Sudan - 19 July to 24 July 2007

Our brief 5 days in Sudan was probably our toughest since leaving South Africa . The red tape at border crossings, cultural and language difficulties with frequent police checks and abrasive officials at the alien's registration office tarnished our view of Sudan . The friendly Sudanese people do make up a bit, but the harsh Nubian Desert and our mechanical challenges, tested us to the limit!

Our first sleep over was outside a police station in Gedaref as accommodation in Sudan is also a challenge. We then met up with the Blue Nile at Wadi Medani en route to Khartoum , where we settled in at the barracks style National Camping Ground. Most of our time was spent getting ourselves registered as aliens and organising our ferry into Egypt . Midhat Mahir's assistance was invaluable. We did manage to see the whirling dervishes, a suffi sect at the Hamed El-Nil Mosque who chant and dance themselves into a trance in celebration of Allah.

Khartoum is a huge bustling modern city and it was most welcoming for us coming from Ethiopia where there are no supermarkets and no modern facilities or buildings. At least we could get some decent fruit and veg! It was also a HUGE temperature change. We had become used to the cold weather in Ethiopia which ranged from between 10 to 20 degrees Celsius to a now whopping 40 degrees !! We were told that if we had arrived 2 weeks previously, we would've experienced 50 to 60 degrees !

After Khartoum the fun started or should I say 'nightmare' - 950km to Wadi Halfa, through the Baiyua and Nubian Deserts . Again we spent the night at a police station in Abu Hamed as the best local hotel was despicable and full- all this after a hot 500km drive through the desert. The next day was sand driving all along a railway line that got us stuck and eventually GR1's 'knocking' over bumps showed itself (something which we've experienced since Botswana and that no Servicing could fix). The centre bearing linking the front and rear prop shaft finally gave in and Tipperdee was stuck in the middle of camel skeletons, nowhere, in over 40 degrees heat and a sandstorm. GR3 tried to tow GR1 but without success so it was decided that the rest of the group would continue to Wadi Halfa which was about 110km away to get some parts. After about 4 hours and visions of us joining the camel skeletons, we edged on at snail speed for about 10km to station 5, where to our relief we saw Tana (GR2) return with a spare centre bearing rubber. This lasted for only 5km as the securing plate was broken and we were back to square one again at 9pm. Dean and Eddie headed back to Wadi to fetch Dean's centre bearing and front prop shaft. He and Vanita returned at 3am as Eddie had a fainting spell due to the heat, stress and exhaustion. We slept for about an hour first before replacing the parts. After battling for a couple of hours with all under the vehicle, we stopped the only bakkie travelling through the desert and 2 guys helped us in no time. Eventually just after sunrise we were on our way and chose the corrugations of the sleeper railway track to the thick sand and arrived in Wadi just as Eddie was about to send the cavalry at 9am.

A local mechanic managed to fix the bearing but not before 11am, when the cars had to be on the ferry to Egypt . Unfortunately Deans van with Gary 's fixed centre bearing had to leave 2 days later. Getting the vans onto the ferry was an experience not for the faint hearted.

We spent the night at the only hotel in Wadi, which was a complete dump with the most appauling ablutions, and enjoyed some local food - a meat stew and fuul (tasteless stewed brown beans).

After hours of custom and immigration formalities we boarded the passenger ferry to our '1st class' cabins - more 3rd class with atrocious communal ablutions and disgusting food, for the overnight journey to Aswan on Lake Nasser . The car and passenger costs were even more alarming - nearly $1000 US to get out of Sudan-per vehicle!!! At least we caught a glimpse of the floodlit temple of Abu Simbel en route.

Regards - The Globeriders