Sussing Sudan

[Flying mermaid]

Taking my seat just in time for the good stuff

 

[JohnM]

At least the little point and shoot camera won't fog up !!

It didn't fog up and fail, but it didn't like the dust . On a couple of occasions it showed the dreaded 'switch off and back on' message. A couple of thumps on the palm of my hand got it working again immediately.

I can still hear grinding as the lens zooms .

Sony cameras (at least the HX90V) do not seem to be very robust. After my experiences, it would be very hard to recommend it.

 

[JohnM]

Before I forget: I have a Fibit Versa watch that does all the usual FitBit step-counting. According to the device, most days in Sudan I was doing about 20-30K steps. While there was frequent walking, no way was I doing that many.

It was the 4WD driving. The device was racking up steps like fury the more we bounced! It's similar to the experience I had on a horse-riding morning in the Pantanal on my last trip.

 

[RoMambai]

I guess it depends on the level of the work experience kid that gets to do these jobs...

I'm sure it won't come to it but I'd be interested to see how long your bravado lasts if you do require consular assistance. I've seen stronger folk turn to butter when the worm turns. Just saying...

 

[RoMambai]

separates it from, um ... Afghanistan. There's a border crossing just out of town .... I wonder if Afghanistan offers Visa on Arrival - then it will be the 6 Stans tour ...

Unfortunately Afghanistan doesn't issue VOA or else it would have been worth considering. The north is inhabitated predominantly by Uzbeks and Tajiks and is relatively safe. I got to Mazar and thought it was gorgeous.

 

[JohnM]

I was being flippant... Despite appearances to the contrary, I am cautious and do my homework - but I do get a bit sick of the 'reconsider your need to travel' mantra from DFAT. One of the pax on the tour was the MD of a DMC (destination management company), so a super-experienced and savvy traveller (and a QF WP, for sharing tales with ). She told of an experience in Asia where DFAT was much slower that the Brit FCO at revising their warnings to a lower status - to the frustration of local consular staff because of the inconsistency (as noted upthread)

I met someone while on this trip who had travelled in N Pakistan and they said it was beautiful. Places that don't issue VoA are a PITA.

BTW, with Sudan, be prepared to lose two pages of your passport should you consider going. One for the visa, about half for the 'Registration' and almost half for the exit stamp banged right in the middle of the vacant space below the registration sticker .

 

[JohnM]

Day 2.



Morning, and breakfast with omelette to come. Another of the Tenebrionid beetles (same family as the fog-harvesting beetles of the Namib Desert), but no visible fog to harvest here, despite the pose.



On our camping nights, we would go for a c. 2km walk after breakfast and packing our tents and gear with the leader while the crew loaded the vehicles. They would then drive to pick us up and we’d carry on. You wouldn’t last long if stranded out there. Pretty patterns in the occasional bit of sand.



Here comes the cavalry. And off we go again – making our own road.




And on it goes. Some of the occasional natives. It was early in the dry season and there was periodically some still green and flowering vegetation in depressions.



Pit-stop near a hill or rocks every 1-1.5h. The last tourist who ignored instructions… On big flats, we fanned out and went for a burn…

 

[JohnM]

Nomads’ well.






Nomads’ compound and hut. There were some trees in the area.





While we were looking at that, the crew were setting up lunch under a very nice shady tree.



Some visitors – a man, his daughter and her son. Then on our way again (yee-ha!). Uh-oh, the Formation Bogging Team in action: three of the five vehicles stuck. The sand dunes are interesting in that they can be quite firm but suddenly a soft patch that is not visually distinguishable from the rest occurs.



Out with the sand-ladders.



And on to make camp again. No shortage of space to pitch a tent…

 

[Cossie]

Hmmm, those sand ladders are of a type that looks familiar!

Enjoying this TR, it also brings back a lot of memories....

 

[JohnM]

Day 3.

And heading further NNW.




Specks in the sand at dawn.



And, after breakfast, the pilgrims wander into the desert. And what, apart from sand, is here to photograph?



Evidence of previous life. Beds of mollusc shells. The Nile or some tributaries must have come here.



We thumb a ride and we’re off again. Next stop fortress Gala Abu Hamed. Discovered by a German archaeological expedition in the 1980s and dated to the Napatean time (700-400 BCE) (NB. not to be confused with the Nabataeans of Petra in Jordan), the ruins of the fortress are mainly huge boundary walls about 100m high, now partially covered by sand. The place was probably used as a prison for slaves coming from Central Africa. It remains a mystery how the place could have been inhabited since there is no water at all.

