After three days sitting in the rain in Gonder with muddy feet, Andy and I were jubilant when the truck finally departed to head north to the border. We'd been reminded that the next country on our itinerary, Sudan, was a dry country where the sale and consumption of alcohol is forbidden. Therefore, we'd spent quite some time repacking our lockers so that our beer, gin and rum were safely stored (well hidden) at the bottom. So organised, we set off...
The drive was particularly scenic as we descended through lush green valleys passing numerous idyllic waterfalls. It was a good way to spend our last few hours in Ethiopia - enjoying the beauty the country undoubtedly has to offer with not an annoying tout in sight. We compiled a group playlist and sang our way to the border. With high fives, whooping and, on our part, silent tears of joy, we made it across the Ethiopian / Sudan border that evening just in time to set up camp.
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Descending the Ethiopian highlands |
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Ethiopian driving skills |
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Spot the kidd |
With everyone in good spirits, it was decided that the '2011 Truck Awards Ceremony' would take place after dinner that evening. Laura and Falcon had spent their free time in Gonder compiling a comprehensive category list and we'd all been asked to complete our voting sheets that afternoon. After a 'Team Local' dinner, Falcon delivered the results.
Awards given included, 'Best Boobs' (jointly awarded to Andi and Gary), 'Most Likely to Join a Cult' (Mandy), 'Most Likely to Die from Drinking Local Alcohol' (Falcon), 'Worst Dressed' (Matt), 'Truck Bitch' (Tim), 'Most Likely to Eat Another Human' (Kim) and 'Best Beard' (Danny 'Pubeface' Passco) and 'Worst Beard' (Danny 'Pubeface' Passco).
I won 'Best Pooing Incident', 'Best Storyteller', 'Most Likely to have Children Next' and 'Weakest Sphincter Muscle'. It was humbling to be recognised by my peers. Andy won 'Best Cookgroup', 'Alpha Male' (much to his amusement) and 'Most Likely to have Children Next' (luckily for him). He also got an honorary award for 'Most Likely to Get Married in Flannel'. Everyone won something and the awards reminded us all of many funny episodes from the previous 14 weeks.
From our border camp we headed West enjoying the escalating heat. We stopped at the town of Gedaref so my cookgroup could shop for dinner in the local market. The locals were really welcoming wanting to know where we were from and how we'd found ourselves in their town. We have since concluded that the Sudanese are the uniformedly nicest people we have met on our trip. We lost count of how many of the cab drivers, officials, restaurant owners and random people on the street who thanked us for visiting their country and who have wished us well on our travels.
As we travelled west from the border to Khartoum, Sudan's Capital, the landscape changed dramatically - no longer were we surrounded by hills and valleys, but stretches of vast flat and dry land, where rocky hills rose from the horizon. The landscape made for fun bushcamps with spectacular sunsets and sunrises. We tried to enjoy every bush camp to the full, conscious that there were only a limited number to go before the trip ended.
Khartoum was an enjoyable place to spend two nights. Camping at the dilapidated 'Blue Nile Sailing Club', our tents were pitched to a riverside view next to Kitchener's gunboat used at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. The only slight drawback was that the sailing club made us set up our tents on some grass where local men congregate each night to drink tea and play cards until the early hours. It felt a bit odd walking through their games to get into bed each evening but they didn't seem to mind or even notice.
Travelling in Sudan, an Islamic Republic, during Ramadan had its drawbacks. Things in the city were undoubtedly quieter as the locals conserved their energy during the heat of the day while they fasted. We also had to find discrete ways to take a drink in public places and most of the restaurants and street vendors were closed. After a particularly long morning walking miles to the National Museum in the heat of the day, we were forced to find lunch at the 7* Burj al-Fateh Hotel - treating ourselves to several hours of aircon and a clean flush toilet. On the way back we were passed at great speed by a motorcade of about 20 vehicles surrounding a blacked-out limo with the Sudanese flag. The motorcade was speeding away from the Presidential Palace. We assumed it was President Bashir.
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Madhi's Tomb, Omdurman (near Khartoum) |
Our days in Khartoum were relaxing - we did lots of slow wandering (it was hot) and visited the markets around the central mosque where Andy purchased a man-dress, known locally as a jilabia. Most of the guys on the truck decked themselves out in one in preparation for the 5 day drive north through the Nubian desert to Wadi Halfa.
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Look how happy he is! |
After two nights in Khartoum we were ready to move on and excited about getting truly off-road. Hastie did plenty of work on the truck to make it desert-ready and the decision was made to ignore the tar-sealed road option and to follow the abandoned railway line instead. We were loaded up on water bottles and rehydration sachets, the men put on their dresses and off we went. A few hours in we experienced our first sand storm. It was mental. Keep in mind that we travel with the sides of our truck rolled up so we truly experience our surroundings - it was awesome. It got really dark and we could barely see each other as the wind and sand cracked around us. When we pulled up for the eve to set up camp (in the desert!) it rained. Bloody stupid ran in the desert where it NEVER rains. Hastie and Andi are convinced that Murphy is to blame for the freak weather we've experienced along the trip so we debated whether to leave him behind the following morning. The good thing about the rain is that it cooled the air, we got to fill up our wash bowls with rain water, Danny dug a really deep hole without the sand falling in and I built a sandcastle. Every cloud...
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Sandstorm on road from Khartoum |
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Passco displaying his digging skills |
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Proud of my efforts |
That first night was spent camping beside the Meroe pyramids - funeral tombs built approximately 2500yrs ago - which we visited the following morning. I opted to ride around to the site by camel. Helpfully, I'd awoken to find several sitting outside our tent so I picked the biggest and off we went.
