Grand Holiday Villa Khartoum

... of the night around us &#8211; this is what such a trip is all about!<br><br>One evening we camp in a date plantation near the small village of El Kuru. With hands and feet we ask the farmer, who is sitting solemnly on his small, white mule, for permission &#8211; a big smile assures us that he is happy for us to pitch camp. After another scrumptious &#8216;Manic mampft&#8217; meal we sit down to listen to the crickets and watch the full moon rise over the Nile ...

... rhino. After some 30 km we suddenly found ourselves on tarmac of pool table quality. But just for about 30 km. Then dust and stones again and another flat piece of tarmac. On a 30 kilometre detour through the bush in a kind of no man's land between the Ethiopian customs office of Metema and the border at, again, Metema (but this time Metema Yohannis) we chanced upon a traffic jam. In the clouds of dust a bus had not noticed that the truck in front had braked ...

... the Sudanese must be one of the friendliest people we have encountered so far! The Blue Nile's claim to fame is it's position just downstream of the confluence of the Blue and White Niles and of course Lord Kitcheners gunboat, now on land, with which he went to rescue General Gordon after beating the Mahdist army and obliterating the Madhi's tomb with his gun. However, Gordon had already been killed in his fortress in Khartoum after the Madists ...

Today we went back to get our ferry tickets. We are booked for the Wadi Halfa to Aswan ferry on Wednesday, June 25, 1st class cabin! Although we don't have our hopes up, apparently 2nd class is a single seat and 3rd class is standing room only. And we've got at least 18 hours altogether, so we decided best to get 1st class. We'll see what we get. Afterwards, we got our photography permit at the Travel Bureau downtown ...

... on Foxy, changing her front wheel bearings in the intense heat. I have to say I have the much more enjoyable and cool job. We are entertaining the idea of splurging on an air-conditionned hotel room tonight. My only concern is that if we do, I'll only want to sleep in air-con rooms for the rest of the trip, so long as it's hot. ******* This afternoon, I went down to the junction again hoping to get online at the internet café. Since yesterday's blackout, the entire Sudan Network ...

... is high relative to, let's say, Egypt. Another problem will be that there are no ATMs in Sudan and we are carrying a limited amount of cash. So we need to move on soon. After noon we finally get the hotel's letter to the Ministry of Interior and we set off to find the Alien Registration office. We went to the location given in our Bradt travel guide, but the office had moved and we were directed to another location across town. The useful life of a guidebook ...

... but no chain-breaker. I was a bit stuck. So Ik cobbled something together with a spanner, a new link and some brute force. It didn't look too safe but kept me on the road for another 30km (going very slowly) until it broke again. So, onto the back of a pickup truck and into the middle of nowhere to an alleged motorbike expert. I doubt this unnamed town had seen a whitey in many a year. For what reason would anyone want to go there I ask ...

... soccer with the locals (and lost). All in all these people don't have much, but they seem to be very happy to share whatever they have. The sites that we have seen are also very interesting. The pyramids of Meroe (built between 500 BC and 350 AD and badly destroyed by an Italian treasure hunter in the 19th century) and the Ruins of Musawwarat Es-Sofra, the re-constructed Lion Temple, as well as the Ruins of Naga are all worth the visit. Now we are ...

De retour à Khartoum après 10 journées magnifiques à Paris. Il faisait bon vivre, avec des températures au-delà de 25C, les boutiques pleines de belles choses (surtout les chaussures argentées), le bon vin, la bonne bouffe et l'excellente compagnie... que demander de mieux? C'est maintenant, de retour au bureau, que je vois dans quel piteux état j'étais depuis un peu plus d'un mois ... je me suis impliquée à fond dans cette mission, mais voilà, j'ai découvert et puis (un peu ...

... heard that the journey would be one of the most arduous of our  entire African journey, with hot, dusty conditions and awful roads.   In the event the journey was far less tiring than many (yes Northern  Kenya, and Mauritania we are talking about you!) and the only danger  we faced were 'bits' periodically dropping off our vehicle. Our time thus far in Sudan has been excellent.  For many reasons  Mrs R and particually Mr R left Ethiopia in a state of be ...