12 PLACES VISITED: 1) Khartoum, 2) Begrawiya (Meroe Pyramids), 3) Atbara, 4) Karima, 5) El Kurru (Nubian Tombs), 6) Nuri (Nubian Pyramids), 7) Jebel Barkal Pyramids & Temples, 8) Dongola, 9) Kerma (Deffufas), 10) Wawa, 11) Sobel (Temple of Sobel or Sulb), 12) Wadi Halfa.
7 OVERNIGHTS: 1-3) Room at “Regency Hotel”, Khartoum (Elev 490m), 4) Room at “El Nassr Hotel”, Karima (Elev 321m), 5) Room at the “Almuallem Hotel”, Dongola (Elev 260m), 6) Room at the “Wawa Guest House”, Wawa (Elev 255m), 7) Room at the “Mustafa Plaza Hotel”, Wadi Halfa (Elev 211m).
3 RUNS: Khartoum, Karima, Wawa.
10 ANTIQUITIES VISITED: 1) Begrawiya Meroe Pyramids, 2) El Kurru Pyramid, 3) El Kurru Tomb of King Tunwetamani & Queen Qalhata, 4) Nuri Pyramids, 5) Jebel Barkal Pyramids, 6) Temple of Amun, 7) Temple of Mut, 8) Kerma Western Deffufa (Mud Brick Temple), 9) Kerma Eastern Defuffa (Mud Brick Temple), 10) Temple of Sobel (Sulb).
BLOG POST TRAILER:
Welcome to the “hottest” post to date. Temperature I mean. SUDAN is easily the hottest place I have visited to date. Days reached 48C and nights did not go below 30C. Thank goodness the Sudanese have discovered air-conditioning which was reasonably prevalent in cars and hotels. Solo 16 is SUDAN - I did this on my own with RIza. I cannot imagine life on the truck or in a tent without a single shower over 4 days in this heat. Brutal. But we all have choices.
Solo 16 starts with four nights in the capital, Khartoum and then heads north along the Nile visiting most of the Nubian antiquity in the Nubian Desert until Wadi Halfa at the border with EGYPT. We flew into Khartoum at 2am from Addis Ababa and next morning found it to be a very hot, dusty and semi-humid place. You cannot be outside for too long since your head simply starts to bake! This is worse as you travel north. The one great thing about Khartoum is its position on two Niles becoming one - the confluence of the Blue Nile starting in Lake Tana ETHIOPIA and the White Nile way back in Lake Victoria of UGANDA.
The city is sprawling with close to 2 million people and the city centre is fairly unsightly. Only along the Nile do you get the spiffy stuff - The Presidential Palace, government ministries and a a handful of fancy hotels, the landmark being the egg-shaped “Corinthian Hotel” or “Gaddafi Egg” since it was built and owned by LIBYA. The National Museum is good given its wide variety of Nubian artefact taken from the north - coffins, status and poetry dating back to 1750BC. The upper level is dedicated to Christian frescoes taken from churches throughout the country.
The “Republican Palace Museum” is the best. It is a rebuild of the English Governor’s Anglican Church and full of artefacts belonging to all the past Presidnets of SUDAN since independence in 1955. The Omdurman Souk or main market is OK - but like any other. The “Khalifa’s House Museum” is also OK and worth seeing since it is the actual house that "Caliph Abdullah Ibn Mohammed (Torshin)" lived in who was the Muslim equivalent of a religious General appointed to protect the Quran and the people. The real adventure and the real SUDAN is to be found in the north along the Nile in the Nubian Desert. Here there are many remains of pyramids, temples and tombs, some older than ancient Egypt but none as grand as the Egyptian.
Nevertheless it was a surprise to me to visit 10 different antiquities of major significance. The Nubians must have been very resilient to remain independent from the ancient Egyptians for a vast period from 3,800BC right up to the 14th Century - a succession and lineage to be rivalled only by the Chinese. The heat of the Nubian Desert borders on the unbearable especially during the summer months. Unlike most “deserts” which ar hot during the day and freezing at night, the Nubian is hot ALL THE TIME. It is simply LESS HOT during the night. Only in the wee hours of the early morning - 2hrs before sunrise is it actually cool - but never cold. The best way to describe the antiquities I saw is to look at the photos. They resemble the Egyptian equivalent but are not quite the same. Enjoy.
BLOG POST DETAIL:
DAY 265 of 287, Wed 3AUG16, 996km, Solo 16, Addis Abba Airport & Ethiopian Airways Flight ET342 ETHIOPIA to Room at “Regency Hotel”, Khartoum (Elev 490m) SUDAN. Solo 16 continues with our semi-overnight flight from one capital to another: Addis Ababa of ETHIOPIA to Khartoum of SUDAN, a total distance of 996km in 100min. I managed to sleep just after liftoff and the landing actually woke me! Outside it was very warm and semi-sticky, even at 2am in the morning. Our free hotel shuttle was there in the form of a very old man driving an even older car. The riposte was old and reasonably crowded for this time of night - just why they schedule flights at these ungodly horses beyond me. Our hotel was only 10min away since the airport is 2.5km from downtown!!! We arrived at the hotel around 3am and experienced our first Sudanese shock - there is no such thing as non-smoking rooms in SUDAN. There are no “non-smoking laws” - everyone smokes anywhere they want - at work, on buses etc EXCEPT inside or on the outer grounds of a Mosque. Amazing. Riza forced the night clerk to take her from room to room until she found one that did not smell. Outside was very deserted and looked like a war zone - we were in the centre of town! We settled in and hit the sack at 4am. We managed to get up at 8am with no problems and felt reasonably rested. Our gamble of travelling at ungodly hours to save on airfares had paid off. Today we would do awaking tour of the centre of the city but not before contacting the agent of Oasis to get our “Travel Permit” and “Alien Registration”.
These documents are required because of the political trouble in SOUTH SUDAN and Southern SUDAN. Until 2009, SOUTH SUDAN was part of SUDAN and made SUDAN the largest country in Africa. The Travel Permit requires you to register where you will be going in the country and gives you permission to take photos and film of everything EXCEPT government buildings and the slums. I rang “Midhat” the Oasis agent and he answered immediately. How’s this for luck. He was driving past our hotel when I rang him so he could meet us immediately. We sat down with him in the cafe on the ground floor lobby. I nice man. thin with glasses and a good command of English despite the heavy accent. He explained the process. Lucky for us, Andi had given us the Travel Permit to fill in. All we needed to do was to hand over another photo and our passports for the Alien Registration. Midhat also advised us on how to photograph the “confluence”or the joining of the White and Blue Nile Rivers since this was near a bridge that cannot be photographed.
