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| SUDANESE CAMEL TRADERS |
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| CAMEL MARKET IN THE DESERT |
If you Google the State Department's web posting for "Travel in Sudan" a warning pops up on your screen advising you against visiting there. It reads: "It's difficult and expensive to get a visa, and it's extremely dangerous and highly discouraged." The website continues to explain the decades of civil war, and how in 2011 the country was divided into two countries, Sudan and South Sudan. However, the description ends with this statement: "If you do manage to get in and you stick to the safe areas, you will probably have a memorable experience. The Sudanese people are very hospitable, and you can visit some awesome places without ever seeing another tourist." Yes, the State Department actually used the word awesome. While we knew all the negatives in advance, we felt safe because we would be traveling in North Sudan and not in regions like Darfur and the Blue Nile States. We were also going with a reputable tour operator, who came highly recommended. Knowing that we would be sharing the experience with nine other adventurous friends, we decided to go, applied for and received the visa, and in November, 2015, we embarked on another one of those trips of a lifetime, of which there have been many, especially in Africa.
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| WE TRAVELED IN THE AREA ALONG THE NILE ABOVE KHARTOUM |
The first three days we explored the busy capital of Khartoum, where we watched a Sufi Dervish ritual, and then drove a long distance north in four 4-wheel drive vehicles into the Nubian and Bayuda Deserts. This remote area is sparsely populated with small villages, nomadic encampments sprinkled throughout, and stunning archeology sites of the ancient Nubian and Meroe civilizations. In the north along the Nile, the economy is driven by agriculture, not tourism, but traveling with an Italian tour company that has established itself as the main operator for Sudan, we were very comfortable in accommodations they built, especially for their clients, near archeology sites that go back thousands of years. And for frosting on our cake, we had beautiful Laura, a very experienced guide, who many of our fellow travelers knew because she guided them before in West Africa. In fact, Laura suggested Sudan to our friends as an opportunity to experience another unique African country with tribal influences that blended with antiquities from ancient civilizations.
Khartoum is like many African cities. Big, dirty, crowded, smoggy, and with traffic gridlock equal to what we had seen in Cairo. Horse and donkey-pulled carts heavily loaded with merchandise from China, noisy tuk-tuks, small beat-up sedans, and big trucks compete for the privilege of traveling from one side of the city to the other. People plan their day by how long it takes to get to their destination, a symptom of overcrowding, which is quite common even here in Silicon Valley. The difference, of course, is that I'm not sharing roads filled with potholes, slow-moving donkeys or smelly tuk-tuks spewing exhaust. I'm on a fast-moving freeway and changing lanes with Teslas and Mercedes.
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| ON THE STREET IN KHARTOUM (TAKEN FROM THE VAN WINDOW) |
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| THE UBIQUITOUS SMELLY TUK-TUK |
Once we left Khartoum and drove north on a smooth paved road, we felt like we were in another world -- a world of camels, donkeys, spiky acacia trees, basalt rock formations, and sand. Lots of sand. Fine sand that you can sift through your fingers. Course sand that takes the polish off salon-style painted toenails. And blowing sand that makes everything you eat taste gritty. But it's the color of sand -- the reds, the yellows, the oranges and various shades of brown -- that really affects your senses. And then add tufts of light green tumbleweed and dark green acacia, and you have dramatic scenery that is candy to the eye. On long drives, I would set my camera on sports mode and, through the window of our moving SUV, take image after image of stunning desert landscapes. Of course, many of these photos ended up in my computer's trash basket, but here are some I thought worth saving.
We spent four nights in attractive accommodations, called a guest house, that the Italian tour company built, and while the rooms were not fancy, they were efficiently designed, spacious and very comfortable. We appreciated the luxury of air conditioning in this harsh environment. While nights in the desert were pretty chilly, a bright blue cloudless sky with a blazing sun caused daytime temperatures to quickly soar into the high 90s. By ten o'clock we were sweating. And with the scarcity of trees, the shade, for the most part, came from the brims of our hats and the sun glasses protecting our eyes. The hot air was dry, so it felt like a true 90, and not a humid false temperature of 110. Despite the heat, we wore long pants and either long sleeves or at least sleeves of a length that covered our shoulders. As foreign visitors to a conservative land, we wanted to respect their customs regarding dress.
