class cabins are air conditioned and they work. Everything though is a bit rough, while 2nd Class passengers travel even rougher - those in the know choosing to sleep out in the open, on the upper deck.
But we were on our way and sometime just after the last light faded we crossed into Egypt.
Return to main Trip diary page
The country we traveled north through from the border town of Gallabat was a lot greener than we expected – but it is still the ‘rainy' season – it got a lot hotter, and drier, as we headed north!!
The flooded waters of the Blue Nile River at Khartoum, as seen from where we camped at the Blue Nile Sailing Club in Khartoum.
We went to see the famous ‘Whirling Dervishes' a religious sect who dance and prance to the sounds of drums and the chant of the surrounding practitioners. Only a few really ‘whirl', lost in their own world of trance and getting closer to their god.
The Meroe Pyramids - these ancient monuments date back 3,000 years and are split into two sections about 1km apart. The northern section is the most impressive with about 60 pyramids in this group although only about 20 are easily seen or relatively intact.
Heading to Wadi Halfa through the harsh Nubian Desert for 348km along the still used railway line and now unused telegraph line, which parallel's it.
Some of the old railway stations were abandoned and made a great spot (and only spot) to stop and camp by mid afternoon – at least there was some shade in the coolness of the old buildings
Neil extricating himself from one of the local ‘taxis' coming back from loading the vehicles onto the vehicle ferry for their trip up to Aswan.
The main street and the ferry ticketing building.
Enjoying one of the many meals Mazar's Mum and sisters prepared for us.
Our passenger ferry, the ‘Sagelnam' which took us to Aswan – those that could managed to sleep up on the top deck in the cool of the night.
The Captain Taha Mohamed Ahmed (right) and his 1st Mate, Mohamed Ahmed Shalaliy.