We were to catch a tuk-tuk to a children’s theme park called “Al Mogran Park” which is located on the confluence and away from the “White Nile Bridge”. Many tourists have been fined or jailed from photographing from this bridge, even with the permit. We also asked Midhat to give us a quote on a hire car with driver to take us along the Nile to our eventual border destination of “Wadi Halfa” were we would meet the truck on the morning of the 10th of August. He also gave us a boat-load of advice on what to see and do around Khartoum. We were so happy with him that we asked him to take us to a traditional restaurant tonight and to bring along his wife and 2.5yr old daughter as our treat. He would give us our permit around 1pm today and take our passports after dinner for the registration which we would return the next min-morning. We were set. It was now 10am and there was no point starting our city touring since we had no photography permit. We sat in our room and blogged until Midhat retuned just after 1p with our Travel Authority - which also allowed us to photograph and film.
By 2pm we were off. Today we would tour the centre of town given we were in the middle of it and had only half a day left. We walked through the main street shops and stopped by the “Al Kabir Mosque”. Only men are allowed here. I was greeted by an attendant and allowed to walked around the grounds and take photos. It is reasonably large and made entirely of sandstone with intricate carvings throughout. Lucky to have blue sky but with a distinct white haze and very hot and humid. We passed the sizeable and new “Al Waha Mall” and reached “UN Square” where we turned towards the Blue Nile. There is a tree-lined boulevard following the Nile and the Presidential Palace, along with several government departments and very fancy hotels are located here and front the Blue Nile. One of these hotels is “Hotel Libya” or nickname “Gaddafi Egg” since it is shaped that way. Pedestrians are not allowed to walk on the Blue Nile paved footpath between the Nile and Palace so we were redirected inland towards the city.
We walked around the outside of the Palace and ended up at the entrance. We noticed a new-looking monument with a relief of people of various sexes and ages holding hands and a tall tower on top with a turnbuckle style interlocked join in the middle like two hands locking their index fingers - a symbol of unity and strength. Pity we could not photograph it because it was right in front of the palace entry and guards. Instead we waked to the right to visit the “Republican Palace Museum” which was inside the Presidential Compound and right next door to his new residence. The museum itself was new and and exact replica rebuild of the Anglican Church that once stood there. This compound was first built by the English during their attempted colonisation and the old Governors House is still there and served as the President’s Palace in recent years. It is now used for dignitaries. The museum contains mainly personal effects of the various Sudanese Presidents including desks, medals, diaries, cutlery, crockery etc. It also describes in stages the key epochs in SUDAN’s political history and focuses on the resistance against the English/Egyptian colonisation of the country and the occupation of the Italians. It is thoroughly recommended. Outside and opposite the entry is a glass structure containing all the Presidential cars used over the years - most were Rolls Royce. From here it was a short pleasant walk along the Blue Nile to the “Blue Nile Boating Club” where the truck would stay whilst it was in town. It was a great spot right on the Nile and equipped with soft grass and good facilities for camping. Pity it did not have rooms because we would have stayed here ourselves.
We met the manager and he walked us around. Right opposite was the "St Matthew Catholic Cathedral”, another new-looking structure, whose exterior walls were made entirely of tiny mosaic tiles, mainly beige and gold in colour and sporting a motif in the centre - looked very classical from a distance. Very Roman. A good find. From here we caught a tuk-tuk to the hotel since we were covered in sweat and exhausted. Can’t tell you how terrific that cold shower and aircon felt on my return. We had 2hrs up our sleeve before Midhat and his family turned up for dinner. We also made it just in time. As we walked into the lobby it stated to pour outside with plenty of lightening and thunder to keep us entertained from our hotel windows. Thank goodness the WIFI was very strong, even in the room. I remember downloading a few movies during the four nights I was there - mainly as I slept. Midhat was right on time and we drove 20min into suburbia sloshing around on the muddy and flooded roads. Eventually we pulled up in front of a log brightly lit shop front that looked like a butcher. It was.
There are two adjacent shop fronts owned by the same operator. The idea is that you pick and buy your meat in the butcher section and then have it cooked in the restaurant section. You sit in covered individual both in the back serviced by a drinks counter. They bring your food out to you and you enjoy it with your hands seated on low floor-level cushions in your hut-style room. The rain continued. he girls went to find a hut and Midhat and I went to the butchers. There was parts of cow and whole lambs hanging. I chose 1kg of lean beef and 1kg of lamb cutlets. They cost AUD30 including cooking which is expensive for SUDAN but the place was full of young couples and families. How could thy afford it? I bough everyone some drinks including non-alcoholic beer for me since non-life soft drinks was the only other option. The hut floor was thin carpet and the sides and roof made of a tough canvas. Our hut was new but it still leaked. Our food caveat around 9pm on a huge stainless steel circular tray. The meat looked and smelt and tasted delicious - just like BBQ. A finely chopped tomato, cucumber, parsley, onion and tabouli salad accompanied the meat. We sat and talked about how Samira and Midhat met and watched little Rozie partake of the food of the couple next to us - they were young and appreciated her company. Midhat explained what life was like in SUDAN and of the problems with SOUTH SUDAN, the UN’s most recent country. This is why Travel Permits and Alien Registrations are required - to keep track of where tourists are going and to keep them away from the south. It was not until 10pm that we left and I was glad to feel a dry warm bed under my weary body. I was excited about tomorrow. I would run in the morning and visit the outer city sites including the confluence and then eat whole BBQ chicken in the evening - Riza showed it to me today - right opposite the hotel - I love whole BBQ chicken!!! Reminds me of Saturday nights mum or home dinners at our holiday house in Ettalong - now I was homesick...