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Zoe of Arabia enroute to the Meroe Pyramids |
The pyramids were one of our favourite sites of the trip. We wandered freely around the striking tombs that sit upon the dunes without security restrictions. We were privileged to be the only visitors. Many of the tombs still housed stunning hieraglyphics. Exactly two weeks later we'd be visiting the pyramids in Cairo but we felt that nothing could top Meroe purely because we got to experience it in solitude, without the usually touristy accompaniments. Amazingly, Meroe only received UNESCO status in June of this year. We pondered whether the lack of tourists was a good or bad thing and couldn't decide. It seems sad that the site is so unknown and unappreciated but perhaps hoards of tourists would diminish the specialness of the site. Either way, we were very pleased to be one of the few that has been.
As we left the site, Andy donned his man dress and hopped on to a camel for a short ride and photo opportunity. I thought he looked awesome and have never fancied him more.
From Meroe, we came to the end of the tar-seal road from Khartoum, and pulled on to the desert proper. We followed Kitchener's railway built by the British-Egyptian army in the 1890s; they built it, all 300 miles, in just 5 months through the blistering summer. Another awesome British accomplishment : )
We all wondered how long we'd survive if we broke down and concluded, not very. Despite drinking copious amounts of water, I felt pretty woozy on days one and two as temperatures soared to 46 degrees and found myself passing out early evening with little energy. The heat was intense. I definitely preferred it to the rain of Ethiopia but it was hard work. I'd start a sentence and be unable to finish it as there would be no moisture left inside my mouth, everyone's sweaty clothes went crispy and books fell apart. I recovered by day three but Andy then succumbed. Despite all the water and rehydration sachets we'd been taking he felt crappy and spent 36 hours trudging off into the desert at regular intervals armed with a trowel. He suffered pretty badly and we assume he probably had a little bug that the heat exacerbated.
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Beautiful desert sunset |
Driving through the desert was brilliant and we enjoyed it as much as the dusty drive we'd had through northern Kenya - nothing but blue skies, sand and us. We were lucky and only had to sand-mat a handful of times (help get the stuck truck out of the sand). The only people we came across were groups of men prospecting and mining gold. They couldn't believe it when they saw our truck coming straight at their camp and they'd whoop and cheer and will us to stop.
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View from the truck, crossing the desert off road |
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Modelling desert attire |
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Competition from Jedi Gary |
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Well at Station No 6 |
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Following Kitchener's railway |
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Gold mining camp |
These types of drive days are the days I will try to relive when I'm stuck behind a desk at work in months to come. When the most stressful part of your day is deciding whether to have an egg at breakfast or which direction to pitch the tent, whether to wash your armpits or change your shorts, life feels pretty good.
One of the best moments of the drive was when Hastie spotted a pump-action trolley at the side of a disused railway station. Hastie is a quiet man who avoids the limelight so we found it pretty funny when the truck breaked to a halt and he jumped out of the cab to hotfoot it to the trolley. He couldn't wait to have a go! It was like stumbling across a Indiana Jones film set and we spent an hour going up and down the tracks, exploring an old train carriage and generally acting like children. Even Andy forgot his stomach troubles for a little while and joined in the fun.
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Hastie, Lee, Danny & Mike commandeer a handcar |
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Andy tries hard...not to poo himself |
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Matt proving he deserved 'Worst Dressed' |
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Fun! |
We made such good time in the desert that we got to Wadi Halfa a day earlier than expected. This meant we had plenty of time to sort out our paperwork for the ferry to Egypt and to check emails, sort luggage etc. We spent two nights bushcamping outside of the small town, sleeping outside in the desert air under the stars and eating our way through remaining truck food supplies.
We spent our final morning in Sudan in town waiting for the drawn-out ferry boarding process to begin. Andy, Danny, Alex and Falcon wiled the time away playing Urban Bocce (c) while the rest of us squeezed into any shade available. The ferry taking us to Aswan in Egypt would not depart until 5.00pm but our immigration / boarding process started at 11.30am. The port terminal was fairly busy although, thankfully, not as busy as usual with it being Ramadan. We sat about a bit, queued a bit and pushed a bit and were finally allowed on the ferry at 2.00pm. Andi and Hastie armed us with tarpaulin and rope and directed us up to the top deck where we sat up elaborate tenting to shade us from the scorching sun. The locals were both bemused and envious. We settled down for the 24 hour journey, taking turns to sit in the one airconditioned room on the boat available to us.
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Seeking shade on the Lake Nasser ferry to Egypt |
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Chilling out on Lake Nasser |
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Mike doing likewise |
Around 9pm we sailed past Abu Simbel - the Nile-side tomb built by Rameses II. We were to visit the site a few days later but it was a bonus to see the impressive structure at night, lit up for extra effect. Sleeping on the deck was a highlight of the trip - once the sun went down and the locals had completed evening prayers, we lay down under the stars to a surprisingly sound slumber. The following morning we woke in Egyptian waters and waited for the ferry to dock. We waited, waited and waited some more. For some reason upon docking, all the ferry's cargo was unloaded first; lifted over and through passengers waiting to depart (?). Finally, we were given the signal to disembark and it was every man for themselves. People shoved and pushed and shoved some more. Hastie had to restrain himself from knocking down a particularly large local women who repeatedly threw herself at him to try and overtake. The ridiculous thing was that once off the ferry, she reverted straight back to African walking speed: painfully slow.
We'd finally made it. 14 countries and 16 weeks after meeting our group in Cape Town, we'd arrived in the final country of our African adventure....
A shame its coming to end - I have looked forward to and really enjoyed reading the blog!
ReplyDeletePics look amazing guys and look forward to catching up over a few beers when you are back.
Congratulations Andy and Zoe on a great trip and wonderful achievement.
ReplyDeleteI will give you a call tonight seeing you are scheduled to be back in London.
Uncle Mike