I’m flying all over Egypt now. I flew north to Cairo from Khartoum,Sudan, and yesterday I flew south again to Aswan. The air tickets are quite cheap and I need a break from traveling overland.

I am in Aswan now, home to the big Aswan dam that provides a lot of Egypt’s electricity. The dam itself is 111m high, has a base width of 980m and a crest length of 3830m. The De Hoop dam where I worked for 2 years only had a crest length of 1016m, therefore I am very glad I did not have to map the foundations of such a big dam as the Aswan. It’s called the High dam and was constructed between 1960-1970. The Aswan Low dam is further downstream, close to Aswan town, and was constructed in 1902

“. The Aswan Dam may refer to either of two dams situated across the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt. Since the 1950s, the name commonly refers to the High Dam, which is the larger and newer of the two. The Old Aswan Dam, or Aswan Low Dam, was first completed in 1902 and then was razed twice, during the British colonial period. Following Egypt’s independence from the United Kingdom, the High Dam was constructed between 1960 and 1970. Both projects aimed to increase economic production by regulating the annual river flooding and providing storage of water for agriculture, and later, to generate hydroelectricity. Both have had significant impact on the economy and culture of Egypt. The Old Aswan Dam was built at the former first cataract of the Nile, and is located about 1000 km up-river and 690 km (direct distance) south-southeast of Cairo. The newer Aswan High Dam is located 7.3 km upriver from the older dam.

Before the dams were built, the River Nile flooded each year during late summer, as water flowed down the valley from its East African drainage basin. These floods brought high water and natural nutrients and minerals that annually enriched the fertile soil along the floodplain and delta; this made the Nile valley ideal for farming since ancient times. Because floods vary, in high-water years, the whole crop might be wiped out, while in low-water years widespread drought and famine occasionally occurred. As Egypt’s population grew and conditions changed, both a desire and ability developed to control the floods, and thus both protect and support farmland and the economically important cotton crop. With the reservoir storage provided by these dams, the floods could be lessened, and the water could be stored for later release.”

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam

I have heard from this gigantic dam when I was still in Primary school. I always thought when I was young that it was the biggest dam in Africa and therefore it was a dream to visit it one day. Today I saw the magnificent Aswan dam with my own eyes!

The six largest dams in Africa by height are:

• Cahora Bassa dam, Zambezi River, Mozambique, 171m;
• Katse Dam, Lesotho, 155m;
• Hassan 1, Lakhdar River, Morocco, 145m;
• Akosombo Dam, Volta River, Ghana, 134m;
• Bine El Ouidane, El Abid River, Morocco, 133m;
• Kariba Dam, Zambezi River, Zambia/Zimbabwe, 128m.

The five largest dams in Africa by reservoir capacity are:

• Kariba Dam, Zambezi River, Zambia/Zimbabwe, 180 billion cubic meters;
• High Aswan Dam, Nile River, Egypt, 162 billion cubic meters;
• Akosombo Dam, Lake Volta, Ghana, 150 billion cubic meters;
• Cahora Bassa Dam, Zambezi River, Mozambique, 52 billion cubic meters;
• Kossou Dam, Bandama River, Côte d’Ivoire, 28 billion cubic meters

Most irrigated countries:

Egypt 3.3 million ha

Sudan 1.9 million ha

South Africa 1.27 million ha

Morocco 1.25 million ha

Madagascar 1.1 million ha  

http://www.dams.org/kbase/consultations/afrme/dam_stats_eng.htm

Unfinished Obeliks

I also paid a quick visit this morning to the unfinished Obeliks. This is located in a old quarry in Aswan town where they used to cut gigantic Obeliks stones which was used in the temples about 160km downstream at Karnak.

Hundreds of Egyptian men worked in the quarry and they used small stones to excavate these Obeliks stones. The Obeliks consisted of hard rock granite and weighed close to a thousand tons. Men worked 7 months on the unfinished one before it cracked into 2 pieces and was left as is. These huge granite blocks was then rolled on logs to the Nile river and transported south to several places downstream where they built the temples. Some times the engineers made calculation mistakes: sometimes the ships carrying the load was not balanced and the ship and granite blocks sank into the river.

Felluca trip down the Nile

I have booked myself on a Felluca(traditional sail boat of the Egyptians) trip this afternoon. It is a 1 night 2 day trip. We will sleep in a Nubian village tonight and sail down to Kombo Ono or some place from where we will take the bus to Luxor. Luxor is a big touristy place because of its ancient temples. Then I will take the train back to Cairo.

Ps: the photo of me with my Police style haircut was taken in a downstream direction, meaning that I am sitting on the Aswan dam wall.

Ok, so I am in Cairo at last! We arrived at the airport in Khartoum at 20:00 2 nights ago to check in at 21:00 as they told us. Believe it or not but we only checked in at 23:00 and waited until 6:30 that following morning until we were airborne. That means that the flight was delayed by 5 and a half hours! By this time Nevell and I was so used to the poor Sudanese systems that we just went with the flow, but at 5:30 when we were still waiting in the final terminal the Sudanese women who had kids made a big scene with the officials for the delay. They cried, screamed and I don’t know what else….

