Crossing the border from Ethiopia into Sudan was pretty easy. It
was nice to feel wanted in a country for a change! When we reached the Sudanese
side, the border guards were even taking photos of us – either because they don’t
get too many tourists or because we look like a weird bunch – probably a bit of
both to be honest!
When we left, the land was a muddy mess though – oops! Our feet
were covered in mud too and many of us had thorns stuck in the soles of our
feet – we couldn’t have worn thongs otherwise they would’ve been sucked off by
the squelchy mud. Nev later told us it was the worst he’s ever been bogged. On
the bright side, at least we set a new record…!
We’d had to ditch our alcohol supplies though as Sudan is a dry
country. Apparently you could get up to 40 lashings here if you’re caught with
alcohol – not really worth it if you ask me! It was also Ramadan which means
you can’t eat or drink in public from sunrise to sunset which took a bit of
getting used to.
Our first impression of the country was how friendly people are
here, welcoming us to their country, and we would soon discover they are some
of the friendliest on the entire African continent.
All of us were very happy to be here.
Before sunset, we found a bushcamp behind a rocky hill. Jo, Amy
and I decided to sleep on the truck with Kristy and everyone else set up their
tents. After dinner – felafels with couscous and plum sauce (for the vegos) –
we all went to bed pretty early.
Not long after, it started to drizzle. Initially it didn’t cause much
of a problem. However, at about 2.30am a massive storm struck. Rain was coming
in through one side of the truck so we let down the tarp on that side, but not
long after, we had to shut the tarp on the other side too. The thunder and
lightning was intense and it really started to pour down. The truck began rocking
and I couldn’t sleep. We were concerned about everyone else who was outside in
their tents and I flashed my headtorch out over them to check if everyone was
ok. It seemed most people were awake judging from the glow of their headtorches
inside their tents, but generally ok.
Shortly thereafter, however, Oli ran up the truck steps and came
to sleep on the truck with us. He couldn’t hold his tent down properly on his
own. Then, within about 10 minutes, Shaun and Karen ran up the truck steps as
they were nearly airborne in their tent. Ian came up after them, initially just
to get his rain jacket but then when seeing the crowd already on the truck,
aborted the mission to save his tent and saved himself instead. We were worried
about his tent-mate, Tom, whom Ian left on his own, but he came in as well during
the night, though none of us heard him. I must’ve managed to get back to sleep
at some point despite starting off with four people on the truck and ending up
with nine!
Morning came around far too quickly and everyone had the horrible
task of dealing with the chaos of their tents and wet sleeping gear. Shaun and
Karen’s tent suffered the worst fate as it blew 15 metres away into the creek
bed that was dry when we arrived, but now had a river running through it. They
found it completely caked in mud – both on the inside and out – a ‘fun’ cleaning
job that would have to wait for Khartoum.
We were all the most worried about getting the truck out of the
mud. Nev did his best but ended up getting bogged just before the river that had
sprung up overnight. We then had to take the sandmats off the sides of the
truck, lay them down, and get Nev to drive across them inch by inch. Some of us
tried to divert the stream with rocks but there weren’t enough rocks and there
was nowhere to divert the flow to. We kept sandmatting and digging with spades
and shovels and I was even using my hands to dig away the mud in front of the
tyres. We were stuck there for about an hour and some locals and a policeman
turned up and offered their help. But finally after much digging, sandmatting
and pushing, we managed to get it out. We all cheered. But our work was not yet
over – we then had to wash the spades, shovels and sandmats which was a difficult
task as the mud was caked on.
One thing we were definitely happy about was hitting the tarred
road to Khartoum. We’d lost a fair bit of time so we had breakfast on the road and stopped
only for lunch. When we finally came into Khartoum, we all stared out of the sides
of the truck with curiosity. It was weird seeing all the restaurants and cafés
closed for Ramadan. At first glance, to me Khartoum felt a little like the Emirates,
but with a slight African feel.
At around 5pm, we arrived at the Blue Nile Yacht Club – which was
only a slight step up from the Sailing Club in Pointe Noire, Congo. Joy. Not
what we really wanted after such an ordeal last night. But as Kristy would say,
sometimes you just have to ‘suck it up’.
Oh, and to top it all off, we found out that last night’s storm was
the worst one they’ve had in 10 years! Welcome to Sudan indeed…!