 

[JohnM]

Then on a few kms to an array of petroglyphs on the surface of flat rocks. Some peculiar-looking geology, the origin of which, @RooFlyer can probably comment about. Looked to me like some igneous/metamorphic rock over sedimentary in places and in other places a thin lava flow.





Pit stop a little later near some breakaway hills. Some strange-looking nodule-like rocks laying around.



As previously noted, there clearly had been some rain scattered around the region during the earlier wet season, with plants now coming to maturity.



And on we go until… bogged again. Just one vehicle – the one I was in. The track of one of the other vehicles that went over this dune is just a few metres to the left. A combination of firmer ground and the right momentum means the difference between getting over and going down. This one went down to the axles and needed a bit of a pull to get it onto the sand ladders.



The hole. This little guy appeared from nowhere at the bog site. He quickly darted for shade (although it wasn’t very hot. We had maxima in the low-mid 30s most of the time. Even though air temperature wasn’t excessive radiant heat was quite intense.)

 

[juddles]

Then on a few kms to an array of petroglyphs on the surface of flat rocks. Some peculiar-looking geology, the origin of which, @RooFlyer can probably comment about. Looked to me like some igneous/metamorphic rock over sedimentary in places and in other places a thin lava flow.....

NOOOO!!!!! What is wrong with just admiring something, without getting someone in to kill the joy with super-multiple-syllable words??

 

[juddles]

BTW, after finally having some quiet moments to catch up on this TR, I actually stopped putting in individual "likes" - I think I need a personal slide-show with interactive commentary Maybe, let's say, in March?

 

[RooFlyer]

Some peculiar-looking geology, the origin of which, @RooFlyer can probably comment about. Looked to me like some igneous/metamorphic rock over sedimentary in places and in other places a thin lava flow.

Beats me - but it does look like a gloriously wind and sand blasted patina on ferricrete and truly fab-o petroglyphs. Who/when?

Some strange-looking nodule-like rocks laying around.

What, more nodules? What is it with the nodules?

And on we go until… bogged again.

I knew I wouldn't like this trip if i went on it.

NOOOO!!!!! What is wrong with just admiring something, without getting someone in to kill the joy with super-multiple-syllable words??

Ooops, too late.

 

[juddles]

Peek-a-boo; anyone there?

I’M BAAAAAACK! .....Contrary to general expectations, reports of my violent or grisly demise in a hail of Kalashnikov bullets or by ritual beheading were exaggerated......I did not see a single police officer wearing sidearms or carrying anything more than a stick......

Now that you are safely out let me burst a small bubble in your ideas

"I did not see a single police officer wearing sidearms or carrying anything more than a stick" - LOL - even though I agree that is usually the sign of a peaceful place and low threat, it can also be the opposite. In "some" places the situation is so bad that the rebels/gangs/paramilitarys/etc only ALLOW the police to carry sticks

As for the grisly demise, fate would probably favour your end being somewhere in a deep hole in Chile after scoffing at offered wines....

 

[juddles]

Beats me - but it does look like a gloriously wind and sand blasted patina on ferricrete and truly fab-o petroglyphs. Who/when?



What, more nodules? What is it with the nodules?



I knew I wouldn't like this trip if i went on it.



Ooops, too late.

Just to be difficult Rooflyer, I offer you this quiz: When anyone is foolish enough to ask me what material some sort of rock is, I always reply "igneous". When they start to suggest sedimentary, etc, I simply go back to my defence that everything started oozing out of a volcano - no matter what transformations have taken place since...

 

[RooFlyer]

Just to be difficult Rooflyer, I offer you this quiz: When anyone is foolish enough to ask me what material some sort of rock is, I always reply "igneous". When they start to suggest sedimentary, etc, I simply go back to my defence that everything started oozing out of a volcano - no matter what transformations have taken place since...

Question: What came before the volcanoes? Answer: ask Mrs juddles to get this for you for Christmas. Or, I can tell you, if you have a few days ...

 

[juddles]

Question: What came before the volcanoes? Answer: ask Mrs juddles to get this for you for Christmas. Or, I can tell you, if you have a few days ...

AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! I have already suffered this! Trapped in a vehicle for 14 hrs with a geo a few years back - I asked an innocent question about something and he started out with something about the world being like an egg - yolk, etc. I thought I had finally got past that experience.

 

[RooFlyer]

Just 14 hours? Nutt'n. JohnM signed up for the full 2 weeks intensive course a couple of years back. But as he still seems to be missing some of the basics, I think a couple of weeks in the Stans are called for.

 

[juddles]

Just 14 hours? Nutt'n. JohnM signed up for the full 2 weeks intensive course a couple of years back. But as he still seems to be missing some of the basics, I think a couple of weeks in the Stans are called for.

My mind managed a self-preservation thing and I think I blacked out at that point.