Khartoum - Capital at the Confluence of the Nile

I've arrived in Khartoum, Sudan's dusty desert capital the first milestone in my journey since leaving Cairo. It's a big. spread-out city located at the confluence of the Blue and White Niles.

I'm staying at the very cool Blue Nile Sailing Club, haunt of the local expat community and wealthy Sudanese businessmen. I just roll my sleeping bag out at night and sleep on the grass under the stars. I'm the only traveller at the moment, but I'm hoping that will change. There is a rather impressive view, as you can see below. Not bad for US$3 per night!



By tomorrow I should have my Ethiopian visa. I then plan to do an overnight trip to the pyramids at Meroe, about 2 hours from Khartoum. From there, I'll head to Ethiopia.

Following the Nile Bend

Between Wadi Halfa and Khartoum, Sudan's capital, the Nile makes a giant S bend through the desert. I decided to travel from village to village by bus and visit some archeological sites along the way. This often required taking a ferry to the opposite bank of the Nile, which was always quite an experience. The ferry was invariably overloaded with cars, trucks and people and completely at the mercy of the current when out in the middle of the river.

I stopped in the towns of Kerma, Dongola and Karima. Jebel Barkal (Arabic for Holy Mountain) near Karima together with its pyramids was particularly impressive (see below). I also enjoyed clambering around on the abandoned old Nile steamers tied up on the river bank on the outskirts of Karima. They are fading memories of a bygone era. But the best thing was meeting the local people, many of whom could speak quite good English, and enjoying their hospitality. It is currently Ramadan and I have often been spontaneously invited to dinner, or just had a nice conversation. The kids in the photo below seemed to think I was famous...





Another highlight was bumping into Gareth Morgan and his team of overland motorcyclists from New Zealand. Their website is here. Dongola out in the Nubian Desert is a funny place to run into anyone from New Zealand, let alone six people!

The heat is quite oppressive and it put me off staying out in the desert for longer. I decided to take a bus to Khartoum and start organising a visa for Ethiopia, my next destination. I arrived in Khartoum this morning, October 1.

Aswan to Wadi Halfa

From Aswan, it's an 18 hour ferry trip up Lake Nasser to Wadi Halfa in Sudan. I boarded in Aswan on Monday 24 September with a ragged mob of other foreigners (Swiss, Greek, German and South African) plus hoards of Sudanese and Egyptians. The ferry was soon full to capacity and all available deck space was occupied by either baggage or human bodies. Below decks was cooler but equally crowded. The South Africans and I secured a reasonably shady spot on the deck and made ourselves comfortable. We finally set sail as night fell. The temperature cooled, the moon came out, and all the stress of boarding slowly drifted away as we chugged slowly up Lake Nasser. This was aided by some whisky and coke which the South Africans had smuggled on board in a plastic bottle, and which they generously shared with me.

We sailed through the night. The next morning, Abu Simbel came into view, Ramsses II gazing sternly upon us. Mid afternoon we reached Wadi Halfa (below). It is Sudan's northernmost desert outpost, essentially just a giant, dusty waiting room full of people just arrived on the ferry or waiting to depart. I'd have to wait 24 hours for a bus to Kerma, 300km further up the Nile.