My first impression of Sudan – 20 hour ferry crossing from Aswan in Egypt to Wadi Halfa in Sudan - was a very “travelling like the locals do” experience (and those who have survived this particular journey will understand exactly what I mean): more dirty, smelly, crowded and noisy than I expected in my wildest dreams, and freakishly unsafe if measured by Western standards. But at the same time what a fascinating and unforgettable adventure! Amidst disgustingly smelly toilets, food I wouldn’t touch with a stick and hundreds of slightly creepy local men I kept thinking to myself: “if I can do this, I can do anything!” J
Let me tell you a bit about this ferry crossing to allow you fully appreciate the local customs J First I completed the patience-testing immigration and customs procedures, which consist of walking from a building where they check your bags to a window where they stamp your passport to a little hut where they give you the immigration forms to another little hut where they make you stand in line for a very long time and then look at your passport for seemingly no reason whatsoever. And so forth... You get the picture... After the immigration paperwork I went to a little harbour where the ferry was being loaded. Hmmm, ferry is a big name for the small, rusting, shaky boat I saw. In my humble assessment it can probably semi-safely fit about 100-150 people and there were 500 passengers booked to travel on it. And majority of those 500 passengers were locals. And if you’ve ever travelled in Africa you know what insane amounts of luggage the locals travel with. So imagine 500 people with their screaming children and their tens of boxes, suitcases, refrigerators, TVs, cartons of food etc being cramped onto this poor little boat. How we all fit onboard defies logic and if I haven’t seen it with my own blue eyes, I would have never believed it. But we all fit and off to Sudan we went... On the ferry we had booked cabins in something the locals call 1st class, which turned out to be tiny 2 person cabins with a bunk bed and blankets with access to a communal toilet in the corridor. Blankets were so dirty that we wrapped ourselves in our own sleeping bags being extremely careful not to make any skin contact with the bed or blankets. Toilets were so dirty and smelly that we basically decided not to eat anything and drink very little to avoid having to use the toilet. But let me tell you, all this was still 1st class compared with what the 2nd class looked like: hundreds and hundreds of people with their tons of luggage cramped onto the top deck of the ferry. Sleeping and eating on the floor. In scorching heat during the day and freezing cold at night. Absolutely horrendous! I consider myself a fairy good traveller who’s prepared to rough it up when required but without my 1st class cabin I would have been crying the entire 20 hours from Egypt to Sudan!
When we finally arrived in Sudan , we spent couple of days in the port village of Wadi Halfa waiting for our truck to get there (as it went on a separate and much slower vehicle-only barge). Wadi Halfa consists of about 5 streets and couple of very basic hotels. It has a waiting room ambience to it because everyone here is waiting either for their ferry to Egypt or for their cars to arrive from Egypt. Nothing to do but chill, wander about, read and start getting used to bucket showers. It was also my first experience of how amazingly friendly and warm the Sudanese people are. Not aggressive towards “rich” white foreigners at all, very calm and always smiling. I loved hanging out in the cafes of Wadi Halfa, drinking tea, smoking water pipe and chatting with the locals.
From Wadi Halfa my overlanding adventure of crossing Sudan began. 2 weeks of bushcamping with LOTS of sand, going to the toilet behing the closest sand dune and without showers and hot water! Loved it! This is what I came here for! What an amazing life lesson in learning to appreciate clean Western toilets and proper hot-water showers. But fear not: I didn’t go smelly and dirty for 2 weeks. One invents very creative ways to stay semi-clean in the Sudanese desert: using water from any kettle, bowl, water bottle etc one can find J And if it proves impossible to find any water at all, wet wipes are handy (lots and lots of them should feature of a pre-departure shopping list of any traveller to Sudan).
Since it’s impossible to fully describe the beaty and spirit of Sudan in a brief travel blog, I’ll limit myself to a summary of the most interesting places I had privilage to visit. For the full experience you’ll just have to visit yourself one day...
Dongola – 500 km from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan’s northern state. A true burst of greenery on the River Nile. It has a unique oasis-in-the-desert feel to it wit hits abundance of green trees and plants, well watered fields and its agricultural wealth from the cultivation of date palms. It even has an airport! Mothballed a long time ago but still... And we found ice cream in one of its littl street shops! Paradise on the Nile.