DAY 266 of 287, Thu 4AUG16, 0km, Solo 16, Room at “Regency Hotel”, Khartoum (Elev 490m, Run1) SUDAN. Khartoum looked calm and clear from my 5th floor hotel room window. The pale blue light of the sky beginning to light up the still shiny streets from the overnight rain. My only concern was flooded and/or excessively muddy streets preventing me from running or recking my shoes. I had plotted a course in google maps total me to the White Nile bridge which I figured was at the 5km mark. Off I went at 6:30am. Hardly any cars on the road, warm and humidity down. Best of all the main roads I chose were not flooded. The run took me along the Blue Nile, past several ministries and a line-up of fancy hotels including the Gaddafi Egg (Corinthian Hotel). and Corel Hotel. Past the National Museum, that we would visit today and eventually to the White Nile Bridge. It was actually at the 5.5km mark - I was close and I decided to run across its 400m span to officially record “a run across the Nile”! It was “ thumbs up” from the police guards at either end. They could see I had no camera gear!
The White Nile was also moving rapidly, much lighter brown then the Blue and I could see the two shades beyond, next to each there as they combined. The run back was great but I did get a bit lost at the last leg and clocked up a respectable 12km. I was thrilled. A terrific first run of my 84th country in the world! My plan to limit my runs had worked and I was on track to run EGYPT to complete the target of 85 run countries with all 30 countries run in Africa! I nowhada “spring” in my step for today’s site seeing. Midhat had negotiated brekkie for us and we feasted on scrambled egg, sausage, chicken strips and yogurt. Our first destination was the distant “Soukh Omdurman” or market to which we caught two local minivans for a princely AUD1. The market was large. Not the largest we have seen by African city standards but large enough to rate number one in SUDAN. Stalls were closely packed and simple and the streets partly flooded and muddy. Yuk. I set myself a goal of finding a small Johnson & Johnson baby powder which I used to keep my runners dry and aromatic given they are the only pair I solo with for runs and subsequent touring.
After a run I place powder inside the whole and change socks. I also do this overnight. As a consequence, my runners have never smelt or been damp with sweat. Good trick. I also place powder on my face when I dry shave to improve the cutting action of the blades and to prevent rash. No need for aftershave. Another good trick I invented myself. Giving yourself a shopping target forces you to engage with the locals and gives the market visit a sense of purpose, otherwise you are aimlessly wandering and get bored quickly. During our search we came across many many items. The one unique to this market, area and city was shavings of wood soaked in scented oils for burning on colas as incense. All coffee and tea houses or portable stalls serve this “incense” with their beverages to “bless” the drinker with good luck and to make the sipping experience more pleasant. Like it. Eventually I found my powder - amazing they had the exact brand and small size to fit my toiletry bag. From here another tuk-tuk to “Khalifa’s House Museum” or "Caliph Abdullah Ibn Mohammed (Torshin)” the religious General and protector. His house, built in 1891, is more like a labyrinth of rooms with thick rendered stone walls and thick wooden floors. It was very extensive and not laid out in any way.
There were not many personal effects or furniture left but what was there was roughly representative of that era. Opposite the Khalifa’s House is “Mahdi’s Tomb”. Mahdi or Muhammad Ahmad bin And Allah” (1844-1885) was a speed-proclaimed Mahdi (or Madhi), the messianic redeemer of the Islamic faith. His successor was “Khalifa”.
The perimeter gate was locked but the guard let us in and we walked around it and photographed it. We could not go inside the building but lucky for us one of the wooden shutters was open and I shoved my portable in and took reasonable photos. the building is in good shape and looks like a mini mosque. From here things got funny.
We took a tuk-tuk towards the confluence but did not realise that tuk-tuks cannot cross the White Nile Birdge so the driver signalled for us to get off and walk. What we did not realise is how far the entry to the Childrens Theme Park was beyond the bridge. This was solved by a huge man dressed in the traditional white tunic stopping us or should I say “Riza” to offer us a lift after he heard where we wanted to go. He was a jovial man with booming voice and a crackling laugh. We accepted and squeezed in with his friend and three thin sons in the back. It was a riot. He kept asking for Riza’s email and phone number. “Call me, call me”he said repeatedly. We both knew what was going on, especially after Midhat told us how he engaged his wife!
He simply called her and asked point blank “I want to marry you - what is your answer?”. It was happening for real. Here. Now. Riza laughed. Eventually we managed to extract ourselves after many promises of phone calls. As we walked towards the entry of Theme Park we noticed a small cafe right on the banks of the Blue Nile. We decided to rest from the heat and laughter of what had just happened. We sipped tea on plastic chairs just centimetres from the Nile’s edge. You could reach down from the chair and dip your finger in the warm muddy water. Plenty of shade and a slight breeze. It was an excellent break and well timed. As we walked to towards the entry were we knew there was a police check point, I decided to take some backup shots of the area around the confluence just in case we were not allowed in. Lucky for us the Travel Authority worked and the police let us in. A young officer accompanied us to the exact point of confluence which was actually in front of a small tiled area on the tip of the park and fenced off with locks. He unlocked the gate and led us through. There it was. A sight to behold. A long ribbon of swirling , whirling water, the left side light brown (White Nile) and right side dark brown (Blue Nile). It was an amazing site and geographical point of significance.
The light brown water had travelled 3,700km and the dark brown water 1,460km and I had seen the EXACT spots where they both had started - amazing to be here. After many photos and film the officer walked us back and we scored another free lift to the “National Museum”. This would be good practice for our journey north on Saturday - we may have to hitchhike to get to the sites there if no minivan will pick us up. The National Museum was on the Blue Nile and a sizeable building. Inside, two main floors. THe ground floor housed a good selection of Nubian antiquities pulled out of the pyramids, temples and palaces that we would see for 4 days as we headed north to the Egyptian border. We took our time.
Some clay pots dated to 1750BC and looked like someone had made them in a pottery class last weekend! There were statues, coffins, death masks and even English captions! A good place. I did not realise that the Nubians date back to 3800BC and the "Kerma Kingdom” that we would visit lasted from 2400-1500BC! Upstairs contained iconography stripped off Coptic Churches in SUDAN dating back between 4ht and 11th Centuries. Some of the panels were huge. The only downside to this usual was the lack of aircon. There were large fans which we stood in front of for ages but you do sweat a lot.