We departed and had a nice view over Khartoum and the Nile River with the red sun rising over the desert. I was so pooped by this time because I did not sleep the entire night but tried my best to stay awake to see the desert plains from Sudan to Egypt. For 1600km everything just looked exactly the same.

Arriving in Cairo

Cairo is a city of 18 million people, it is gigantic! As we approached Cairo the Nile River appeared in the picture again and led us all the way straight to Cairo.

I saw the pyramids for the 1^st time out of the plane while it’s bottom part was covered in the early morning mist, I wish I could have taken a picture!

Immediately there was a change in everything: better service, neatness and cleanness, good and well organized systems and everything else we did not find in the Sudan.

The 1^st thing Nevell and I did was to draw money from an ATM, it was a big privilege to use a ATM again after a month of ATM droughts in the Sudan.  We took the local bus to downtown Cairo.

Travelling alone again

Nevell and I decided to split up, every good thing comes to an end and everything has its time. Thanks Big Nev, it was a great 3 months travelling together through Kenya,Ethiopia and Sudan.

“Ons het vet pret saam gehad en baie grappe gemaak!!”

We made some unforgettable memories together which I will cherish forever! We will meet in Aqaba to get our bikes from the shipping container.

Felluca trip on the Nile

I started my Cairo experience with a 7hour sleep from 12:00-19:00 yesterday to catch up on some sleep. Then I went for a walk through the vibrant night life in Cairo. There are hundreds of people in the street, all eating ice cream, food and I don’t know what else. It gave me the same feeling I got in Buenos Aires in Argentine. The only difference is that Cairo has 18 million people and Buenos Aires only 14 million.

I wandered around next to the Nile River this morning and jumped on a Felluca (sail boat) for an hour sailing trip on the river. It was a great experience sailing in the middle of numerous sky scrapers. It was also a good place to get an overview of Cairo and I spotted a 40 storey hotel which I was to explore later. There were a view young boys kayaking on the river as well as a few small cargo ships transporting all kinds of stuff. The captain and coworker on the ship could not speak English but the sign for showing they want a tip from me they know very well!

When I got off the Felluca I immediately went to discover the hotel and went up the  very top storey. It was a nice view of the city and if there were a bungee cord at the top I would not have thought twice to jump..

The Egyptian people

This morning while strolling in the streets of Cairo a guy invited me into his shop. When he did not manage to sell something to me he told me we have to go to his sons shop because I must go and congratulate him because he is getting married tomorrow. I knew there was a catch somewhere but decided to go instead. After the marriage topic was over he immediately take the chance to sell his papyrus Pharaoh painting to me. It is really beautiful and if I had space I would have bought some of them. When he realized I was not going to buy something he immediately changed his attitude and indicated to me that I must take my half full cup of coffee which he gave me and leave his shop. I was shocked by this kind of behavior and just showed me that he was only interested in doing business. The Egyptian people are totally different than the Sudanese: the Sudanese are definitely the friendliest people I have met in Africa. The Egyptians are also much lighter in skin color than the Sudanese.

The travel guide warns travelers of the numerous touts in Cairo but luckily I have not come across too many!

Sudan in retrospect

The Sudan was really a great experience and the people were awesome! The desert and desert camping under the stars was amazing as well as the thousands of kilos of nothing but desert! Taking everything into consideration the Sudan would have the lowest scoring on my “most favorite countries” chart if someone would ask me.  The frustration with just everything was very annoying at the end. My dream to visit the Sudan was still a dream come true and I am very happy that I spent a few weeks there.

Losing my credit card

Last night after waking up from my long nap, I realized that my credit crd is missing. I must have forgotten to take it from the ATM machine earlier the day….it shows you what little sleep does to me. My dad came to the rescue when he cancelled my card so now I’m only travelling on my debit card.

My plans in Cairo

I plan to visit the Egyptian museum today and then do the big trip to the pyramids tomorrow. I will try and catch some live music one night. From Cairo I might go for some diving on the Red Sea at Dahab.

Cheers!

Area: 997 739 sq km  (Sudan is 2.5 million sq km)

Capital: Cairo

Language: Arabic

Money: Egyptian Pound: 1 Egyptian Pound = R1.2 (ZAR)

Official name: Arab Republic of Egypt

Population: 81.7 million

Highlights to visit in Egypt:

1. Egyptian museum
2.  Pyramids
3. Nile valley in Aswan as well as Aswan dam.
4. A felluca trip on the Nile River.
5. Western Oases,fortified forts of Dakhla
6. Eerie rock formations of the White desert
7. Sinai and the Sinai desert visiting Moses’ mountain Mt Sinai
8. and diving and chilling at Dahab,Red Sea

90% of Egyptians are Muslim and the rest are Coptic Christians.

