30 June, Wagna – Gondar (Ethiopia), 104km

 Coming out of the tent, we are greeted by grey, cloudy skies. However, this, with the much cooler weather, is very welcome after the heat of Sudan! Thankfully it only produces a few drops of rain as the road must be a nightmare when wet and muddy!

 It is an extremely pleasant ride through the green mountains and we take it really slowly, enjoying the scenery and of course stopping a few times for photos. So slowly we take it that we only arrive in Gondar 3 hours later!

Never before was a petrol station, with petrol, so beautiful for us! With Orphea filled up (at a mere 8 Birr per litre!) the priority is now on fuel for us! We noticed on the way in that there is a local brewery in Gondar.

 After a friendly welcome by the Marketing Manager of Dashen Brewery, we are taken on a tour of this remarkably modern brewery. It is quite interesting as we get to see the whole process from the wheat and hops (imported from Belgium) warehouses through to the filling, labelling and packaging procedures! Quite rightly, this brewery is very proud of their ISO certification!

With all of us filled up, it is off to Gondar town centre. Here we are surrounded by a crowd of youngsters, all offering to take us to the cheapest hotels. They all speak surprisingly good English and, even more surprisingly, none of them insisted on a tip!

After settling for the cheapest hotel, with safe parking for Orphea, we explore the town a little bit, have an afternoon coffee followed by a much needed afternoon nap!

Early evening, it is time for another beer and dinner before it is bedtime again. However, before we get that far, there is a knock on the door with Roger and Jon (two English guys we met in Khartoum who are going to Cape Town by Landrover) greeting us enthusiastically! We agree to meet for a beer the next evening and with that, it is finally bedtime!

Info: Gondar accommodation: We stayed at the Guday hotel (cost 50 Birr for a double room). It has a garden where we parked the bike. Rooms are clean, toilets are clean but basic but there’s no hot shower.

29 June, Gedaref (Sudan) – Wagna (Ethiopia), 432km

 We are fleeing Gedaref! In fact, we are driven out by an army of cockroaches!

Our plan for today was to reach Gondar, the first big town in Ethiopia. Due to unforeseen circumstances though, this is not to be!

Leaving Gedaref, we stop to ask for directions, as usual. A policeman, rudely interrupted whilst picking his nose, tells us that we just continue straight on the road from Khartoum. So we set off for Ethiopia.

After about 80km we stop at the first police roadblock. As usual we are asked where we are going, but when telling him that we are on our way to Quallabat in Ethiopia, he roars with laughter, taking great joy in telling us that we are on the way to Eritrea!

Swearing and cursing the policeman and other two guys we asked for directions, we turn around to Gedaref. Partly it is our fault as well, as we saw on the map that the road is suppose to turn right from the one coming from Khartoum. After losing two hours and doing an unnecessary 160km, we arrive back in Gedaref!

 Finally on the right road (complete with directional signs to mock us!) we head south towards Ethiopia. The landscape is now changing dramatically with everything being green. It is quite a pleasant shock to the eyes after having travelled through desert landscape for almost two months! We also come across more straw hut villages giving it the complete Africa atmosphere.

Arriving in Quallabat, the border town on the Sudanese side, we encounter some more time wasting. This time it is the official that is at the mosque, praying, as it is Friday. Once he turns up, the process is quite easy and fast compared to the border posts we crossed!

With it being after 2pm already, we finally cross into Ethiopia! Immigration is done (relatively) quickly, considering that it is recorded in about 5 different books, but customs for the bike has to be done in the next village, 40km further.

We purposely did not fill up Orphea and the spare tanks in Sudan, as we expected fuel to be cheaper in Ethiopia. However, we find out that the only petrol stop is in Quallabat, now on the other side of the border and therefore not an option. The next village, Shehdi, where we have to do the customs, apparently also have fuel, so we are not too worried.

We’ve now said goodbye to asphalt road and are back on rocky, slightly corrugated gravel roads. It is not as bad as northern Sudan, but the amount of animals and people on the road make it impossible to do a decent speed!