From here we walked to the Corinthian Hotel or “Gaddafi Egg” we caught a galls elevator to the cafe restaurant at the top. Marvellous world class quality interior and fittings Most guests looked like they were rom the Saudi Peninsula and Emirates. The views from the top were spectacular and Khartoum looked like a decently international city. Riza happened to come across two Pilipino technicians working on the lifts. They could not understand why anyone would “visit” Khartoum or SUDAN.
We are here for work but would never visit they said. We walked to the main road and took a taxi to the Blue Nile to visit the truck and pull out extra USD for our northern trip since none of the ATMs here service international cards - only local. After a brief chat with the group we were off again. Another taxi home and a bee-line to the food hall across the road.
It is a good set up. A central menu and cashier with several shops fronts serving different foods, deserts and beverages. Just like a food hall but with one cashier. Can you believe it. There was Andi and Jacob buying up big for the truck dinner tonight. I panicked. Andi ordered 7 chickens and I count 9 left. I dived in to claim my chook! After another quick exchange I was off to the room to shower and email and tuck into my chook and movie. What a day. First run, confluence and a whole BBQ chicken and movie - I was back in paradise!!!
DAY 267 of 287, Fri 5AUG16, 0km, Solo 16, Room at “Regency Hotel”, Khartoum (Elev 490m, Run1) SUDAN. Today was a rest day and “special event day”. We stayed in Khartoum today especially for two events: The Changing of the Guard at the Presidential Palace and the “Halgt Zihr” at the "Hamed el-Nil Mosque" in the Omdurman district near that cities largest market that we visited earlier. Midhat told us the former was at 8am and the later at 5pm so we had to overnight. I wanted to make my way north today but the Hotel Manager managed to talk me into it - he was clever in selling Riza first and then I was outnumbered! Off we went at 7:30am after another fine brekkie. The streets were isolated. Friday is the Muslim equivalent of the Christian Sunday. We got to the palace entry in 15min and noticed some cones blocking the entry but not much more. We waited and waited. Nothing. When we asked the guard he motioned a time with his hand holding up all fingers - 10am we figured. So it was back to the hotel to relax and blog until that time. I was adamant to upload Post 32 today since there is no way I would get internet in the Nubian Desert!
Time slipped away and we were back on the main street headed down to the palace entry. It was as empty as before. Entry, street, everything! Finally an official emerged (not a guard) and pointed to the entry of the Republican Palace Museum. We waited at the museum but the attendants there could not understand or speak English. It did not surprise me that a few minutes into our stay, Tim emerged. The only person with a cultural bone in his body of those left on the truck. We talked about our plans to go North and Tim was on edge to come. I promised I would email him our departure time as soon as we knew what time and where the Atbara bus would depart tomorrow morning. I then noticed another official walking past and rushed towards him to find out about the changing of the guard. Lucky for me he spoke some English and I quickly worked out from his garbled speech that the next change was due on 26AUG which is the LAST Friday in August instead of today, the first. I quizzed him on this and he finally clicked - they changed the ceremony from first Friday to last each month! Bugger. We farewelled Tim and back we went. I was glad because I needed the time to blog. I kept going solid until 4pm when we started to get ready for the second event - the singing and dancing at the Mosque. We settled our hotel bill downstairs and negotiated a taxi to take us there.
The afternoon was better - a wind blew and made the heat much more bearable. We arrived at the Mosque just before 5pm and could here a distant drumming a what sounded like guitar playing. It was striking scene. A wide open cemetery full of mounds in a hap-hazard random arrangement with a big Mosque in the middle. There were metallic markers on most graves of various colours but many had just a rock with nothing on it. It was a little sad that a whole life laid dow did not even have an identification to say who they were. When we arrived at the Mosque there was a gathering crowd, quite large of people of all ages dressed in a variety of Muslim garb with men mainly in white but some dressed in very colourful outfits with hundreds of wooden beads wrapped around them. Some even sported long dreadlocks. At this point there was a tight circle of people around three musicians walking round and round. One way a lead singer with the other two joining. There were three others dressed as “characters” of some kind.
After 30min the format changed and the circle dispersed and the three musicians replaced by three singers at a microphone and a number of other musicians on strings and drums. All of the signing was religious chanting. I could make out “Allah” every so often. Rows of men marched back and forth with women shrilling the sides. The pace then picked up and people started to clap and jump up and down. At one stage it was like a drunken frenzy with people chanting and waving there heads form side to side. We had read that the dancing would be strange and out of character for the clergy performing it but this is not was we saw - it looked quite in keeping with an exaggerated religious chanting. Riza and I noticed people from the truck but could not see Tim. After 90min we decided to leave as nothing was changing and we were starving. I was also keen to get back to my Post 32. We picked up some more BBQ chicken and made enquiries about the bus station for tomorrow trip before returning to our rooms. I blogged like crazy and managed to upload Post 32 at about 9pm. I was elated. I could now enjoy my chicken and movie with only the thought of our northbound journey ahead.
DAY 268 of 287, Sat 6AUG16, 710km, Solo 16, Room at “Regency Hotel”, Khartoum (Elev 490m) to Room at “El Nassr Hotel”, Karim (Elev 321m) SUDAN. Up at 5am and out by 5:45am to get to the bus station for our first 3hr leg to the Meroe Pyramids outside the town of Begrawiya. We were able to find a taxi quickly and the station was only 20min away. Light was beginning to break on the noisy, busy bus station.
We were accosted by half a dozen screaming men as we alighted from the taxi. Pulled pillar to post. I told Riza to pull back so I could take the full hit. I kept yelling “Show me Arbata bus” because there are many so-called ticket sellers who buy ticket books and sell you a ticket to a bus that does not exist.
The right drill is to go to the bus and then have the conductor or driver show you the ticket office of the bus. I was approached by a very placid guy while the others were ripping themselves to shreds over me. He took me to his bus, walked me inside to prove it had air conditioning (and a good one too) and then walked me to his office. By 7am we were off. I am not sure whether it was because we had a schedule or because the bus was nearly full. In less than 30min we were in desolate scenery. I spent my time blogging and Riza slept. It did not seem like 3hrs when the driver suddenly turned to us and said “Al Ahram” - the Pyramids are coming. We could see them in the distance.