Cairo has 18 million people and will definitely be the most populated city I have ever been to.

The pyramids of Giza are about 4000 years old and are the 7^th wonder of the ancient world.

(Lonely Planet source, Middel East,2008 edition)

Some more information on Africa and the Middle East

The deepest river in the world is the Congo River in DRC and Congo, formerly the Zaire river. Believe it or not but it’s most easterly origin is from Zambia. The river is 230m deep at its deepest section and is about 4500km in length (world’s 10^th longest river). It only has a fifth of the volume of the Amazon River in South America. The outflow ranges between 25 000 and 75 000sq meters per second into the Atlantic Ocean.

The lowest place on the continent is in Israel/Jordan at the Dead Sea as well as Death Valley in California.

I do not have too much news, but some news is better than no news!

Out flight from Port Sudan to Khartoum was delayed by 2 hours for some or other reason. I quite enjoyed it to fly again because my previous flight was in February this year from Cape Town to Lanseria. Unfortunately it was already dark when we flew over the vast, empty desert of Sudan so I could not really see anything!

We arrived late in Khartoum and really struggled to find affordable accommodation. We took one taxi to try and find the Khartoum Youth Hostel, but after half an hour we gave up the search and jumped into a Tuk-Tuk (Bajaj tricycle) and also had no success! We could only find expensive Hotels and we did not have a lot of money so after a long story both Nevell and I ended up sleeping on a dusty couch at the Blue Nile Sailing club. We were without sleeping bag, cushion or tent so I used m jacket and towel for some covering! I was quite stiff he next morning, but I quite enjoyed it sleeping like tramps! This was actually the 1^st night on my entire trip where I struggled to get a place to overnight!

The next morning, waking up at 8:30, I joined a few other overlanders from Switzerland, Slovenia,Latvia and Germany for conversation. The people from Latvia and Slovenia had a lot of problems because they have no diplomatic representative in Sudan for letters and other documents they needed. The Slovenians then used the German embassy to get a letter to enter Ethiopia but they would not accept the letter at the embassy. It just shows one the difficulties one has when coming from small countries like these.

We were supposed to fly to Cairo yesterday afternoon at 17:30, but it came to be that the flight was cancelled due to religious reasons. We went to the Sudanese Airways and Nevell insisted on them giving us Hotel accommodation for the night! So 1 hour later we were booked into their Hotel and had nice clean rooms with Tv,aircon and good meals. It really feels if we are stuck in the Sudan and that we will never get out of this country, but hopefully the flight tonight at 12:00 to Cairo will not disappoint us. We will arrive in Cairo at 2:00 in the morning and will search for some type of accommodation; luckily Egypt is much more geared for tourists than Sudan. For most people Sudan is just a transit country, I am glad that I saw more than the average overland tourist.

Enjoy the weekend and remember that God is on our side!

Good afternoon!!

Yet another long day of admin to get our bikes in the container, but before I get to negative I will try my best to maintain a positive attitude.

This is how the following 2 weeks will go: we are flying out from Port Sudan to Khartoum tomorrow late afternoon where we will spend the night and one day after catching the connecting flight to Cairo. It was a good feeling to kiss my bike goodbye and off course the start of a totally different way of travel. Nevell only has one tiny kit bag (Toksakkie in Afrikaans) and I have my 2 saddle bags which will be used for our Egypt trip. We will go and visit the pyramids in Luxor as well as another few places. It’s now the tourist high season in Egypt so prices will be higher than normal! The guide books also warn about the numerous touts and scams with which they catch travelers every year, but luckily for some reason the touts are always attracted to Nevell so I will not be hassled much!

I really look forward to the next 2 weeks, it will be a new experience and I will also experience the life of a back packer! The “Marina” our ship will arrive in the port of Aqaba in Jordan on 4 December where we will receive our bikes! I hope it’s not going to be another long and frustrating process!

All the best for the coming week, talk again in Egypt!!

! 

We have been sitting and not doing to much the last couple of days in Port Sudan. The shipment guy arranged a meeting with us last week Thursday and did not show up. He instead told us to speak with his colleague Mr Faisal. This morning we had a meeting with him and he told us that it is in fact very possible to ship our bikes to Al Aqaba,Jordan. He explained to us all the paperwork we had to go through to get us and ourselves in the dock yard of Port Sudan. He also phoned the captain of the ship, a Korean, and he said that there is no problem to ship our bikes.

We took a half day just to get stamps and paperwork sorted out and the only thing that remains now is to clear customs and go to the immigration office. Mr. Faisal has set up a meeting with the Korean captain tomorrow in the dock yard where we will get all the info. We will try our very best to go on the cargo ship with our motorbikes, this will save us a trip back to Khartoum as well as a air ticket to Jordan. Please pray with us that everything will go smooth and that we will catch that ship to Jordan.