Shehdi is not much bigger than the mud villages we passed and after finding the customs building and completing the procedures, we start the hunt for petrol. We’ve already found out that the fuel station only has diesel, and that the only available petrol is from the black market, at hugely inflated prices of course!

The petrol man knows we are in need, and therefore has an annoyingly cocky attitude, but we manage to negotiate the price down to 13 Birr a litre, roughly one and a half dollar per litre. A big argument follows though, when he insists that, with his homemade measuring cup, he put 6 litre of fuel in our 5 litre jerry can! After paying him only for 5 litters he refuses to sell us anymore!

Luckily we still have 5 litres in another can that we kept spare from Sudan. However, even with this we need another 5 litres to make it to Gondar, about 220km away. So, again we set off for the next village hoping that they will have some valuable petrol for us!

None of the small villages we pass have petrol, and not even the Korean company maintaining the roads could help us as they only have diesel vehicles. The scenery along the road makes up for all the stress about petrol though! It really is quite breathtaking how the road winds up green mountainsides, only to go down deep lush valleys.

Finally, in a town that we think must be Wagna, we are led by half the village to a boy of about 15 who, we are told, can help us out with petrol. Naturally he shines in all the attention, and again, holding all the bargaining chips, he sets his price at a whopping 25 Birr per litre, around 3 US$ per litre! After more begging, threatening and swearing we manage to get the price down to 20 Birr a litre, and finally, have enough petrol to make it to Gondar!

 It is really getting late though and we still have more than 100km to go to Gondar. As dusk approaches we start to look for a place to camp, not wanting to risk riding at night. Finding an isolated spot away from all the little villages is not that easy though, but finally we pull of the road, and slowly go halfway down the mountainside to a secluded spot.

After pitching our tent we finally get to use our London bought emergency food of Venison sausages and couscous. This is much needed as we realise that we haven’t eaten anything all day!

With dinner done we lie on the grass, relaxing for the first time today. The sky is quite cloudy and the lightening in the distance reminds us again that we are entering Ethiopia in the rainy season. For the first time in a long while we get to go to sleep not feeling baking hot!

Sudan in a Nutshell.

A country that can boast being the biggest yet least visited country in Africa is always going to puzzle you. Sudan was no exception! For instance, it is unthinkable that the quiet, peaceful country that we’ve travelled through is the same one giving the horrific headlines from Darfur. How can the witty old taxi driver be a compatriot of the people who are killing thousands every year in what George Clooney describes as the worst genocide of the 21st century? Entering through the desert port of Wadi Halfa and exiting the country through the lush green hills of Quallabat, you cannot imagine that it is the same country! Politically, the situation in Sudan seems under control. Sharia, or Islamic law, is in place and in general it doesn’t seem, in the areas we were, like it is a country with fighting going on, on more than one front. The Darfur issue seems like one without a solution. A part of the country wants independence, but with no chance of that happening as there are rich oil fields! Also, it seems as if the rebel groups have splintered into many smaller groups, making negotiations more difficult, if not impossible.

Religion, as mentioned, plays probably a bigger part in everyday life than in the other countries we’ve been in. Basically, religion rules the country! We’ve not found this situation oppressive though, and not once were Alessandra asked to cover up, for instance.

Economically is where the things seem to be happening! The Chinese are pumping a frightening amount of money into the country, not surprising since rumour has it that 20% of China’s oil comes from Sudan. The recent change in their currency, back to the Sudanese Pound, makes the currency very strong, with 2SP equalling 1 dollar US. Again not surprising as they sell a commodity (oil) everybody wants, and in turn have to import just about everything!

How these economic changes will affect the ordinary Sudanese person is still not clear. Clear enough though is the fact that Sudan is not cheap, and as is almost always the case, the person at the bottom will suffer the most!

The people of Sudan are quite difficult to judge. Dignified and reserved, yet with an easy smile, they are not easy to reach, but there was none of the anti-western sentiment we feared. When asked for help, they were friendly and helpful enough, but walking the crowded streets of Khartoum, we did not feel completely at ease.