We hoped off on the road and noticed a town on one side and the pyramids on the other - probably around 1.5km away. No signs, not road, just a set of tracks leading away towards the pyramids. As we walked towards them in the rising heat we noticed that they were missing their tops. They were dark brown in colour and quite well preserved with steep sides. As we walked three men in white tunics approached us, one on a donkey and two on camels. They beckoned us to ride with them.
We are too close and we would do this many times in EGYPT so we passed. We arrived at two small buildings, one housing the office and the other makeshift living quarters and a toilet. Several men where there but the boss was a woman who insisted we pay 250 local each. Lonely Planet said 50. I laid in to her and at one stage showed her my Travel Permit pointing to the address and phone number and told her that I would call the number to verify the price. I knew she was trying to extract extra money from us to put in her pocket - she looked like that kind of person. As soon she heard me wanting to call she backed down and called for a discount price of 100. We took it since the 50 in Lonely Planet was three years ago. There were no guides there so we set out on our own. There were two sets of pyramids. One was more distant with 6 and the other closer to the office with 12. We walked to the distant ones first since it made more sense. They are very different from the pictures I had seen of the Giza pyramids in EGYPT. These were darker, steeper and smaller. They were missing their tops because the idiot Italian “archaeologist” who discovered them in the 19th Century was more interested int he treasures inside than the antiquity itself and cut the tops off to get to the treasure, he believed was in the centre and not underneath. He was right. No artefacts from these pyramids has ever been found or put into a museum!
We then made our way across the beige sand to the larger set. These appeared slightly larger and some contained modern recreations of their sides and tops and entry portals. The Meroe Pyramids were built by the Kushite Kingdom between 720-300BC. They were used as the burial place of the Kings and Queens of the Kushite Kingdom. We spent two hours here before returning to the roadside spot where we left the truck. Riza borrowed a piece of paper from the office and I wrote “Atbara” on it. As we approached the spot we were surrounded by 6 children that appeared out of nowhere. This happens all over Africa and in the most remote places. I call them “spirit children” because they appear out of nowhere like ghosts or spirits. These little ghosts were asking for money and food so we knew they were real. They persisted.
The plan was to get on a bus exactly like the one that brought us here. There were many travelling between Khartoum and Atbara. I also held up my sign to minivans and cars but not trucks since they are not permitted to stop. One bus went past without stopping - it must have been full. This segment was to be our most challenging. Everywhere else we would go involved getting on a minivan that was empty at its point of departure. As a held my sign a huge truck passed and swept the sign out of my hands. Before I could launch myself after it, four of the make kids ran passed me and started to pursue this thing like a chicken out of control. The kept going and eventually only one child remained in pursuit. He was miles away. A then signalled to a small cruddy looking car and presto - the indicators came on and it pulled over. Inside a man in full tunic. He was headed to Atbara and would take us for 30 each (AUD 4). Bargain. Just as we were climbing into the car, a small pair of hands shoved a piece of paper into my hands with the words “Atbara” on it. It was the little guy who had run for miles to get it. He was panting with sweat rolling down his little face. I almost cried. What determination.
I put some money into his hands and he quickly disappeared. It was a scene I will never forget. Our drive to Atbara was 2hrs and hot. This car could not go fast and the heat outside was like an oven. The Nubian Desert now unfolded before us like a Saudi Arabian movie. Beige sand stretching in all directions like a hot sea. No trees. No shrubs. No nothing. Just power lines next to the road. At times the road was hardly visibly under the sand that had swept upon it. At the pyramids the wind was blowing and the sand was hitting us like a stripping machine. I was an idiot. I kept taking panoramas with my Lumix because they were the best way of capturing multiple large pyramids up close. Well I paid for it. My Lumix ground to a halt and the lens could not extend under the pile of sand inside. Thank goodness I had serviced both of my Lumix in Nairobi so I had a spare ready to go. I would service this one in Aswan or Luxor in preparation for Cairo. I would not take panoramas agin in windy conditions - I could not afford for the second Lumix to go down before Luxor and Cairo. We arrived into Arbata at 2:30 and lucky that the minivans for our final destination of Karima departed next door. We were told 3pm which was just 30min away. Terrific.
We enjoyed a tea and when it was time to go I approached the man who had sold us our ticket and he announced a new departure time of 4pm. I knew what was happening. I was back in the “real” Africa. No full - no departure. I noticed 3 others waiting and we needed another 5 before we could leave. I would wait and then I could buy the last one or two seats to ensure an immediate departure. 4pm came and went and at 4:30pm we were up to 9 people and 1 short. We decided to but the extra ticket since Karima was 2hrs away ad we wanted to get there in daylight. It worked and we were off at 4:30pm.
The drive was OK since we were seated right in front of the AC vents. Not strong but just passable only given our proximity. I felt sorry for the people at the back - they would have suffered. The man who sold us our ticket in Atbara also shouted us tea and explained to the driver to take us to a hotel in Karima with AC. It worked. We were dropped off and this place, although old and dated, had a room of four beds with a small AC that barely did the job but we sensed that it was the only one in town so we took what we could get. The bad news was that the Nile had flooded the filtered water tanks and brown Nile was present in ALL the plumbing of the town. I had a brown Nile shower that evening but washed my head and rinsed my body with bottled water. I could believe seeing Sudanese staying at the hotel DRINKNG the stuff!!! They must be used to it. On the other hand it is just SILT and not dirt or shit.
I met Riza and we walked to the town square to get food. She had showered using two 1L bottles of water - could not bare the thought of getting underneath a brown flow of water. Back to the square. I could not believe my eyes when I saw whole rotating BBQ chickens. Here? Obviously the Sudanese love their BBQ chickens and another feast was coming my way tonight unreal. We got back tot he hotel loaded with cold drinks and chicken and ate my way into the evening. I watched a movie as I ate and drank Diet Coke as my “wine replacement”. Everything else apart from water was pure sugar! No concept of juice - just mango syrup with added white sugar. Yuck. They can keep it. It was a great first day and we had made it to Karima. This gave us the head start we needed.
