Sudan – Khartoum

 

Day 62
08-03-2011 Evening
Sudan, Khartoum, National Camping
11739 km since the beginning.

10 days without internet. That means that nothing written either about the impressions on board the ship Aswan – Wadi Halfa or about overnights spent in the desert before reaching the capital either.

It is really difficult to forget the ship. When there are almost 600 hundred people on board and no space to move or sit down it is an experience to be remembered for a long time. Fortunately there was a little free space in the rescue boat and so the night was spent peacefully there. That does not mean that the word „peacefully „ should be taken word by word . Because continually somebodies tried to climb up to the boat to find a place for sleeping. And down everything was covered with boxes, suitcases and people sleeping in the midst of all this.

It was good that I had taken my sleeping bag and the warm jacket from the car with me – as it it gets relatively cool at night. It does not matter that the desert is on both sides of the river Nile or more precisely – Lake Nasser. And after midnight one of those, trying to climb to my overnight boat, streched his hand to get my footwear – but my shoes didn`t change the owner.

In the morning the ship passed Abu Simbel.
 

Mutal phototaking..

 

and posing

Sudan – Wadi Halfa – teahouse.

And at last, two days later the barge with the cars arrived. More precisely – with 3 cars, 1 motorbike and countless number other boxes. It was said that the barge could move only in the daytime because there were no navigation equipment for the nighttime.
 
So in the meantime there was a good chance to use local transportation - lots of air and cheap.


This picture is taken in Wadi Halfa market. At last a place to buy yarn and needles. But after I had taken some pictures a man came to me and wished to see the shooting permit.

So – to make a long story short – I had to go to the local tourist centre , fill in a form (about my plans of what to shoot) and then the permit was issued. With my picture on it too. The price – 26 SGP.
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But I didn`t succeed somehow in writing down my experiences. For a place to stay overnight I had to choose between two places – Blue Nile Sailing Club, which is more well-known and main stopping place for passangers with cars. And the other one was National Camping - a place where locals stop. My choice was the second one because it was said to be cleaner and quieter.

There is no sense to talk about quietness because there were about 100 people there. First local youth came to make pictures of the white man and his car by cell phones. And then they wished their photos to be taken as well. And more and more people came over. And I must really admit that the hospitality and friendliness of Sudan people is legendary indeed.

Some pictures:

The story of the ship and desert will be for the next post.