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Published: August 29th 2007
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Where do we start? It feels like months since the last update and since then we have experienced everything from temples to tombs and Al-Qaeda bomb threats to robbery!
We pick up in Luxor, half way south along the Nile in Egypt. After a rather eventful journey reaching here we decided to spend 4 or 5 days taking in the sites and relaxing as best one can in 50 degree heat! Whilst in Luxor we saw the magnificent Luxor and Karnak temples, stretching for what seemed miles into the desert along the river. It is incredible to think that some of these temples have been standing tall for over 35 centuries... it really does put English Heritage in the shade. One very hot day involved an early 6am start to cross the river to the West Bank and into the Valley of the Kings, home to the tomb of Tutankhamen! This has to be one of the busiest tourist sites in the world- you couldn't move for the package trippers on either side of you.
After Luxor, we continued our journey south along the Nile, taking a local train, which we later found out is illegal, to Aswan, on
the shores of Lake Nasser. Our days were spent trying to avoid the heat and enjoying numerous games of cards! The main attraction to Aswan is the site of Abu Simbel temple, 200 km south of Aswan. The transport to the temple alone is a wonder. With a 3am start on a minibus full of foreigners we joined an armed police convoy for the three hour drive along the shores of the lake. You could be mistaken for thinking this is a well organised and safety conscious venture, but you would be far from the mark. The police car at the front seemed to take off like a bat out of hell, only to be toppled from pole position by fully laden coaches double taking each other on blind corners! We eventually reached Abu Simbel in one piece, albeit sadly towards the back of the grid. The journey was well worth it and the history behind the moving of the temples, 120m uphill to avoid them being lost forever below the rising waters of Lake Nasser, is remarkable.
Our main reason for heading to Aswan is that it is currently the only open border crossing between Sudan and Egypt.
Now, despite Abu Simbel being only 40km from the border, and at the end of a perfectly decent tarmac road, it is somehow perfectly logical in the eyes of the Egyptians not to extend the road to Sudan, but insist on you taking a 24 hour ferry the 300km from Aswan. There are two classes on the ferry 1st and 2nd, which loosely translated means inside or outside! We settled for outside and managed to push to the front of the queue and grab what seemed to be the only shade under the starboard liferaft. This was our 'home' for the next 30 odd hours. Due to sanctions imposed by the US on Sudan, it seems that the only source of corn oil, Pepsi, fridges, TVs (basically everything and anything) was to be from Egypt, so we sat and watched (for 7 hours) while tons and tons and tons of the stuff was loaded onto the boat (see the photos)....and then the other 698 people somehow squeezed on too!
Sudan - Any country that is at or virtually at war on three fronts and in the midst of Africa's worst genocide in history, is going to be a tough
ride. What we weren't expecting was one of the most expensive countries we have ever come across! The border town (although the use of the word town is far too grand a title) Wadi Halfa is in the middle of a dust bowl on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The only way out is a train or bus south, both taking in the region of 36 hours to the next habitable town! Having found this out we trundled off to settle in to the Nile Hotel. Now, anyone who has seen Michael Palin's Pole to Pole series filmed in 1987 would have seen the Nile Hotel and the delights it has to offer. It hasn't changed! The beds were in open sided rooms on the sand with nothing separating you and the outside world. Our stars were obviously looking favorably at us that day, or so we thought, as there happened to be an unscheduled train south that evening. The man said be there at 6, so we got there at 5 to get a good seat. Oh, how naive! The train eventually rattled out of Aswan at some time close to midnight on what we thought was
going to be a 6 hour journey. 13 hours later, after numerous, extraordinarily random, back-breaking stops, we arrived bruised, tired and extremely thirsty at Abu Hamid to get the bus south to Atbara. Thank god for the amazingly kind Egyptians who took care of us (pity on us?!) and plied us with food and constant assurances that we were only 1/2 an hour away. "Mr Sam" was a massive hit- everyone thought he looked either like Tony Blair or David Beckham...which says a lot for the Sudanese eye sight.....and for the world's perception of the UK.
One of the first things that was beginning to dawn on us during our brief period in Sudan so far, was how out of date and useless the guidebook was! Atbara was a perfect example. Described, and I quote, as 'a cantonment of colonial India or suburban Surrey', we had high hopes. In reality, mud streets, donkeys as taxis and not a gin and tonic in site. We made the most of our charming accommodation and hit the first bus out the next day to Khartoum.
As with any big city or even Capital city, Khartoum has the basics... shops, banks, hotels and museums, in fact most things, except tarmac! It is here that the Sufi Sect of Muslims, the Dervishes, whirl and the Blue and White Niles meet, gliding alongside each other as different shades of mud colour heading North to Egypt and the Med. We hemorrhaged money on the cheapest habitable hotel we could find and spent ridiculous amounts of time searching for food and non-existent cheap hostels. One exciting highlight was a lift in a UN 4by4 and insider gossip of the previous night's Al- Qaeda bomb factory discovery in the city..
Heading south again we left Khartoum and meandered our way through the greener towns of Wad Medani and Gederef. A minor drama erupted when we thought we had lost a bag. After half the town accusing one poor taxi driver of stealing it, it turned out that a chap at our hotel had locked it in a cupboard (??)........
So, we said our farewells to Sudan and crossed into Ethiopia. So far so good-and we've found rain- oh the relief!
(More photos of Sudan to come soon... the connection is painfully slow.)
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Sair
non-member comment
You are aware that dad was integral in the moving of Abu Simbel.