Blogs from Sudan, Africa - page 7

My bus company for the leg to Khartoum has the threatening name of Kabosh, but their service levels give a good first impression when a car is sent to transport me the 300m from the lokonda to their departure point. This is the first bus of the day but it doesn't leave on time, and I am able to watch Karima gradually wake up. A donkey cart bearing a surreal load of severed donkey heads passes by in the dawn light. The journey to Khartoum is unremarkable, with desert once more dominating the scenery. The capital is truly enormous by the standards of the towns I have seen so far in Sudan, and in fact consists of three cities rolled into one. It takes us fully three quarters of an hour to progress from the first ... read more

Having exhausted Kerma's attractions, I move on to Dongola. The transport - a minibus rather than a boksi - is shockingly convenient, leaving just ten minutes after I find it and containing only four passengers. The pattern certainly seems to be that the infrastructure is improving the further south I come. There's a tremendous amount of road-building underway here and it won't be long before the whole stretch from Wadi Halfa to Dongola will be paved - possibly within a year. Dongola lies on the west bank of the Nile and the final leg of the trip is on board a ferry (though I see a half-completed bridge a little further downstream). The ferry has just one deck and the passengers - human and animal - stream in first, so the minibus driver has to reverse ... read more

While conducting my morning ablutions, I am surprised to see another clearly foreign face. This is a Canadian guy, Wally, recently arrived in Wadi Halfa and hoping to catch the ferry north. He has an iTouch on which he has copies of the WLP for all countries in East Africa. I mentally compare the size, weight, and info of my Africa-wide WLP with his iTouch and its contents, and am consumed with jealousy. The others head out for breakfast, which I miss due to a combination of not realising the time here is 1 hour ahead of Egypt, as well as the age-old excuse of washing my hair. It seems I also miss an altercation near the breakfast cafe, where bystanders have to keep apart two men intent on going at each other with knives. The ... read more

Sudan Photos... read more

In November 2008 Ikhlas and I drove from Uganda to Sudan to take up my next posting in Khartoum. The Vehicle: Land Rover Discovery TDV6 S 2005 model with 15,000 miles on the clock. No modifications except for fitting General Grabber AT2 offroad tyres which proved to be fantastic and almost certainly got us through the worst mud I have ever driven through. Spares: 2 spare wheels, spare Jack, fuel, air and oil filters, wipers, oil. Jump leads, tow ropes, air compressor, tyre pump. 55l of spare fuel in jerry cans; Camping equipment, 35l of drinking water, all our baggage for operating in Sudan until heavy baggage arrived. Thursday 6th November: After a week of farewells still trying to decide whether to set off as we had heard the roads in northern Kenya were really wet ... read more