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30th august - 7th september

Overlanding across Afica in our Land Rover Defender: Sudan

Andy Lees
2006-05-14 17:59:50

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ferry to sudan (wadi halfa) - 30th/31st august

shut in our cabin the 18 hour journey passed surprisingly quickly, emerging only to present, handover and then re-find our passports. we were both looking forward to seeing the land rover again after its solo adventure across lake nasser. an unfortunate incident (a man overboard) meant that there was a delay in disembarking and as we waited on the bow we could see no sign of the pontoon or its load. dismayed, we made our way to customs where we were assured that this wasn't a problem and our car would be with us by 1.00pm the next day. there was nothing we could do but wait so we headed for the town and found a bed for the night.

at 10.00pm the generator slowed theatrically and spluttered to a halt. now the silence was only broken by the buzz of orbiting mosquitoes. the fan had stopped with the generator. the heat was thick in the air, almost heavy in the darkness. the mosquitoes were shooed with only a token wave of the hand; it was too hot for anything more. on metal framed beds in a concrete room, we lay on our backs, posed like gingerbread men, sweating. no sheets were provided or required.

wadi halfa - 1st september

awaking at first light we refreshed ourselves with a bucket shower, and whilst enjoying our first cup of sweet sudanese tea we were hurried along by mr kamal (general organiser for all western tourists) who assured us that our car was ready for collection. excited, we jumped in a pick-up truck and headed for the port where mr kamal instructed us to collect the car and then promptly left us to sort some more pressing business. now wadi halfa port is not a big place but there is some serious distance to cross by foot. still we could not see the car at either of the docks. after walking to the wrong dock we crossed to another and were rewarded with the sight of the land rover safely moored to the side of the passenger ferry. ...