DAY 269 of 287, Sun 7AUG16, 271km, Solo 16, Room at “El Nassr Hotel”, Karima (Elev 321m, Run2) to Room at the “Almuallem Hotel”, Dongola (Elev 260m) SUDAN. I could not have wished for better conditions in a hot place for my second run in SUDAN. Admittedly I left at 6:30am but a soft breeze blew and the air was actually cool. What a run. It took me into the vast Nubian Desert with nothing but sand all around me and the rising sun huge and egg shaped with a dazzling yellow colour. In front fit stood two huge square shaped rock mountains that the ancient Nubians considered sacred. I loved it all. Very much the desert scene I expected to see. I showered in the Nile again and needed to use a bit more bottled water to rinse my clothes of the silt. I packed an placed my wet runners on top - the owner let us store our stuff in the room whilst we visited the antiquities of Karima. We walked to the central square and consumed half a litre of very cold UHT milk - my first in many weeks - really enjoyed it.
It took me only 30min to find and negotiate a tax to take us to all three sites. It would cost only USD25 for the two of us. Not bad. Our driver “Nugi" set off at 9am and headed to the town of “El Kurru” first, some 20km south of Karima. On arrival we looked for the guardian of the El Kurru underground tomb which was the final resting place for King Tunwetamani and his mother Queen Qalhata in the 7th Century BC. After a few minutes we found him in the town and walked to the site.
There was a semi-collpased pyramid there and in front of it a modern mud brick tunnel which covered the elongated entry into the tomb. There would have been a covering but it was dissolved. We could see others in that condition. There are 11 tombs in good condition and hundreds that have simply collapsed or dissolved. The guardian unlocked the door to the tunnel and we crawled inside. A long set of weathered stairs led down to another gate some 10m below the surface. Another lock and we were in a chamber roughly 10m long, 5m wide and 3m tall. Walls and ceilings were decorated in Nubian gods, half-human, half-animal, identical to that of Ancient Egypt and there was a red flower motif on the ceiling that looked like olive petals.
There were also many hieroglyphs. The condition was terrific for 2,800 years old. Sadly the chamber was discovered empty - looters had taken everything, including the sarcophagus and bodies since the entry had dissolved revealing the stairs many years ago. It was a 40min drive from here to get to Nuri, some 30km from Karima which is home to the largest, best condition Nubian pyramids in SUDAN. There were 8 of them all complete with their tops. The town of Nuri was just close by. You could also see a huge palm plantation that grew right next to the Nile - you could always spot the Nile by the greenery around it. By now it was 11am and very hot. I had to use my umbrella to keep the sun off me. My head was hot and felt like it was going to melt.
The heat here is like an oven with enough humidity to keep the sweat sitting on you for a while. We then headed to the third and last site only 6km from Karima called “Jebel Barkal". There is a huge rock mountain here with an eroded pillar of rock at its front that is supposed to look like a cobra - to me it just looked like a needle. Below this needle where two badly collapsed sandstone temples and about 1km out on the other side where 9 pyramids, some intact and some badly eroded or collapsed. We visited the pyramids first and then drove around to the temples. The pyramids were much smaller than Begrawiya but bigger than Nuri. We visited here for while. I was the only one to walk to the larger "Temple Amun” and the smaller “Temple Mut” because the heat now was almost unbearable. Near the temples is a graveyard with small Mosque. Sadly all the graves have a rock to mark the buried. No name. No date. It is almost inhuman that a whole life would be forgotten like that. I felt very sad because it was like an unmarked grave.
Nudge took us to the hotel to pick up our stuff and then drove us to the minivan area for Dongola. We got there at 12:30pm and by 2:30pm the minivan was full for departure. It only took two hours. Thank goodness because the heat was simply fierce and the aircon was struggling. I tried to blog but could not - I simply felt like sleeping - the bodies way of shutting itself down to conserve energy. I also felt a headache coming on due to the hot head!!! Donegal was a mess. Puddles and mud and rubbish everywhere. It must have beed 45C outside. All my luggage was red hot like it had come out of a pizza oven. The hotel in Lonely Planet was only around the corner from the minivan area so we walked there. We were heart broken when reception announced “full” - we asked for other hotels. I went on a reconnaissance and left Riza with all our stuff - it would be easier this way. The next place was bad. No single or double rooms, just dorms and beds outside under cover. There was a drop with 8 beds and an aircon but it was struggling. The whole place was filled with only men - Riza would hate it. One young guy at this place then offered to take me to another hotel. I accepted.
It was close enough to walk but I was already on my last legs because of the heat. This hotel was two storey with lots of room and marble on the floor. Single rooms with aircon and bathroom. Bingo. We walked back, picked up Riza and settled in here. The shower pressure was crap but at least there was no brown Mile coming out. I showered and relaxed. At around 6pm everything went dark. The power was out and took almost 320min to come back on.
I could hear the generator only 5min after the blackout but no lights. I resumed my blogging. At 7pm another blackout but this time the generator came on immediately with no power in my room. I was curious. I walked to the lobby and noticed that one wing of the hotel had power and the other did not. The generator was only connected to one of two wings. I then learned that a huge storm had hit the city and brought power lines down and the power outages had lasted 3 days before we came. No good - I had to get a room connected to the generator otherwise no sleep tonight without AC.
I managed to get the last room in the connected wing. Thank goodness. The aircon was great and I settled in once again. I was now ready for food so I went into the street and flagged down a tuk-tuk. Fortunately the driver understood what I wanted and within minutes I was standing in front of a rotisserie with revolving BBQ chickens but the queue was long and the cooked chicken queue was very short. I gave up and asked the driver to take me to another place, He did. This time, lots of chickens but no people - unreal;. Had one in my hands in seconds. We must have driven to 5 other places so I could get a can of peas and beans and some COLD drinks. Because of the storm not many shops had generators and most drinks were warm. I managed to find a place with semi-cold drinks and bagged them. It had been the longest shopping spree so far buttoner that night was very satisfying. I had veggies for the first time in many many days. SUDAN only eats pureed chickpeas and broad beans. Not much green. Even though I was very laboured today with the heat of touring and the excessive driving of finding food but the bed picnic, aircon and movie made up for it all.