Temple of Soleb – one of the best preserved Egyptian temples on the Sudanese Nile. Built by Amenhotep III in 14th century BC, dedicated to the lord of Nubia, who was thought to be a representation of the pharaon himself. Today the temple consists of scattered blocks of 2 pylons, hypostyle hall , court and a sanctuary. It’s estimated that when it was complete it would have been 130 m long. In its feel and architecture it’s similar to the Temple of Luxor. The dingy ride across the Nile to reach the temple and the absence of any other visitors added to the romantic serene appeal of the place...
Kerma – market town sandwiched in between 2 deserts. One of the hottest places on Earth. Around it there are a number of small mud-hut villages and not much else. Navigating through its narrow alleys of picturesque huts and distructed from the map by the super-friendly locals coming out from the fields to shake our hands we got a tiny bit lost, which provided for couple hours of great adventure of driving through the surrounding villages, waving back at the locals and not really knowing where the heck we’re going. Great fun.
Western Defuffa – famous for its impressive (and hard to find, hence the above-mentioned getting lost) 3500 old mud-brick ruin, which used to be the seat of the independent Kingdom of Kush. This ruin is the oldest and largest manmade structure in subsaharan Africa. “Deffufa” means “mud brick building” in Nubian and this name pretty much describes what you’ll find there today: big mud ruin, beaten by the years of harsh weather. One single staircase leads to the roof where there probably used to be a shrine of some sort. The funny memory I’ll have of this place is the fact that this place – completely in the middle of nowhere and with nothing valuable to steal (who wants to steal mud or sand? Plenty of that in Sudan) it was guarded by a group of police and army officers, fully geared with uniforms and guns! Why??? Soviet attitude of “everyone will have a job, regardless of how unnecessary the job actually is”???
Eastern Defuffa – famous of its graves of Kerma kings. The cementeries with about 3000 graves found here have been the main source of knowledge for scientists about the Kerma culture. From studying the graves the archeologists have found that bodyguards, wives, servants and children were buried along with the kings. One royal tomb contained over 300 sacrificial victims – including cattle in large numbers - accompanying the king to the afterlife. Kerma culture seems to have been a very bloody one...
Jebel Barkal – considered a holy mountain by the Sudanese. Ancient Egyptians and Kushites believed it to be a home of God Amun and a throne of 2 lands: Egypt and Nubia. There are remains of Temple of Amun dating back to 15 centure BC on the foot of the mountain. There is also a small royal cementary of about 20 Nubian pyramids.
Nuri pyramids – another famous cluster of Nubian pyramids in the Sudanese desert. Much much smaller than their Egyptian equivalents but amazing pieces of architecture nevertheless.
Khartoum – as I mentioned previously somewhere in this blog, I normally am not too impressed by big African cities by I must admit that my experience of Kharoum was quite a pleasant one. It’s walkable, safe (providing you can get used to and unbothered by local soldiers on every corner pointing big machine guns in your direction – they claim they’re there for your safety...) and quite an interesting mix of modern and traditional architecture. And – what a girly admission to make – my stay in Khartoum was made extra amazing by multiple visits to a 5 star spa in a 5 star hotel (where I was NOT staying – rooms start at 250 dollars and go all the way to 4000 dollars) – I spent 2 days getting full body scrubs, massages, chilling in swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. BLISS!!! HEAVEN!!! PARADISE!!! Not too shabby for a dirty and budget consious overlander that I normally am. And yes, while the cost of this spa paradise was way above my normal travel budget I allow myself on this trip, what a way to treat myself for Christmas after weeks of dirty, waterless, showerless and toiletless camping in Sudan!
But above all my experience of Khartoum was made special by an experience of a completely different nature: going to church. I consider myself extremely fortunate to spend Christmas Eve in Khartoum because this lucky timing allowed me to add another completely unforgettable travel experience to my already bulging bag of experiences: attending Christmas Eve midnight mass in a Catholic cathedral here. To accomodate hundreds and hundreds of worshippers (among whom I counted only 7 white faces – including mine) the mass took place in a bog outdoor courtyard just outside the cathedral. There was amazing music performed by a local choir and band: standard Catholic songs and anthems performed in a highly unusual mix of English, Latin and local languages, and with a strong African musical atmosphere (shouting, crying, laughing and dancing). Definitely an experience that brings tears of gratitude and awe to your eyes even if you’re not religous at all...
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