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Published: March 29th 2007
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Wadi Halfa is a transit town.. where aeroplanes, trains and buses/trucks meet the ferry going/coming from Egypt..
It is a small town.. dusty.. at the southern edge of Lake Nasser.. the northernmost town of Sudan.. gives me an old western kind of feeling at first.. The ferry arrives in town on Tuesday noon.. and you need to register with the town's immigration office, which closes at 2pm-3pm..
The taxi ride from the ferry terminal to the town itself costs me a bluddy 500SD (Sudanese Dinars, 1 USD = 200 SD) maybe becos i was walking with some ang mohs.. there was Dave (whom I travelled with later) from South africa.. Dave from UK, who's has rode his BMW motorbike across Europe, down to Morocco, and across the north coast to Egypt, and now going to Nairobi before heading back.. and there there's Willy.. the Belgium guy who works in the train business and he's doing the first leg of his Cairo-Cape train ride.. i believe the locals could have gotten in much cheaper..
So.. if you want speed.. you can get off the ferry.. take taxi and rush to the immigration office to register.. and then take
Deffintoad Hotel
Sudanese men having shai outside.. the 3pm bus/truck (which often leaves at 5pm anyways) to Abri or Kerma and then to Dongola.. So day 1 arrive, day 2 night you can possibly be at Dongola already..
The train to Atbarra and Kharotum leaves only on Wednesday night.. so if you are taking the train, you'll have to stay overnight.. the train takes 1.5 days to reach Khartoum.. first class tickets (sleeper) costs 8,00SD one way..
Well, i arrived, with the help of Maghdi and Mazar Mahir (Midhat's brother).. these 2 brothers have helped many overlanders on their journeys across Sudan.. so we cleared the immigration procedures, took back my passport, took the bluddy 500SD taxi to town.. checked into this hotel that's named Deffintoad Hotel.. haha.. sounds like the name of a Rock Band.. DeffinToad.. 700SD per bed.. Accomodation facilities were not very good in Wadi Halfa.. From the old photos of Halfa, I saw this Nile hotel.. grand.. 2 storeys.. englishmen in front posing for photos.. but all these were gone when the high dam was built at Aswan and water level rises and the Lake Nasser was formed.. so sayang..
Well it's a quiet and welcomed change in Wadi Halfa..
you dun get all those hassling that you did in Egypt.. people just nodded as you and say salam to you and leave you alone.. nobody shouting at you "CHinese!! Korean!! Japanese!!" or whatever else..
Nothing to do on the day i arrived.. so just walked around town.. drink some shai... and checked out my travel plans.. the bus to Abri (6hrs) and Kerma (overnight from Abri) leaves at 3pm everyday... didn't fancy getting into Abri at 9pm+ so i figured might as well get all the way to Kerma and be there in the morning.. where you can take a
boksi (toyota pick up truck and u sit behind) to Dongola (6hrs i think).. ticket to Kerma cost a whooping 3600SD.. woah.. travelling in Sudan is not cheap..
The next day, woke up and proceeded to the alien office to register my alien status.. cost USD 34 to register.. more money.. it already costed me USD100 to get the visa.. man.. ana ma gurush (me no money) already.. went to buy bus tickets after registering.. but there is no ticket! you just put your name down in a note book after paying for the trip.. haha.. good...
Deffintoad Hallway
Open door leads to my room you can choose seats too!
THEN... over lunch.. the two swedish guys we met the day before suggested why not i follow Dave in his LandRover? after thinking and confirming our rough itinierary if we travel together and agreeing on it.. it seems like we can travel together.. based on our itinerary.. and ok on lah.. what the heck.. let's take the land rover.. so i quickly ran to cancel my bus ticket.. and they guy is nice enough to give me a full refund..
The delay is.. we'll set off only the enxt day.. which is Thursday, which means i have to spend another night in Wadi Halfa.. we bought some supplies for the trip in the afternoon.. and camped outside Mazar and Maghdi's house for the night..
Thursday morning, we broght the land rover to the mechanic for a final check.. and set off on our journey down the Nile...
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