Sudan: Hot In The City

Leaving Ethiopia on a 360-degree high

I'm sorry to be leaving Ethiopia. It's proved far more beautiful than I'd expected. The food is good; I've got the hang of when to expect rain, and the people are very friendly, too.  (And have I mentioned the views yet?)

Yes, one or two kids stoop to pick up missiles, but with a couple of half-hearted exceptions no one dares to throw anything. Is this because I fix any rock-holding youth with a stare - letting him know I would know who threw it..? Or, simply because I initiate a friendly wave at any group of kids standing by the road?

Flowers on the spread following the wet season

I'm reminded of coach trips as a kid where we'd all give 'thumbs up' to the truck drivers on the motorway... only to invert (and adjust) the hand signals if the drivers failed to wave back like good sports.  In much the same way, I figure out being friendly to the Ethiopian kids draws cries of delight and enthusiastic waves and smiles, rather than rocks. The more remote the region, the more excited they are to see the bike come past.

Besides, if you're already holding a stone to ping at your wandering goats, chucking it at unfriendly bikers who roar through your herd, scattering them in all directions, must be quite a temptation. I'm not sure I'd not do the same.   

So, I ride slowly, wave and let livestock cross the road without trauma. Seems to work for me.

Sadly, I've cancelled my plans to hike in the Simien Mountains - I was laid low with a sudden nasty bug. (I suspect my drinking water went foul in the waterbottle after being left in the sun too many days. Stupid mistake, lesson learnt.) I'll have the mountains on my list of great places to return to one day; when the urge comes to hike for fortnight amongst the Ibex, baboon, wolves, alpine plant and birdlife.

At least I have another stretch of stunning scenery to gorge on; and this, together with a fistful of tablets, sees me back in good spirits as I reach the border with neighbouring Sudan.

Ethiopia:  a green and pleasant land.

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I've had a nagging thought that the trip north will still be crazy hot, even in October. There's going to be more and more desert as I head up towards Cairo and my kit is... multi-seasonal. In the accompanying heat wave there are only so many flaps and zips to open: it's still heavy, with too many black panels.

I get an inkling of what's to come at the border. There are delays and faffing around to get into Sudan, and in the mid-day heat I'm dehydrated quickly. I keep a cool temperament at least, as I've been warned: nobody hurries about anything in this country - and I can kind of understand why.

Sitting on the highway heading north-west, I'm watching the flat landscape laze by slowly, soon losing its lushness and lapsing into the bleached idiotic grin of a million sunflowers staring into the pitiless orb above.

Idiotic sunflowers.  They can't get enough of a good thing.

The dial on my dash reads 43 degrees Celsius and there's no shade at all. Thorn bush scrubland closes in then stretches away on either side as far as I can see. It hides large herds of goats, which I spot only when a camel-riding herdman saunters out to the side of the road.

Darth's camel

Camels were almost certainly created towards the end of God's 6-day production run; perhaps whilst He was relaxing infront of the Star Wars movies. Camels plod forward with the same untroubled air of those bad behmouth AT-AT Walkers that the nasty Darth Vader liked to send into battle*.

I plod forward too, across the shimmering landscape, but pause in Gedaref for food and an air-con room in a cheap hotel. In the relative cool of the evening I'm able to walk around the souk and sample the local fare. It's mostly grilled meat and sweet pastries for dessert, washed down with lemon crush. Not bad, and I'm cheerful: knowing that by tomorrow I'll have reached Khartoum.

(*All Terrain Armoured Transport', in case you wondered.)

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"Sitting at the place where the waters of the Blue and White Niles meet before continuing their slow progress to Egypt, Khartoum has a fantastic setting. It's a melting pot of the many ethnic groups that make up Sudan, and to sit at a tea stall watching the world pass by is to watch a progression of tribes and nationalities, from Arab, Dinkaand Shilluk to Nubian, Beja and Fur." Bradt Guide to Sudan, 2nd Edition.

Ha, ha... 'melting pot', geddit? I have time to ponder the witty description as I'm stalled in rush hour traffic, choking in the 43C heat that's baking the city. There's no humidity here, it's sweltering and dry. The traffic lights have long intervals, so I manage to switch off the motor and keep the bike from overheating. For myself, there's no such remedy and by the time I pull into the Blue Nile Sailing Club, I'm very tired indeed.

Get out while the sun is low in the sky, or suffer for your delay

Too tired to do much about the surroundings - I'll camp here and deal with 'everything' tomorrow, when I'm rested and wearing something lighter than my ski-suit equivalent.

I cracked...

I tried camping last night - sweat running off me until the temperatures cooled; by 3am, maybe? I was still awake to know this, because the thumping nightclub music was still going. And I could see the time on my watch by the huge flood lights erected over the tent area, which were helpfully kept on all night. Helpful, because they attracted most of the mosquitoes that seem to gather by the riverbank, or perhaps in the large areas of standing water around the poorly maintained site.


I'm even glad the shower block was so filthy - I saved valuable time this morning, shortly after the blaring call to prayer, when I decided it was a good moment to be leaving...

Well, the good news is that there is a hostel in Khartoum which has decent rooms at reasonable rates, free wifi and functioning air-conditioning... I rode over there just before the real heat started to kick in.

And, once the 70-odd group-guests who have block-booked every single bed in the place for the next 72 hours have left.... well, I'll be right over there to take up one of the vacated spots.


Meantime, I've found a spare US$ bill to help cover the cost of a nice bed; with wifi and the best Indian curry restaurant outside of Brick Lane. I'll suffer here gladly for a few days and battle on with my paperwork and the bank.

Hopefully, I'll get out and about a little more than I managed in Addis Ababa. First let me find an ice-camel or AT-AT Walker to get me around the streets.

I don't fancy sitting in one of these in the midday heat - air con inside?  I doubt it, somehow.