Sudan on the whole is a beautiful (especially the remote northern part!), diverse country. However, there was something, especially about Khartoum, that did not make it a fun place to be. Couple this with the high costs and immense heat and you will probably find the reason why we cut our visit short by a few days. One thing is for certain though; all of this makes it impossible to accuse Sudan of being a boring country!

Sudan… riassumendo

Il Sudan è immediatamente associate con  immagini e racconti di sterminio, profughi ed emergenza umanitaria. Viaggaindo lungo il Nilo da Wadi Halfa a Karthoum e verso est da Karthoum a Gallabat non si percepisce nessun segno o indizio dei combattimenti e razie che avvengono nel Sud del paese. Wadi Halfa è la città di ingresso per chi arriva in Sudan dall’Egitto. È una città polverosa e sporca, ricostruita dopo che l’antica Wadi Halfa è stata sommersa dal lago Nassar, e sembra che la tristezza l’avvolga. Da qui si dipana la strada verso Karthoum via Dongola. La strada non è asfaltata, è rocciosa con lunghi tratti fortemente corrugati (tante piccolo ondine che fanno sobbalzare e vibrare veicoli e passeggeri), alcuni brevi tratti sono coperti di sabbia sofficie  e la parte finale dopo Kerma è prevalentemente di sabbia compatta. La fatica di percorrere questi 500km sotto il sole rovente è ripagata dalla bellezza del paesaggio: il deserto roccioso e il blu del Nilo.
La strada rincorre il Nilo, e volte va quasi a toccarlo, alter volte se ne allontana e il Nilo si perde di vista e si è soli tra le roccie del deserto. Ma il Nilo è sempre là, da secoli ha irrigato e reso verde una piccola fascia di deserto dove le popolazioni della Nubia hanno posto i loro villaggi. Ed è sempre là anche per noi moderni viaggiatori motorizzati, e scorgere quel verde e blu in lontananza, promessa di ombra e ristoro, rinfranca i cuori. I villaggi nubiani, appena vi si arriva, sembrano deserti. Le abitazioni sembrano quasi piccolo fortini, con alte mura per avere ombra nella corte interna, sono costruite con mattoni e intonaco di fango e hanno porte colorate. Da queste case deserte e silenziose in apparenza, improvvisamente al nostro passare escono persone sorridenti e bambini schiamazzanti a salutare e a curiosare. Wadi Halfa – Dongola è stato un tratto di strada di suggestive e semplice bellezza, che ci ha dato davvero le gioie semplici della strada: infiniti paesaggi, il campeggiare nel deserto, la soddisfazione dopo la fatica e le difficoltà. Questi paesaggi e i villaggi cambieranno presto dato che la strada asfaltata (sicuramente importante) sta arrivando e già unisce Kerma con Carima e Dongola con Karthoum. Karthoum è una città relativamente moderna, costruita alla confluenza del Nilo Bianco e del Nilo Blu (il Nilo Blu è il principale affluente del Nilo e nasce in Etiopia dal lago Tana), con strade asfaltate, viali alberate, nuovi edifice in costruzioni. È la prima vera città Africana visitiamo. Il museo nazionale è ben organizzato e illustra le diverse popolazioni e civiltà che si sono susseguite in Sudan (ad esempio la civiltà di Kerma) e la loro relazione con l’Egitto. In Sudan ci sono diversi siti archeologici di grande interesse che per motive logistici non abbiamo potuto visitare. Andando da Karthoum verso east, il paesaggio cambia gradualmente, diventando più verde e si iniziano a vedere capannine circolari con tetti di paglia. Il deserto è ormai lontano… davanti a noi tanto tanto verde, e il cielo blu con bianche nuvolette… davanti a noi ci aspettano i freschi e boscosi altopiani dell’Etiopia. 