The other problem we are facing at the moment is that we are running out of cash very quick. We still don’t know how much the captain will charge us and we only have a small amount of money left. As soon as we get to Aqaba we will be able to draw money again from an ATM, but there is no ATM’s around here!

Paper work and more paperwork

If any of you ever plan on visiting the Sudan be ready to do a lot of paperwork. Leave your watch at home and bring bags of patience along!

Nevell and I wanted to do a day trip up the red sea coast from Port Sudan. In order to travel north one needs a permit from the security Police. This permit does not cost anything! We had to revisit the Police times that day just to get the permit, because every time you need something else or the manager is off duty! When we finally got the permit that night we thought we would enjoy a nice day of swimming and snorkeling in the Red Sea. Nevell already went through this process as well as the Police roadblock 14km north of Port Sudan so he knew the drills. When we arrived at the road block and after giving our paperwork and the permit to the official we were told that we need another letter or phone number of the place we stayed in Khartoum. My patience and anger is really tested to the limit if you went through a lot of trouble and time to get the correct paperwork and then an uninformed official wants something additional. So after trying to explain to the guy that we have all that is needed he still did not want to let us through so we had a dispute going for a few minutes and headed back for Port Sudan.

We went back to the place where they gave us the permit and they could not understand the problem so they tried to call the guy and he was not there.

Famous words in Sudan are:

“Just sit down”

“relax”

“come back tomorrow”

“and waving the finger and shaking the head if they mean no, its actually very funny”

My Lonely Planet guide book is one hundred percent correct when they say that time is no real factor in the Arab countries! We have very good experience of this!

It’s also quite funny; it does not help at all to through a tantrum or make a scene when you are frustrated because they just start to laugh at you!!

After three weeks in Sudan both Nevell and myself is ready to move on to the next country! By now we have tried almost all the restaurants, eaten a lot of ice cream and schwarmas. Sitting and waiting is not doing our body figures very good: the Ice Cream shop is swallowing all my money and the two kilos I lost is slowly coming back, ha ha!

Nevell’s battle with the mozzies and flies

There is really a lot of mozzies and flies in Port Sudan. All the take away shops is packed with the flies in day time and at night our room has many mozzie visitors! For some reason the mozzies don’t like my blood and Nevell ends up with at least five bites per night. I laughed so much the other night as he clothed his whole body to protect himself from the mozzies: it was long pants, socks and I don’t know what else! At least he had a better sleep that night!

We are so bored at the moment that we don’t know what to do with ourselves….luckily just two more days and we will be on that Korean ship!

TOTAL KILOS JUST BELOW THE INTENDED 30 000KM THROUGH AFRICA!!

Chao, have a great weekend!

The year is coming to an end now and this is the 1st thing all people back home are telling me! I’m sure all of you really look forward to the December holiday!

I’m currently at the Red Sea at Sudan’s only international harbor, Port Sudan. It’s very humid and hot here and we are also hitting the rainy season in this part of the country. It rained here yesterday and it was quite a funny feeling to receive rain in the Sudan. We are now in the middle of a view religious holidays so Port Sudan seems like a ghost town. Only a few shops are open but one should not expect to do any business in these few days. I met up with Nevell again yesterday after having split up for one week. This is how my one weak journey went:

I left Dongola early Sunday morning to do a 400km stretch to the most northern town in Sudan, Wadi Halfa. It was a beautiful drive all along the Nile River. It reminded me of driving in the Keimoes/Kakamas area in South Africa where one also drive next to the Orange River.

DONGOLA TO WADI HALFA: 431km

I set up a personal best record of 226km without stopping for my 1st morning shift. I like setting up records and breaking them to achieve better ones are even better. This 226km stretch took me about 3 hours. I took a pit stop on the banks of the Nile River where 2 local farmers invited me to breakfast. The meal consisted of funny dough bread, beans and a sort of sour cheese/milk kind of thing. After 8 months in Africa I still don’t eat everything, so I took a few pieces of the bread and that’s it! They like all the Sudanese people are really friendly folks so we made a bit of communication in the broken English he could speak. He also showed me some of the crocs sleeping on the opposite banks of the river. After the meal I used their woven grass mat to take a 30 minute siesta. I was now in the Nubian Desert which is the biggest desert in Sudan and after another few hours whilst driving through these barren areas I arrived in Wadi Halfa at 15:00. The Nubian people (speaking the Nubian language) built their traditional houses all along the Nile River and live there in their hundreds. These houses are built with a lot of windows to create a natural air conditioned home. They put their beds outside the houses at night where they sleep to escape some of the heat.