From the guesthouse (near the town of Karima) we were just steps away from Jebel Barkal, the huge red sandstone mountain, considered very holy since ancient times. An impressive archeology site sits just below it. We watched the dig conducted by an Italian archeology professor from the University of Venice. He and his expert team of researchers, with the assistance of local workers, delicately scraped away sand and rock to expose more of what was the royal necropolis of the ancient city of Napata, the Nubian capital from 800 to 400 B.C. While the professor generously shared information about this dig, funded partly by Qatar, we watched the local laborers haul bucket after bucket of fine red sand, a back-breaking chore which seemed endless and also low paying ($5/day).
In a previous life, our guide Laura must have lived like a desert queen, studying hieroglyphics and traveling with pharaohs and kings up and down the Nile. At least this is what we thought after spending ten days under her tutelage. She was a wealth of knowledge, in fact, a walking encyclopedia, especially about the 25th Dynasty (760-656 BC) of Ancient Egypt (now northern Sudan). Only someone who had lived during these ancient times would know and reveal such stories in vivid detail. She talked with passion about the Nubians, one of Africa's earliest civilizations going back 3000 years BC. She directed her fluorescent light on the dark walls, so we could see the beautifully restored images deep inside two unlighted tombs, as she related legends about each of the ancient paintings. Every day we visited another site, and we marveled, not only about the facts, but about how one person could know all that information and only occasionally refer to her written notes.
"At sunset we will climb Jebel Barkal," Laura announced boldly one afternoon. "And after we reach the top and admire the view, we will descend by running down the large sand dune, the one you can see on the south wall." With raised eyebrows, we looked at each other to see who would be the first to ask, are you serious? But no one did. We figured if Laura could do it, then we could do it too. That was before we learned that Laura had been climbing the holy rock for years.
As we started to climb, Bruce and I took up the rear. This gave us the opportunity to take photos of others up ahead, and a good excuse to move slowly. We also didn't want to hold anyone back. Climbing seemed easy at first since we were on a switchback path, but as we moved higher, the path disappeared, and all of a sudden we were slipping in loose sand and grabbing on to any rock we could find that would hold us, as the rocks were now further apart and sand filled the space in the middle. Fortunately, Laura, who was close by, gave us a couple of one-hand tugs, and when we finally made it to the top and walked over to the edge, we were speechless. Wow, what a view!
Standing on the rocky edge and looking straight down scared us, since Bruce and I are a little timid about heights. "Time to move," Laura announced, noting the setting sun, and reminding us we still had to make the steep sand dune descent. She urged us to protect our cameras when coming down. Already stored in a plastic bag, I tucked my camera snugly in my waist pack, removed my red gym shoes, tied them together by their lacings, and slung them around my neck. I walked to the edge of the sand dune and looked all the way down. I saw Laura already at the bottom motioning for me to come. It looked scary. One step and my feet quickly sunk in the soft, deep sand, but I was able to walk. It looked so steep I was sure I might topple over. With her hands on her hips, Laura stood at the bottom of the dune and yelled, "Run, run, run." "I'm afraid I will fall," I yelled back at her. "Just run, you won't fall, it's fun," she continued to holler. Just before starting to run, I turned around and looked up at my traveling buddy Phil. He aimed his long camera lens at me and that's when he took this picture.
The adventure continues............
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| WE HAD FOUR 4-WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLES TO TRAVEL TO THE DESERT |
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| DESERT SCENERY |
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| THE WIND CREATES BEAUTIFUL PATTERNS IN THE SAND |
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| VOLCANOES EXISTED HERE MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO |
We spent four nights in attractive accommodations, called a guest house, that the Italian tour company built, and while the rooms were not fancy, they were efficiently designed, spacious and very comfortable. We appreciated the luxury of air conditioning in this harsh environment. While nights in the desert were pretty chilly, a bright blue cloudless sky with a blazing sun caused daytime temperatures to quickly soar into the high 90s. By ten o'clock we were sweating. And with the scarcity of trees, the shade, for the most part, came from the brims of our hats and the sun glasses protecting our eyes. The hot air was dry, so it felt like a true 90, and not a humid false temperature of 110. Despite the heat, we wore long pants and either long sleeves or at least sleeves of a length that covered our shoulders. As foreign visitors to a conservative land, we wanted to respect their customs regarding dress.