DAY 270 of 287, Mon 8AUG16, 215km, Solo 16, Room at the “Almuallem Hotel”, Dongola (Elev 260m) to Room at the “Wawa Guest House”, Wawa (Elev 255m) SUDAN. What a great sleep. The aircon worked a treat. I woke around 7am to a scratching sound. It was coming from the window. There was a little sparrow adamant to get in. I did not want to let in otherwise it would not be able to get back out and die in the room. I remembered my granny telling me that when a bird tries to GET IN to a house it means that someone has died close to someone in the household - the bird is the soul of the deceased come to tell you the news. Immediately I thought of my sick uncle in Greece and got anxious. I had not rung my aunt in days due to the absence of internet. I was only 18 days away from seeing him - I hope he could hold on. The aircon was good but the bathroom was a shambles. It stunk because there was no ventilation - I kept the door shut so that the aroma would not lift into the room but going inside in the morning was murder.
The shower was disgusting - than goodness it was not a run day today. Both of us were glad to leave that place. At 8am we got a tuk-tuk to the minivan area bound for Kerma. The usual story. We were the only two and they were talking about noon as the “fill-up” time. Time we could not afford to loose so off I went to try and find us some private wheels. I found a group of men drinking tea and asked them if they knew anyone who would be willing to take us to Kerma. A smartly dressed man in shirt and trousers offered to call someone. I negotiated with them via this man and got myself a deal for 180 local (AUD26). He would meet us at the minivans in 10min. Deal. I even had time for a tea with the boys! I walked back tot he minivans and announced the good news to Riza - she was delighted. The driver turned up on time with our middle man. His name was Afir and we got started at 8:30am. Not bad. More desolate, desert scenery on our way.
We drove straight to the “Western Deffufa” (50m by 25m by 18m) which is a huge mud-brick temple surrounded by the footings of several dwellings. This is the biggest mud-brick temple in Africa, built around 1700BC by the Kerma Kingdom. We climbed all over it. We also noticed a lot of arabic graffiti. How can a UNESCO site be abandoned like this. What a pity that no local has woken up to the fact they are sitting on a gold mine and can make good tourists money by protecting these sites and organising package tours from Khartoum to here. I actually spoke about this to a local later today. There was a huge good looking museum at the site but it was closed - opening hours were 4-6pm. Why? I explained to the guards that most tourists would visit in the cooler hours of the morning. It made no sense. It is as if they did not want visitors. You see a lot of people sitting around not doing much in SUDAN.
You do not see many people taking the initiative to sell you on stuff like in most other places. Maybe it is the gruelling heat but I would have thought that every condition has its opportunity. A cool drink perhaps - an air-conditioned tuk-tuk - wouldn’t that be a first! No one takes the initiative. From here we searched for the Eastern Deffufa, some 5km away. It was very hard to find. No signs and the roads were all farm-access only dirt roads. We could see and hear Afir getting the shits. He was muttering in Arabic under his breath. I reckon he would ask for more money as a consequence. Finally we came across a wide open space with a mound of dirt in the middle. It was the Western Deffufa. Much much smaller and in very bad shape. There were no other dwellings or foundations thereof. This one was built at the same time and by the same peoples. The drive to Kerma was short. What we couldn’t figure out was how he found is way back so easily from a place he did not how to get to? Kerma was a colourful place and much smaller and neater than Dongola. We should have stayed here last night as I originally planned but Riza was worried we would not find a hotel with aircon. My view was that there were way more hotels than Lonely Planet implied. No worries. We were here and on plan.
We were dropped off at the minivan area for Soleb out next destination. All the vans were leaving tomorrow morning. No good. I started my walk visiting groups of tea-drinking men and bingo - found someone willing to take us for 200 local (AUD29). We are WAY IN FRONT for transport. Midhat had quoted USD250 each for the whole trip and so far we had not even hot USD50 each!!! Private cars is the way to go and tea-drinking men is the way to get it! My trick. My solo magic!
At 2pm we were off. Our driver “Bugar” managed to gather another 3 passengers, who like us were probably wanting to go in the arvo but could not because there were not enough people to fill the van. I am glad we could help them out with our private charter! The drive was not great. This was the first vehicle without aircon and we simply roasted for the next 3hrs. Kept stopping for drinks and falling asleep due to the heat. I managed to get some blogging in but not much - too hard to concentrate and I did not want my Mac to fill with dust or malfunction because the ambient temperature was higher than the manual maximum!!! We drove alongside the Nile for some breezes - that was nice but the rest was barren rocky wasteland - worse that Mad Max country! The only benefit the people have in living in this hot hell is that petrol is AUD0.50 per litre since the country is ablaze with oil like most or the Arabic regions on and adjacent to the peninsula.
As we drove in our pizza oven van I could only think of cold water, cold shower and cold aircon. Only one out of three dreams came true. We arrived in Wawa at 4:30pm only 2.5hrs later and were taken to the only hotel in town. No aircon - it was broken and on the ground of our room. No cold shower - it was hot because of the sun burnt water tank on top but there was cold water to drink. I had to walk 2km in the searing heat to the only servo in town which also contained the only cafe and only shop and only restaurant. The owner of the shop had a huge chest freezer full of drinks - unreal. He lent me a mini-esky and I pulled it with small waters and Sprite for Riza and walked back. My brains were fried so I had a cold water and a shower and lay down under the fan. After a while I found the energy to blog. Our room was an oven and the fan turned it into a fan-forced oven. It was bad with it on or off. I remember walking back from the servo carrying an esky of cold drinks and thinking to myself - what I am I doing here. I have hit rock-bottom and today must be the most grittiest, loneliest, uncertain, totally spontaneous day of travel ever in my life - Day 270 of Ungowa - I have broken new ground in my travel tolerance and extended my envelope. I was disappointed when I saw the isolation tonights home and that I would probably not sleep well but I am glad I went through it into new territory.
DAY 271 of 287, Tue 9AUG16, 170km, Solo 16, Room at the “Wawa Guest House”, Wawa (Elev 255m) to Room at the “Mustafa Plaza Hotel”, Wadi Halfa (Elev 211m) SUDAN. It was a restless night indeed. An oven on low heat. I was cooked yesterday and simmering today. I kept telling the hotel manager - I am a person, not a pizza! Why did you not install your airconditioning unit - it was lying there rusting on the ground next to my bed! Go figure! I was up at 6am and went for a run in the lonely Nubian Desert. Much to my surprise it was cool but not cold like in WESTERN SAHARA. A very awesome run with the sun coming up at 3pm to me and a long thin road disapperaing into the horizon with absolutely no lif around me - just a beige sea of sand! No people. No cars. No trees. No greenery of any shape or size. It was simply awesome in its own way.