Wadi Halfa is the newer version of the town Halfa. During the construction of the Aswan dam many years ago the town Halfa was located in the dam basin and therefore the government had to remove the people and relocate them to Wadi Halfa. The relocation caused a lot of havoc and the government had to remove them by force. Wadi Halfa is the town where one goes to take the ferry on Lake Nasser (Aswan Dam) to Aswan in Egypt. I went there to check out the place and to meet up with Mazir Mahir who is the local Sudanese fixer for any cargo0 into Egypt. I explained to him the problem of not having a Carnet and he made a phone call the Automobile Association in Cairo to consult them. I’m still waiting for his reply but it seems that if we want to go this router we will have to take the ferry to Aswan, leave our bikes there and take the train to Cairo to get the Carnet document to take the bikes into Egypt. This whole process could cost us up to R8000. (1200USD). He cannot tell us at this stage if we will get some of the money back!

I filled up my tank in Wadi Halfa and drove 15km out of town and slept in the desert somewhere. I had to drive the same way back again to the south because the alternative route was 370km of sand road which is not recommendable because the sand is deep in a lot of places. There is also no town or people for a stretch of 370km so if something happen and I’m alone….?

WADI HALFA TO DONGOLA: 417km

This was another 400km+ day for me on the long and lonely road through the Nubian Desert. By now I have figured out a way of stretching my legs while riding the bike because after a few hours sitting in the same position one gets a bit stiff. I put both my legs on the crash bars in front and then lean forward to stretch my hammies and back.

Late that afternoon I decided to climb one of the hills next to the road and it was really rewarding. It was a beautiful view of the Nubian Desert and for miles and miles I saw only desert. This was a good hunting position and I could have pulled a nice few shots with my 30-06 if I had it with me.

I have developed 2 riding shifts, the one from 7:00 – 12:00 and the afternoon one from 14:30 – 18:30. During 12:00 and 14:30 it’s just to hot to ride for me and I use this time to eat, drink water and rest on the beds at a local truck stop.

That afternoon after doing 417km I pulled off the road for 2km and slept in the desert again. The moon was beautiful and for most of the time one doesn’t even need your torch.

DONGOLA TO ATBARA: 408km

During my afternoon break I enjoyed watching a Chinese movie with the locals at a local truck stop. The Africans really like their Chinese movies, especially if there is a lot of fighting with Uzi’s. I charged my I-phone and cell phone at this truck stop because the 12V charging point on my bike is not functioning that well any more. This was my 3rd night of camping in the desert, it’d really a good experience and one saves a lot of money. Usually I pick my camping spot where there is no one else in sight! That night after just completing my meal the wind was blowing in a southerly direction as I heard voices about 400m away from me. I could not understand it because I made sure I was not close to any village or people. Later I heard a car start and the voices disappeared so I figured it was people on the tarmac road stopping for a pee or something.

ATBARA TO GEBEIT: 425km

This was my last big stretch to complete the 1400km from Wadi Halfa to Port Sudan. The wind became quite strong closer to the Red Sea and I struggled at 65-75km/h for most of the day. I also saw a few small sandstorms this day which was quite impressive. I did not eat that morning because all the small shops were closed and later that morning friendly guys invited me to yet anther breakfast at a truck stop. These truck stops are really helpful on these long stretches of bareness. Most of the time you can find a cold drink and something to eat. I laughed so much when I asked a Sudanese lady to take a photo of me: she aimed the camera in the wrong direction to in fact take a picture of herself then another guy who also did not have a clue tried to help her…the one tried to grab the camera and the other one tried to take the picture instead…it was so funny that I just started laughing. I got up from my bed and gave her a quick lesson of how to take a photo.

Just before sunset I made a last stop to buy a cup of coffee, Sudanese dates, local bread and “Laughing cow” cheese. My dinners at night in the desert are straight forward: 3 breads sandwiches with Laughing cow cheese on them and then maybe a can of peas.

It was getting dark and I still could not find a decent place to set my tent because the wind was very strong and I wanted to find a sheltered place. After riding fort about 15km in the dark I was in the middle of a few mountains and took the 1st small track into the mountains. It was a beautiful night with the moon being very bright and clouds hammering through the mountain peaks driven by the strong wind.

FINALLY THE RED SEA

Another 100km and I saw the Red Sea for the 1st time.  I completed this stretch of 1800km in 4 days which was a record distance for me. I have had enough of my bike for the next few days!! the Red Sea looks like one big dam with no waves at all. One sees many cargo ships going between Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Port Sudan.

I met up with Nevell and he took me to our hotel. Our room has zircon and it’s really a blessing after a few days of driving through the desert. The harbor of Port Sudan is quite spectacular with all the big ships loading and offloading cargo.

SHIPPING BIKES TO JORDAN??

We were supposed to meet the guy today who might ship our bikes to Jordan but it’s another some sort of holiday here so no offices are open. As soon as we have spoken to him we will know our modus operandi for the future. It might be a possibility to ship them but then we will have to fly to Cairo ourselves and take a bus to Jordan. Another problem we are facing is that we are running out of cash and there are no ATM’s here that accept Visa cards. No Credit cards work in the Sudan so we will just have to wait and see….