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| THE GUESTHOUSE NEAR KARIMA |
From the guesthouse (near the town of Karima) we were just steps away from Jebel Barkal, the huge red sandstone mountain, considered very holy since ancient times. An impressive archeology site sits just below it. We watched the dig conducted by an Italian archeology professor from the University of Venice. He and his expert team of researchers, with the assistance of local workers, delicately scraped away sand and rock to expose more of what was the royal necropolis of the ancient city of Napata, the Nubian capital from 800 to 400 B.C. While the professor generously shared information about this dig, funded partly by Qatar, we watched the local laborers haul bucket after bucket of fine red sand, a back-breaking chore which seemed endless and also low paying ($5/day).
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| THE ITALIAN DIG WITH JEBEL BARKAL IN THE BACKGROUND |
In a previous life, our guide Laura must have lived like a desert queen, studying hieroglyphics and traveling with pharaohs and kings up and down the Nile. At least this is what we thought after spending ten days under her tutelage. She was a wealth of knowledge, in fact, a walking encyclopedia, especially about the 25th Dynasty (760-656 BC) of Ancient Egypt (now northern Sudan). Only someone who had lived during these ancient times would know and reveal such stories in vivid detail. She talked with passion about the Nubians, one of Africa's earliest civilizations going back 3000 years BC. She directed her fluorescent light on the dark walls, so we could see the beautifully restored images deep inside two unlighted tombs, as she related legends about each of the ancient paintings. Every day we visited another site, and we marveled, not only about the facts, but about how one person could know all that information and only occasionally refer to her written notes.
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| QUEEN LAURA |
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| ANCIENT CITY OF NAPATA JUST BELOW JEBEL BARKAL |
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| NOTICE THE VIVID COLORS INSIDE THIS ANCIENT TOMB |
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| THE WALLS WERE COVERED |
"At sunset we will climb Jebel Barkal," Laura announced boldly one afternoon. "And after we reach the top and admire the view, we will descend by running down the large sand dune, the one you can see on the south wall." With raised eyebrows, we looked at each other to see who would be the first to ask, are you serious? But no one did. We figured if Laura could do it, then we could do it too. That was before we learned that Laura had been climbing the holy rock for years.
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| JEBEL BARKAL HERE WE COME |
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| STILL SMILING |
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| NOT BAD AT FIRST |
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| NOW PRETTY STEEP |
As we started to climb, Bruce and I took up the rear. This gave us the opportunity to take photos of others up ahead, and a good excuse to move slowly. We also didn't want to hold anyone back. Climbing seemed easy at first since we were on a switchback path, but as we moved higher, the path disappeared, and all of a sudden we were slipping in loose sand and grabbing on to any rock we could find that would hold us, as the rocks were now further apart and sand filled the space in the middle. Fortunately, Laura, who was close by, gave us a couple of one-hand tugs, and when we finally made it to the top and walked over to the edge, we were speechless. Wow, what a view!
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| WOW, WHAT A VIEW! |
Standing on the rocky edge and looking straight down scared us, since Bruce and I are a little timid about heights. "Time to move," Laura announced, noting the setting sun, and reminding us we still had to make the steep sand dune descent. She urged us to protect our cameras when coming down. Already stored in a plastic bag, I tucked my camera snugly in my waist pack, removed my red gym shoes, tied them together by their lacings, and slung them around my neck. I walked to the edge of the sand dune and looked all the way down. I saw Laura already at the bottom motioning for me to come. It looked scary. One step and my feet quickly sunk in the soft, deep sand, but I was able to walk. It looked so steep I was sure I might topple over. With her hands on her hips, Laura stood at the bottom of the dune and yelled, "Run, run, run." "I'm afraid I will fall," I yelled back at her. "Just run, you won't fall, it's fun," she continued to holler. Just before starting to run, I turned around and looked up at my traveling buddy Phil. He aimed his long camera lens at me and that's when he took this picture.
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| QUEEN PAM |
The adventure continues............
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