28 June, Khartoum – Gedaref (Sudan), 425km

After all the goodbyes last night we didn’t get a lot of sleep, so the alarm at 6am is most unwelcome! Also, because the luggage has been in Fufi the Landrover since Aswan, it takes a long time to get it sorted out and strapped on the bike!

With the usual diversions (made worse by the fact that there is not a single directional sign in Khartoum!) we manage to get out of the city around 8.30am. Orphea again feels like a different bike with all the weight and to make it worse there is quite a strong wind blowing head on.

We can occasionally see the Blue Nile (the White Nile, if everything goes according to plan, we will see again in Uganda) but apart from that there is not much in terms of breathtaking landscape. The road is incredibly busy though, especially with passenger buses and huge road train-like trucks carrying goodness-knows-what!

  Two and a half hours later we reach the little town of Wad Median. Here the road splits in two with ours going off towards the left in the direction of Ethiopia. Gradually the landscape starts to change into something more resembling typical Africa: green trees and even a shade of green on the mountains. We also attract visitors to the road in the form of a troop of baboons, staring at us as if we are completely crazy!

We’ve been really blessed with the weather the past three days. It’s been quite cloudy with a strong wind cooling the temperature down nicely, and today is especially cool. This means that we can ride over the midday period and by late afternoon we enter Gedaref, our destination for today.

  Gedaref is a quite big town about 160km from the Ethiopian border. Our plan is to sleep here tonight and make an early start tomorrow morning, leaving us with enough time to make the border crossing. Also, more importantly, we want to leave enough daylight for the stretch of road from Quallabat to Gonder in Ethiopia. This road, apart from not being paved, is also climbing up more than 2000ft above sea level, and therefore needs a lot of concentration!

After finding a hotel suiting our budget we find something to eat and head back to the hotel for an early night.

INFO: Khartoum – GondarIt takes two days at least. Gallabat is horrible place full of insects! We stayed at the City hotel, a green building on the main square, and they have a small front garden for parking the bike. It would have been better bush camping before Galabat.The turn for Galabat is before Gadaref, before a kind of check point… it is easy to miss!

Thanks to… Pina, Alberto and Fufi!

We’ve always known that, on a trip like this, you will at some point need some help from either fellow travellers,  or the local people.

From the very first day we met Pina and Alberto at the Italian embassy in Cairo, we knew that they were people we could count on when the going gets tough. This proved to be true through the terribly difficult stretch of road in northern Sudan.

Apart from Fufi graciously carrying our luggage for a 1000kms, there were also the moonlight showers, chilled water from the fridge and high quality meals from the seemingly inexhaustible food supplies of the Landrover!

Although we still would’ve made it to Khartoum on our own, we will always be grateful to these three for not only making this part of the journey so much easier, but to make it a truly fun time that we will never forget!

26 – 27 June, Khartoum.

 Tuesday: One of the first things we found out about Khartoum is that you can’t get money from anywhere with a Visa or MasterCard! The place is awash with ATM’s but unless you have a Sudanese bankcard, you are stuck! This, we are told, is because of the ongoing sanctions against Sudan.

This means that we are a little bit worried as the unexpectedly expensive Sudan ate heavily into our hard currency reserves. This means that this morning our first task is to go to the Beyblos bank close to the airport where, we are told, we can get a hold of precious US$ from our Visa card. Getting there, this rumour proved to be right, and although the transaction had to be done manually, it was quite easy in the end.

Relieved and hopefully with enough money to get us to Addis Ababa, we set off by taxi to explore Khartoum. The city is way more modern than we expected. All the streets are paved and tree lined with quite a few new developments in progress. It has a far less run down appearance than we expected and it is evident that someone, most likely the Chinese, are heavily investing in the country.

 Of course there are a lot of things that also remind you that you are now in Real Africa including hard-up vendors, more beggars and countless ladies making tea on the street to sell to we don’t know who!

