Wadi Halfa - Aswan

On Wednesday we thought we could drive our cars on the ferry ourselves but of course things changed as the unloading was still not completed. In the end we left with our cars still on the ferry landing. They would be driven on the boat by other overlanders who arrived from Egypt. So again we had a chance to exchange addresses and met someone who was driving all alone on his way to Blantyre. We went through immigration, customs and were dropped on the boat where we had a cabin with airco. Later on we saw the situation on deck and in the second class and happily withdraw to our freezing cold cabin. We actually had to go on deck to warm up! It was a centralized system which we could not adjust, what a luxury? Anyway, they had some blankets which we needed desperately. The meal was not very exciting with 1 slice of bread and hard boiled eggs and some brown beans (fuwl). After 4 hours we passed Abu Simbel, a temple for Ramses II. This temple was saved from flooding by replacing it some place higher land inwards and everyone was on deck to see the temple that was flooded in light. After that the trip was long and dull.
On Thursday we arrived in Aswan, Egypt, where we due to the poor organisational skills of the Egyptian authorities were kept aboard for another 2, 5 hours. Tired, cold, hot and frustrated our first impression of Egypt was not too good. Finally they let us go and we were one country closer to home while we had overcome yet another major obstacle.

Wadi Halfa

Which road now?

Although we were close to the main road we heard no cars or buses at all. We left early. The first bit was washboard so we made slow progress, and we saw hardly any villages. Again alone on the planet… No, suddenly we were among lots of trucks again in road constructions. And so we reached Wadi Halfa on a tarmac road. It was completely different than Helma expected. Old Wadi Halfa has disappeared under the water of Lake Nasser. The new Wadi Halfa has big spaces between houses so the wind can cool you down. We met our contact person Maghdi. As the hotel was not very impressive he invited us in his house with his family. That was wonderful. Everyone was very kind. We slept outside with the family and it even was chilly around 5 o’clock in the morning. And now we had to wait until Wednesday while Maghdi did all the paperwork to get our car on the ferry for us.
We spent a very relaxing day at Maghdi’s place. We did homework. In the afternoon William and Christine, our English friends, also showed up to stay the last day in this house as well. We saw the train from Khartoum coming, loaded with people who would also join us on the ferry. It was a good thing we were advised to book a cabin.
No football again. We could have gone to another place but again it was at 9.45 and by then we were all already asleep.

Kerma – Wadi Halfa

Camping in Kerma
Almost full moon, lots of noises in the night, goats, cows, donkeys and three different imams in the mosques that woke us up early the next morning.
We went back to the souk to try to fine the way to Abri, which was also difficult because of the road constructions. We wanted to go along the Nile, but the Sudanese only want you to take the shortest road. Anyway, in the end we were on the same road we left the day earlier and had to skip the third cataract of the Nile. For 40 km we were in the desert, no proper road, stones, and sand. The good thing was that the haboub had stopped. We finally saw some blue skies.
At last we saw the Nile again. It is an impressive sight, all sand except a string of palm trees and the Nile. Now we crossed lots of Nubian villages. Ed and Helma were able to exchange some Arabic greetings. On the way we were invited to a wedding, 2 times for breakfast and some tea or water. We hardly met other cars so it was very lonely and hot.
Then we reached Abri, our target for the day. In the souk we found our English friends again. As we were supposed to be on the same ferry it was good to see them.
Although there was a place with air cooling and cold drinks it was tempting to stay there but Ed was overruled. We wanted to camp for the last time along the Nile. We found a wonderful spot. In the evening the villagers came back from their gardens and gave us unions and lemons. Tomorrow Wadi halfa.

Khartoum - Dongola - Kerma

At last we leave Khartoum. Everything is organised, plenty of water so that we could hardly sit in the back seats and after saying goodbye to our dear Sudanese friends we left for Dongola. The road was all tarred so it was an easy drive. Today we learned to rest between 2 & 6 o’ clock because then it gets very hot. We also met an English couple who have done a journey to all 4 corners of the world and are now on there way back to England. That night we slept in a hotel where we could watch the football games Romania vs Italy and Holland vs France and so we went to bed at 24 o’ clock.
The next day we got up early because we had to be in time for the ferry. It was haboub weather and there were some rough waves on the Nile. Mum was scared of course. Lots of cars and donkey’s and people were on the ferry. We met some Sudanese people on the ferry who were also going to Kerma and he said we could follow them. First some tar road and then road constructions, and now it becomes tracks in the sand. Because of the wind it was hard to follow the car before us, which was going very fast. So, on the way we lost him and we went the wrong road and had to ask people the way. They said that we were on the way to Abri. So we had to decide what to do. At last we went back to Kerma. In the souk we found a place with fresh fruit juices. Dad ordered from another place traditional breakfast: foul, brown beans, jibna that is cheese from the goats and eggs. It was nice and we also had a good view on the Nile. The place filled up with men in jellabia, those white dresses, and boys to see us eat our fatuur. But it was not annoying like it had been in Ethiopia. Then we drove of and found a quiet place along the Nile. We rested there because it was too hot to do something else. After 5 hours relaxing close to the Nile and under the palm trees, we set up camp at the edge of town. And with eating our usual pasta meal we were able to call it a tiring day.