I enjoyed a nice warm shower (the water in the rooftop tank had not cooled down overnight) while Riza went to the roadside station for cold drinks. As I lay in bed culling my photos and waiting for Riza the manager came into he room with a mate holding a mobile phone out to me. I grabbed it and a well-spoken English voice cam back at me. It was a friend of the manager calling from Khartoum to translate and find out what we wanted to do today. It was quite simply a “miracle”. Neither Riza nor I could make sense out anyone local here yesterday. I explained to the English voice that we wanted to visit the Temple of Sobel across the Nile and then travel to Wadi Halfa. He gabbled away with the manager and it was all systems go. The voice came back on and told me that the manager would walk us to the boat and a separate man would sail us across the Nile. The temple was visible from the other side so no guide needed. Unreal.
When Riza came back and told me that she had no luck getting through to anyone at the shop I knocked her over with the news of my “miracle”. She was delighted and agreed with me - it was a miracle! AT around 9am we walked out of the hotel with the manager and across the neat village of Wawa, across fields of wheat and grazing sheep and goats to the Nile that was passing at great speed like it was in a hurry to get to Cairo, like us!!! A boat with driver was waiting. The motor would not start so the driver called up another boat to come across from the opposite bank which contained the village of Sobel. The trip across was only 10min but what a great view of the Nile. Here we were - all alone as the only traveler crossing the Nie at this point in SUDAN on our way to see an ancient temple! Amazing. The current was so strong that the boatman had to travel upstream just to go straight across! Once we alighted we could see the pillars of the temple through the many palms that lined the shore. The temple emerged like something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A huge edifice with a lot of it still standing. A little old man in the white tunic greeted us but he was no guide - just guarding the temple to make sure we did not graffiti it like any others had done upon closer inspection of the ancient pillars and walls.We took our time because it was so easy to find. Walked through it and around it enjoying the news of the village of Sobel and licking our lips to the blue sky which sat gleefully in all our photos. After 60min we were ready to return. By 11am we had crossed the Nile, walked to the hotel, checked out and walked to the roadside station. I went on minivan an bus watch just in case something came past before the next scheduled 1pm service to Wadi Halfa. Bingo. I spotted a minivan as I took my third sip of Diet Coke! The van actually stopped at my finger waving and the driver was a champ - he kicked out a little thin guy in the front and put us both there.
The van was also well air-conditioned inadequate new. Unreal Unreal Unreal. This would mean more blogging on the way and this was the case! I even read the detailed Oasis itinerary for EGYPT and made my plans for Solo 17 that would take me from Aswan to Luxor by aircon room 2night boat. I also want to tour Luxor by myself. I would need great internet tonight to make all this happen! The driver seemed to respond positively to our question of the existence of a hotel with AC and WIFI in Wadi Halfa! The landscape to Wadi was different. Dark grey stoney mountains everywhere that actually looked like we were driving through a huge quarry - they Did not look natural. The van even stopped to drop and pick up without any village in sight - where were these people going to and where were they coming from! It was like the mysterious “spirit” children appearing out of nowhere! I was perplexed. At around 2:30pm we pulled into Wadi Halfa, a very spread out town with a much neater appearance than most places. Everyone got off the van at the designated spot and then our driver took us to a hotel with AC. Sadly it did not work and Riza called up Mazzar, the brother of Midhat and he recommended another. That place was full but they also recommended a third place - lucky that had rooms left with AC that just worked. We took it. By 3pm I was blogging and happy about it since I had a fighting chance to upload this post using Riza’s phone - Midhat bought her a SIM and she had loaded it. It worked.
PS: A LITTLE ABOUT SUDAN:
SUDAN (Pop 26m) was home to one of the oldest civilisations in the world - The Nubians who first settled the Nile in this country in 3,800BC, some 300 years before Ancient Egypt existed. Like the Egyptians they used the Nile as their source of life for farming and trade with the north. There are ruins all along the Nile. The “Kush Empire” was the greatest of the Nubian kingdoms. The Nubians also lasted way longer than the ancient Egyptians, being defeated by the Islamic “Funj Empire” as late as the 14th Century. From that time on, SUDAN was almost 100% Islam. In 1821, EGYPT itself invaded and took over southern SUDAN and a few decades later did a deal with the British to share that area to try and control the Nile - the English simply wanted to keep stock of FRANCE and their colonies in the south and east Africa.
The Christian missionaries then hit and there was a growing resentment and revolt amongst the incumbent Muslims. This resulted in the 1881 Muslim Revolution which was successful and regained control until 1898 when England’s Lord Kitchener won back the nation and colonised it! The leader of the revolution continued to revolt and eventually won independence from England in 1955 with the help of students. The leader of the revolt then ignored the planned free elections and made himself leader for the next 16yrs. This leader then did some deals with the south who were already yelling for independence. A Muslim cleric then decided to wight in seeing what was happening in the south as a threat to Islam and imposed Sharia Law in 1983 in a bloodless coup. The cleric was deposed in 1985 and the infighting continued being leader after leader simply take control until 2002 when the then President arrested rebel opposition groups until another revealed in Dafur in 2003. Things got ugly with alleged genocide during this time of southerners numbering 400,000 people.This has always been denied by the north. In 2011 the south voted to leave SUDAN by referendum which was granted by the African Union together with the UN.
Since then SUDAN and SOUTH SUDAN have been arguing over rights to oil rich areas across both side of the border causing further unrest and a deterioration in both economies. Life now is very hard for the Sudanese of both nations.
70% of Sudanese have Arab descent and 97% are Muslim. The unique food of SUDAN is the stewed broad bean or “fuul”. Other staples include “falafel” or chick peas and liver and the classic Yeros of chicken and lamb. The Sudanese landscape is bleak and mainly arid desert.
PPS: INTERESTING FACT ON AFRICA:
The African Elephant eats 300kg of grass and drinks 160L of water EVERY DAY and only digests 40% of it - the rest comes straight out! The female elephant is able to have calfs at only 3yrs old even though she can live anywhere from 50-70 years! She will gestate for 22 weeks and give birth to a 120kg calf! An elephant has very poor eyesight but fantastic smell and great hearing. Best of all an elephant is the only mammal that cannot jump!!!
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