SUDANESE PEOPLE

At most of the truck stops the locals buys one a cold rink and most of the time they invite you to meal with them.

Hygiene is really low here: many of the cheaper hotels are quite dirty and there are a lot of flies in most of the restaurants. The cups are not always that clean and the people touch their feet a lot and greet you with the same hand. Most of the toilets stink and the urine smell are overwhelming.

While resting at a truck stop and being in the presence of 2 women they BURPED a lot 2m away from me. They will sit and speak to each other and the next moment you just hear a BIg BUUUURRRRRP!!!!…and this is quite normal……I just laughed and found it quite as profound, ha ha ha!!!

I very cute little girl also handed me a lot of sweets at one of the truck stops. Every 5 minutes she would pitch up with another type of sweet, she was very cute!

AMANDLA’s (MY BIKE) MECHANICAL CONDITION

After 34500km on the bike it still runs very well. Sometimes it gives a few coughs and makes a funny sound when I start him in the morning! The shocks are also sick once in a while but for now Amandla is still running like a dream!

Long discussions between Nevell and myself                 

We have had endless discussions between the 2 of us on the way further north, east west or even south. Don’t think that I am frustrated that we cannot go into Egypt or the fact that we are actually blocked at the moment. I see this as one big adventure because like I wrote in my previous blogs there are so many possibilities. I have even done a lot of research in my Africa Lonely Planet of flying the bikes to Morocco and do a few countries in West Africa. We have looked at the map from many different angles and have come up with all sorts of ideas of how we can get out of the Sudan. Most of our ideas are quite far fetched but it’s very funny and we have a good laugh about some of these ideas. It’s at this point where I am glad that we are not on a very tight schedule and that we have a fixed route otherwise the story could have been quite different                                             

Some info on Central African Republic (CAR      Sudan is bordered by the Central African Republic to the south west. I also did some research on this country and whilst reading through my Lonely Planet it was quite disappointing to read through which chaos CAR went in the past 50 years. This African country is another example of how a bad and corrupt government totally buggers up a country with huge potential. The president at that time went to a few African countries to borrow money with the aim to uplift the country but instead the money just disappeared. They borrowed money from South Africa and Libya to mention 2 and France (CAR was a French colony) had to repay the depth of over 20 million US dollars. The police and other government officials were not paid for months so one could just think what uproar this created.

Today CAR is still relatively unstable and it seems that there are a lot of police stops on the road where corrupt policemen will try to bribe you.

I would love to have been in all the African countries this continent has to offer! Traveling in central Africa is where one would get the real African experience I think!

Some info on the Size of the biggest countries in Africa   

Before Zaire broke up into Congo and The Democratic Republic of Congo it had a size of 2,65 million square km. Below is the facts:

1. Sudan : 2.5million km²
2. Democratic Republic of
   Congo : 2.345 km²
3. Algeria : 2.3 km²  
4. Libya 1.8 km²

The photo below was taken in the Nubian desert at sunrise.

Miles from nowhere!!

After 3 days, having done 900km and 17 hours in the seat I have made Dongola.

Currently we are traveling next to the longest river (Nile) in the world in the biggest country in Africa. Believe me, Sudan is one heck of a BIG COUNTRY. We are only riding through the northern half and it seems that the desert plains are never ending.

Khartoum to Meroe pyramids

We left Khartoum at 1:00 on Tuesday to do only 230km to the pyramids of Meroe. The route up north is the only connection with Port Sudan and therefore carries a lot of trucks carrying shipping containers. With my 200cc bike one has to plan very carefully when overtaking another vehicle due to the fact that I don’t have a turbo or booster built into my bike…So I was sitting behind a truck for about 3 minutes waiting for a chance to overtake with Nevell 15m behind me…the next moment I saw a 0,4m X 0,4m X 0,1m steel thing bouncing off the back of the truck!!! I swung out the left and missed it by a safe distance but the thing hit Nevell on the bottom side of his bike. He could not really swing out because then he was going straight into the oncoming traffic!! We stopped and analyzed the damage:  the plastic cover underneath his bike took a big blow and a few of the nuts was missing. The steel thing also scraped his tire and rim but with no real damage! I grabbed out a few cable ties and Nevell did an African fix.

Thanks to the Lord that he was kept unharmed that day!!

We arrived just before sunset at the pyramids and took a nice few photos from the very expensive lodge. At 600 Sudanese pounds ( R1500) for one night in this lodge we decided to desert camp 1km from the lodge. It was Nevell’s 1^st bush camp in his entire life but he really enjoyed it! It was absolutely great to be in the desert with all the stars and the quietness.

The next morning we hardly zipped our tents open and the camel boys wanted to sell a ride on their camels. I have never been on a camel in the desert so I got on for about 5 minutes. One really sits high off the ground with those camels if you are used to a horse.