Evert

Khartoum – 2

It was nice to return to the hotel, the shower and the air co. But alas, no European championship football on television. We have more than 200 canals but no football. So we missed the wonderful start of the Dutch team.
The next day again haboub and rain. It cooled down very well, but Khartoum is not used to rain. Immediately all the roads were flooded. The next day we heard that the weather also had had consequences for the air traffic. A plane had crashed, burnt out completely and there were many casualties. We can virtually look on the air strip but hadn’t heard or seen a thing. Today Khartoum was quiet, no planes coming in or going out. And it was cloudy but still very hot.

It was wonderful to relax here in a nice hotel, getting used to the heat before we continue with the next part of our trip. Thank you all friends in Khartoum, for your hospitality and for your company. It was great to show the boys the city we have so many fond memories of. We have had a wonderful time!

On Thursday 12 June we had a last meeting in Soba hospital. Helma was showed the pediatric department with the new dialysis ward, very impressive. We managed to find a sticker for the car and did some shopping. We went to the Chinese for our last meal in Khartoum.
On Friday 13 June we will leave Khartoum for Dongola and Wadi Halfa. Next week Wednesday we will take the ferry to Aswan, it only runs once a week. Until we are in Egypt I don’t think we will be able to update our weblog.

Bart in Omdurman souk, and NO we did not buy it!

Meroë

A tarmac road brought us to Shendi where we visited the faculty of medicine. Ed, as guest of honour was allowed to cut the ribbon to open an exhibition of paintings made by the students. The faculty is next to the river Nile and it is cooler in Shendi than in Khartoum. They wanted us to spend the night in the guesthouse, but we wanted to try out our camping gear in the desert.
Before that we visited the pyramids of Meroe, where we were the only visitors; in Egypt this will no doubt be different as there will be thousands of other people. Bart and Evert made a trip on a camel, which was far more scarier than on a donkey´s back. Camels make a strange sound and they spit saliva if they are angry. They are of course also much bigger animals.
It was good to see that Meroë had not changed.
At the other side of the hills we put up our tent and made everything ready for camping. The moment the sun disappeared it is not so hot anymore. We are very well organised. Everyone has his or her own task and that works quite well. Within 30 minutes the tent was all ready for sleeping and we were having our hot meal.
At that moment a car drove directly towards us.. police? No, again other overlanders, this time from Belgium. We spent a nice evening together with giving each other addresses and telling about our adventures. Katrien and Peter had spent a long time in Egypt and had met our German friends on the road in Wadi Halfa.
When we finally went to sleep it was very hot, hardly any wind. In the middle of the night finally some cold wind which changed rapidly to a haboub. Fortunately the tent was strong enough. The next morning Ali the camel driver was waiting for us. Yesterday I gave him the left over pasta and when he left suddenly his cell phone rang. Strange experience to see a man on a camel with a cell phone! Because of the wind we were not interested in another trip on the camel. We drove back to the guesthouse in Shendi for a nice shower and Ed went away for a meeting to return with a carton box full of very nice mango’s and some other presents from the Dean of the Medical school as well.

Khartoum-1

It was hot! Between 41-45 degrees Celsius. The road to Khartoum gave us no problems. Near the city we noticed that Khartoum had expanded tremendously compared to 1995 when Helma was here the last time. Nice buildings, big offices etc. And they have traffic lights with counting signals, so you know exactly when to be prepared. And the road was busy. We met our friend Ahmed Fahal who drove us to a hotel in Amarat, Kazar Hotel. Nice with air co, TV and good Internet connectivity.
Here we were settled for the coming days. Ed disappeared to see all his colleagues and went from one meeting into the other. Helma did the laundry and supervised homework with the boys and as treat they had fast Internet. In the afternoons we drove around the city to see the Nile, Omdurman and find a place to eat, which was not hard at all because fast food is now very common in Khartoum. We had a swim at the international Club, which had not changed compared to 1991 when we visited it during our MSF days. From our hotel window there was a good view on the airstrip in the middle of the town. Bart has become an excellent spotter.
On Wednesday the boys celebrated their birthday, with a swim, nice food at the Chinese restaurant and ice cream at an ice cream parlour. The next day we were invited by prof El Hassan and had a very enjoyable time with his family in a Turkish restaurant. Other people celebrated a birthday party. There was so much noise that they gave us also a piece of the birthday cake as compensation. That was a good idea because now the boys had their birthday cake also. On Friday we were invited at our good friend Ahmed Fahal´s house. At that time there was a haboub, a sandstorm and some rain! Rain in June is very exceptional. But of course this comes along with power cuts. So we had a late, but very nice Sudanese meal in the garden. It was cool due to the earlier rain. The next day we went to Omdurman to visit Salah Ibrahim (another old friend) and his family. We showed them our blog. The boys played football on the top floor of the house with the other children. After our brunch we had a look in Omdurman souk, the market which was still excellent to visit. We saw the tomb of the Maghdi and the Kalifa´s house, the last part of the Omdurman city wall and went looking for the camel market. Unfortunately they had moved, but what we saw reminded us of the Sudan from the nineties.
The next day we went to Shendi and the pyramids of Meroë.

Lekker slapen in Kassab