Our first sight to visit is the confluence of the two Niles. This is described in our guide as a geographical highlight of Africa, and to be honest, if you look closely, you can see that where the White and Blue Nile meet there is a slight difference in colour of the water. Also, the Blue Nile is narrower and faster flowing while the White Nile is wider and lazier. All in all though, it is not as impressive as it sounds, but for us it was worth the visit since the Nile has been, and will be for some time, such a constant travel mate!

Having seen this marvel, we start the long hot walk back into the city centre. About a kilometre further we stop off at the National Museum of Sudan. This turns out to be hugely interesting and, although the museum is tiny compared with European standards, it is extremely well laid out.

We get to learn about the different cultures and kingdoms that were established in ancient times along the Nile route that we followed. Amongst this was the Kushite Kingdom, centred at Kerma (we didn’t even know this kingdom existed before our visit to Sudan) and its, sometimes violent, relationship with the Egyptian Kingdoms.

It was also surprising to learn that some of the Pharaohs from the 25th Dynasty were effectively Nubian, Taharqa is an example. The Kushite kingdom was followed by a period where the kingdom centred on Meroe ruled the Sudan area. It was a shame though that the upstairs section containing the Christian and Muslim Funj period were closed to visitors.

 Outside we got to see some temples that were rescued and relocated from the Lake Nasser. Although it is great that they were saved, they look massively out of place in the airport style hangers that now house them in the museum grounds!

For dinner we meet Jeroen, a Dutch friend of Jonathan (Cairo) who works in Khartoum. It is fascinating talking to him as he worked extensively in the Darfur region for a well known international aid agency. However, from what he says it doesn’t sound like we should expect any good news from that region soon!

 More fascinating though is our taste of Special Tea. We visited the Panda Chinese Restaurant for dinner and, since alcohol is forbidden in Sudan, Jeroen cautiously asked the waitress if they serve beer. She replied that they indeed serve Special Tea and a few minutes later returned with a teapot and two glasses. So, for the first time in our lives we were served a beer from a teapot!

 Wednesday: After lots of discussions we’ve decided that we are not going to visit the pyramids at Meroe. The main reason for this is that it is a 550km round trip in the desert heat, making it tough on Orphea and us. Adding to this is also the fact that the steep prices in Sudan are really eating into our budget.

For this reason we’ve decided to cut our time in Sudan by a few days and to start our journey to the Ethiopian border tomorrow. That means that this morning is laundry time as well as washing the tent and Orphea!

 Late afternoon is the time for a final bit of sightseeing. The souk in Omdurman (the Islamic neighbourhood established by the famous Mahdi, opponent of General Gordon) is reputed to be one of the biggest and most colourful in Africa.

 In this it doesn’t disappoint and it has the usual spices, beans, dates, groceries and everything else on display. There were absolutely no other tourists in sight, making it a nice if slightly uneasy experience.

Tonight we share a final burger with Alberto and Pina. For the first time since Aswan we are going to part ways as they are going to stay a few extra days. It is not farewell though and hopefully soon we will see each other again in Ethiopia. Insha’Allah!

25 June, Abu Dom – Khartoum (Sudan), 294km

After a good sleep we wake up just after sunrise. Packing up everything doesn’t take too long and soon we are on the road again for, finally, the last stretch to Khartoum!

The road is beautiful tarmac but the landscape is again boring, flat desert with little to keep the mind occupied. It is interesting to sometimes see people walking in the middle of nowhere, or on their little donkey carts carrying water to goodness-knows-where! It really makes you wonder where they live as you can’t see any villages and more importantly, what keeps them alive in this big nothingness.

Late morning and with the wind whipping up a small sandstorm, we arrive in the outskirts of what we think must be Omdurman, the older Islamic suburb of Khartoum. After the usual little struggle for orientation we arrive at the Blue Nile Sailing Club where, according to our guidebook, you can camp.

 As far as facilities go, the Blue Nile Sailing Club doesn’t have much to offer, but the location next to the Nile is beautiful and they use Kitcheners old gunboat, Melik, as an office!