The pyramids was quite cool, a 1^st for both of us. They say these pyramids are about 3000 years old. I enjoyed the engraving on the inside of these pyramids. In some of them you can walk inside for about 3m. They are very small in comparison with the Egyptian ones but it still was a good visit!

Meroe pyramids to somewhere in the desert

The one cool and bad thing about desert camping is that you wake up when the sun rises or even just before. Usually there is not a lot of shade around so by 7:30 you have to be packed and start the engines!

Yesterday was another big day of 380km of desert riding! We crossed the BAYUDA desert with a diameter of about 280km. I must say, this 280km must be one of the most lonely and far off places I have visited on this trip, this is just how I like it! I like deserts and places where the ordinary soul doesn’t want to dwell. Places where you see very few people and no infrastructure. My only problem is that I’m not very good friends with the sun and yesterday again I could feel that the sun got the better part of me.

At some stages we had a relatively strong headwind and in cases like these I struggle to ride Amandla more than 70km/h. At 70km/h in a big desert like the BAYUDA is feels if you are making no ground!!! At least I have a lot of time to stare at absolutely NOTHING!! Apart from a lot of sand, rocks and here and there a tree, there is absolutely nothing on these flat plains. I’m sure there are a lot of micro organisms but I don’t see them!

While driving through the Bayuda both Nevell and myself got that feeling of “now we are freaking far from home!!!”

We took breaks every 70-80km to drink water and relax. We planned to do desert camping next to the Nile river but there was too much people staying there so we decided to head into the desert for another night in the desert. We picked the 1^st dune and drove about 500m from the tarmac and pitched our tents in the middle of nowhere!

Nevell was the head chef last night and our meal looked like this: 2 minute noodles with maize and tuna.For desert we had coffee and peach halves. After our bath (in 2liter of water each) it was time to hit bed.

250km to Dongola

Nevell and I did the 1^st 25km together this morning and stopped to have breakfast which included 3 eggs and their lovely freshly bakes bread rolls. Before they hand you the bread roles they bang the rolls against each other and you just see white flour in the air.

Nevell decided that he does not want to go to Wadi Halfa at this stage; the Red Sea is magnetizing him at the moment! One has to travel great distances in the Sudan: from where we split this morning Wadi Halfa (on Egyptian border) is another 650km and from Wadi Halfa to Port Sudan is 1100km of riding through the Nubian Desert.

He was planning to reach Atbara today, a 300km journey, and then do 500km to Port Sudan tomorrow.

At this stage I have had enough of the sun for a while and might rest a day in Dongola.

Sudanese culture

One of the Sudanese’s most valuable possessions is a bed: you see beds everywhere and people sleeping and laying on them any time of the day. In the morning it seems that some of the people still has a lot of energy, but after 12:00 noon it seems like every one goes into s slow mode, or actually a sleeping mode!! Then after 16:00 some of them has some new energy! Some of the markets and supermarkets are open till late in the evening!

Accommodation is expensive! For a very crappy room you pay 30 – 50 Sudanese pound (R75 – R125). It’s also hard when one is used to the cheap prices of Ethiopia to get into a new mindset of the cost of things!

Air freight and shipping quotes

To ship our bikes from Port Sudan to Aquba (Jordan)_ will be 3500USD and will take 3 weeks. To send it by air freight will be over 1000USD. If we built the crates ourselves we can bring the price down to 500USD. I’m going to do some research in Wadi Halfa and see if it is possible to get our bikes into Egypt and Nevell is going to do the same in Port Sudan.

We will meet up in about 10 days when I complete the long stretch from Wadi to Port Sudan.

When I wanted to book into my hotel today, the receptionist asked me for my permission. I asked him what does he mean and he told me that I have to go and register with the police 1^st before they can give me a room, Sudan and their systems…..

Congratulations to my brothers!!!

A big handclap to my younger brother Rossie, after a few decades (just jokingJ) he finally completed and got his degree in economics!

Also congratulations to my youngest brother, Triiiiiisie who completed his 4 years at Stellenbosch!! Happy happy my brother!!! We are proud of both of you!

Look north and go forth!!!! Andon

TOTAL KILOS = 27 423KM AND GOING STRONG FOR 30 000KM. IF GOD IS FOR ME WHO CAN BE AGAINST ME? (ROM 8:37)

Ps: below is a photo of me at the Meroe pyramids. I lost my left foot in a landmine…..

After one week of chasing ghosts and running after admin both Nevell and myself has had enough of this bureaucratic system!

The one great advantage of our journey is that we are open for any route. Not many overland travelers have this option because the time factor limits many!

It’s so exiting to sit around a table with a view maps, the Lonely planet and the internet and try and sort out where we will go next!!! At this stage we could go anywhere…..??

For the 1st time I enquire of my readers to write comments on where you think we should go?? Or even make suggestions on the way further north!! Maybe someone out there could be of great help!!

