Like desert, like people…many beautiful faces

Finally we left Khartoum. It’s fine to spend a night or two in the capitol but then I need to get out.

We drove up north into the desert. Well, you don’t have to drive far away from the Nile in order to encounter barren lands but still the desert is another thing altogether. However, there is no one desert. It has many shapes.

First night we stopped somewhere along the road behind an old house to protect from the wind. Frankly, I was disappointed, I was so much looking forward to the quietness of the desert and now I could hear the traffic passing by. Still, seeing the stars so brightly in the night just fills my heart with wonder and joy. Thanks to less light pollution they dance on the sky with intensity and clarity. With the app I am using I can even distinguish the constellations. I’ve been doing this many nights 🙂

But finally, on the second night we were really in the desert. We drove around 60k on sand paths away from the main road. We are 5 people in the car and the middle seat has its toll on the ass 😉 We slept west of Dongola in a beautiful oasis. I took my tent and went away from the rest of the group. Firstly, I am not a group person. Secondly, it pisses me off when we are in nature (to experience the silence) and then bring the (city) noise there. This was one of the best nights and in the morning I was able to do my morning routine of Qigong, Shuang Yang and even some meditation. I haven’t done much of this lately.

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The next day we went to an area called “Old Dongola”. In the middle ages it was part of a christian kingdom and later turned into islam (as also the whole Sudan did). So, the remains of a church can be found and many palasts and buildings. It always amazes me how an archeologist finds joy in their work. I mean, they are digging up sand, sometimes with spoons, in a fucking heat (we have around 40° C right now). However, the most impressing thing for me was to see a river through the desert. I mean a bloody oasis of water running through land that has none. The power of the stream is amazing and the life it brings to its people. On that same day we jumped into it and man it is so refreshing. Luckily, here are no crocodiles 😀

When it comes to archeological sites you have to imagine walking there with no other tourists. There are some at sites that are closer to Khartoum but at the rest there are none (especially in these times). And it is surprising that somehow the historic sites are not taken care of better. I mean, you could walk out with a stone under your arm.

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I am not going into detail of every day. But one other cool experience was the morning after we spent a night close to a vulcano. Although, an inactive one. Before sunrise I went up to the rim and enjoyed the view from there (and tried to avoid falling off due to the strong winds…coming to that later). And then, in the middle of the stony and barren land there is a small pond of water and green around. And what the people do here is quite interesting. They use the water and sprinkle it on the earth around, let it vaporize and sell the earth as a fertilizer. Apparently, the end result is bicarbonate of soda. And another source of income is asking for money for pictures 😉

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On arrival in Atbara we had the morning to ourself and I was walking through the market by myself. For me the highlight of Sudan are not the archeological sites nor the landscape…but the people. It is so easy to connect here. Of course, as a white tourist one stands out but I have never seen people so eager to talk with me. They come to you and want a picture with you (remember, we are in an Islamic country) and just to know where you come from, how you like Sudan or even what brings you here. A funny part for me is always when I ask them their name. The answer 50% of the time is…Mohammed 🙂 And of course, their life looks so much different from mine. But I let the people speak for themselves:

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Since several days we experience strong winds and the sand finds its way into everything. Last night I removed half of the Gobi desert from my tent 😀 The sand is an inconvenience, OK, but the wind makes it hard to sleep. My tent is shaking like crazy and making desperate noises: “Get me out of here Matthias!” I bought this tent nearly 20 years ago and it still serves me very well. I would buy a Kelty again but I hope this one will be my companion for many more years.

Saturday we had a highlight anybody visiting Sudan should see: The Meroe pyramids. Did you know that Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt? While their size is nothing like the Egyptian ones they are still impressive to me. The effort some cultures built into basically grave yards is beyond me. In these ones the dead are buried beneath the pyramid. You could say the pyramid is a historic cross of the modern Christian graves.

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A word about food. It is normal to share food and eat it with your hands. However, you should use your right hand only. Maybe in another post I explain how the toilets are working and you will know why to use the right hand only 😉 It is quite common to have a small breakfast after waking up. It consists of tea/coffee and whatever is available. Then there is another breakfast, which is rather a brunch somewhere around 10am. And this is a big feast with lots of different stuff. Eggs, meat and bread are common and then it depends on the “restaurant”. Maybe some beans and spicy sauce is added:

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The last 2 days I am stricken by diarrhea and in a funny way it reminds me of the good old MSF days. I am happy to announce that today is a much better day and I hope that I am through it. It got to everybody in the group one day and it was really funny how we did not get out of town because every now and then somebody had to make the run 😀

It has its pros and cons to travel in a group. Or maybe rather call them characteristics. I feel more like a consumer who is taken from place A to B. I don’t have to worry about finding accommodation, food, what to do etc. But on the other side I am losing the excitement of finding these things, planning the trip, having to hassle at the market etc. I have ups and downs with being in a group but I am more OK with it now than in the beginning. And I know even being by myself I would have those. It’s the flow of life and one does best just to accept it (and lovingly embrace it). I believe one big source of unhappiness is that we think we should think (and feel) different. We have been told that it is not OK to be angry, sad etc. That it isn’t OK to have “bad” thoughts. And then we punish ourselves for having them. When in the first place, we have little to none influence of them in the first place. They arise by themselves. If this sounds new to you try some mindfulness and observe what is going on in your head. What I found out so far is that the choice I have is whether to follow them. Frankly, still a long way to go from theoretical knowledge to practical application.

We had one night in Khartoum yesterday before we are heading out again in a couple of hours (depending when we will get Diesel). This time we will go west. Stay tuned 🙂

Love,

Matthias

PS: I wrote this post in the morning…we are still waiting for the diesel…