 We get settled in, relax a bit and then it is time for Alberto’s other dream (apart from air conditioning!), pizza! (These Italians, honestly!). A cab ride takes us into Khartoum 2 and, to Heino’s surprise, we find a pizzeria!

With a surprisingly good pizza in our stomachs and a content feeling in our hearts we return to our campsite for a good nights rest!

24 June, Dongola – Abu Dom (Sudan), 244km

 As you can probably guess, we sleep late again! The power-cuts have been kind so far and we are enjoying this luxury while we can. We’ve decided that we are going to set off again in the afternoon on the road to Khartoum and with this in mind, we stock up on the rest!

All along we had doubts about the price of our hotel. We’ve seen the other options in town and none of them could compare, however it is much cheaper than all of them! So, Alessandra and Alberto go on a mission to find out both what time we have to check out and also to make sure about the price.

Unsurprisingly it turns out that the rooms are 50SP per night, and not 5SP! The currency of Sudan recently changed (again!) and two zeros were knocked off. This is in addition to the change that took place 4 years ago when 3 zeros were knocked off! This is hugely confusing especially for most Sudanese themselves!

So it happened then that the guy who checked us in knocked too many zeros off the price he quoted us. After a bit of negotiating we get the price down to 25SP per night (I mean, it was their fault!) but it also meant that we had to leave straightaway in order not to have to pay for another night.

Hastily we pack our stuff and go to an air conditioned restaurant to wait for the worst heat to pass. Again at 4pm we hit the road out of Dongola. The first 160km is mostly tarred but with some stretches (around 20km each) where we had to get onto the service road.

On the map it is indicated that the last fuel stop is in a village around 160km from Dongola. We have to refuel as the station in Dongola ran out of petrol before we could fill the jerry can. Finding this village proves to be impossible though, but a local tells us that there is another fuel stop around 40km further.

So, off we go again into the fast approaching darkness. At Abu Dom, now in complete darkness, we find the crossroad with the road to Khartoum going off to the right. The fuel stations though, only sells diesel and after asking around for petrol (or benzine as it is called here) we are told that it is in a village around 2km away.

However, one of the guys working in one of the food stalls next to the crossroad tells us that he has 20l of petrol in a plastic can for sale. Smelling to make sure it really is petrol, we settle for a price of 40SP for 20L, equivalent to about 1US$ per litre.

After dinner from Fufi’s inexhaustible food supplies, we decide to go a little distance on the road to Khartoum and look for a place to sleep. This is easier said than done though as it is pitch black and after about a half hours drive we decide to just pull off on the side of the road.

We set up camp about 200m from the road in the vast open space and after pitching our tent, go to sleep around 170km from Khartoum!

23 June, Dongola

The soft beds, air conditioner and 500km of bad roads all helped to result in the most enjoyable sleep we’ve probably had so far on this trip!

When we eventually get up, we have a milk and biscuit breakfast in the downstairs restaurant/bakery which is followed by more lazing around. We don’t even feel guilty about it! The most active part of the morning is when Alessandra goes out into town in search of a Laundromat for our clothes! In the end she managed to find an old guy who provides this service from his small room, with only his hands and a metal basin as equipment!

 Our hungry stomachs eventually drive us downstairs again for lunch. On the way into the restaurant we saw two huge pieces of chicken on the grill and our minds are made up! Chicken, vegetables, rice and potatoes washed down with yet another Pepsi make us feel like humans again! We are brought down to earth somewhat by the price though, as we have to fork out 20US$ for this pleasure!

The only thing that constantly reminded us about where we are were, were the frequent power cuts. This of course causes the most unpleasant shock when the air conditioner suddenly pulls you back into summer Sudan! In the evening our hotel receptionist shows us to the roof where a nice, cool breeze brings some relief.

We are told by a member of the hotel staff that plans are in place to change the electricity supply from fuel generated to hydro electricity. This apparently will bring and end to the endless power cuts, and for the sake of the poor Sudanese, we are keeping our fingers crossed!

After a particularly long power cut, the lights come on again around 10.30pm and we retreat to our rooms for yet more rest.