We have several options of which I will discuss below:

1. CHAD

To go to Chad one has to pass through the Darfur area and this area has been in turmoil for a very long period of time. Some say the border is open while others say it is closed! One is never sure if they will turn you back halfway to Chad and tell you that it’s to dangerous to go further?? So this is not really an option for us!

2. Central African Republic

The border is located a little further to the south and one also has to go through a section of Darfur. We are also not sure on the road, from the map it seems sandy! This is also not a very safe option and I think one needs certain traveling permits to go to this section of the Sudan.

3. Eritrea

The border with Eritrea is open but then we sit with the same transportation problems to travel further north!

4. Saudi Arabia

The idea of traveling over the Red Sea really sounded like a great adventure but the Saudi embassy told us that they do not allow motorbikes into Saudi! This was after waiting for 2 days to get access into the embassy and then be turned away!

5.Jordan

There is not passenger ferry that runs directly over the Red Sea to Jordan. The only option is to send it via a cargo ship and this could take 3 weeks! We got some quotes today to fly it to Amman, Jordan and it seems that it will cost about 400-600USD for the bikes alone.

6.Egypt

Egypt is not really an option because we do not have the Carnet traveling documents and the 200% deposit to take our bikes through Egypt. The ferry that runs from Wadi Halfa to Aswan will not be working for 2 weeks because of some religious days.

7.Democratic Republic of the Gongo

We don’t really want to run from one problematic and dangerous country to a next. I have heard many bad reports from travelers about the DRC on this trip. Apart from this fact we would wish to go north or west,but not south.

8. Libya

On the map it seems that there is a border crossing with Libya in the far north western corner of Sudan, but according to one of the travelling agents this is only used by cargo trucks.

From the map it also seems like endless miles of deep sandy tracks and my bike is definintely not build for deep sand, I realized this many months ago on the Angolan shoreline.

At this stage the best option seems to take it by plane to Amman, Jordan. We are just waiting for a final quote from the agent and then we will make a decision. In the mean time we will go up north to go and explore the Sudan.So any one out there,some info,help,suggestions??? Please leave some comments???

On one of the travel blogs about 4 weeks ago we heard from a guy traveling in a 4X4 who was shot at with AK47′s while traveling in the southern part of Sudan. Due to the violence, instability and love for money traveling in this part of the world is limited, difficult and dangerous. The big event at Mecca (Saudi Arabia) is in 2 weeks or so and any procedures that have to run through the government will have to wait for 17 days.

Sudan has some pyramids about 200km to the north east of Khartoum where we will spend at least one night. From there we will travel west again all along the Nile to visit some historic places and then make a loop to the Egyptian border, turn south for a few hundred kilos and then east to the Red Sea for snorkeling. There are no ATM’s in the Sudan and my US dollars are almost depleted. Foreign credit or debit cards do not work so the only other option is to do money transfers from abroad but then they take a 10% cut which is quite a lot!

A Catfish in the Nile River

Last night the one German biker decided he is going to try his luck by fishing in the Nile River. He brought his adjustable rod and reel all the way from Germany as well as his German sausage for bait. I joined him on the jetty in front of our camping site. We will still making jokes and the next moment his rod almost disappeared into the longest river on our planet! He could not believe his eyes and fought the catfish for about 5 minutes before it was exhausted. He walked through the camping site showing all the campers his 5kg Catfish and he was indeed a very happy camper and fisherman!! We took some photos and were a moment to remember!!

Today while jumping from the one freight company to the next I observed a scale at the Lufthansa office and made full opportunity of it. I weighed in at 82kg, the lowest in years! This must be due to the heat of the Sudan, by drinking a lot of water and eating much less!! It’s good news for me because now the economy on my bike will be better and I don’t have to stress about the fact that I have developed a tummy at the age of 27, ha ha

!!

Area: 2.5 million square km (South Africa is 1,233 000 square km)

Borders: Egypt, Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, DRC,Kenya,Eritrea, Ethiopia.

Capital: Khartoum with 4.5 million people

Languages: Arabic, English, over 100 regional languages

Money: Sudanese pound. 1USD = 2.6 Sudanes pound. 1 Sudanese pound = R2,5.(South African)

Population = 41 million.

Seasons: Rainy season in north 9July to September), Red Sea coast(October to December) and south (April to November).

Highlights to visit.

Begrawiya : Sudans best preserved pyramids.

Wadi Halfa to Dongola: all along the Nile river.

Kassala: Dramatic mountains and diverse markets.

Nuba mountains in the south.

Diving in the Red Sea, some of the best dives in the world.

This info from Africa Lonely Planet (2007 version).

Elections will take place in January 2011 and at this stage the south and the north might split into 2 country’s. Oil and the water of the Nile is a major role player in this issue.

Sudan has some of the friendliest and most hospitable people in Africa and most overland travelers we met definitely agreed on this statement.

PS: please check the post below and gallery section for some pics if the internet allows it

Nile River below near our camping site, Blue Nile Sailing club