My first day in Sudan didn't bode well. I arrived at 3am and queued another hour at immigration. Luckily my dodgy visa issued by the Sudanese embassy in the UK didn't cause any issues. I mean scrapping off the last digit and writing in the correct number on the visa is a red flag in any other country but apparantly not in Sudan. Then I was in the arrivals hall with many men waiting around. They all wanted to give me a ride and offer me lots of money to change from dollars. My transfer I arranged didn't turn up so I waited around just in case he was late. I got fed up with the men wanting to take me to their hotel that I approached the only man who smiled at me that was sitting in one of those info booths except it wasn't an info booth just a booth selling stuff. I asked him for help and he did. He called my hotel and arrranged for them to come pick me up, he gave me his password for his personal wifi code and he let me sit in his booth and gave me a drink. 15 minutes later I was in my hotel room. I slept straight away and was up at midday. I went to reception to enquire why the internet wasn't working and found out that facebook, messenger, whatsapp etc was sanctioned and cannot be used in Sudan. The lovely Zoba in reception told me to install a vpn app and then everything worked. I ventured outside to get something to eat and was met with the hot African heat and smell like a slap in the face. I found ladies frying and selling what lloked like doughnut holes. They were 1 Sudanese pounds each so I bought 10. It's 70 Sudanese pounds to the dollar so you can imagine how cheap everything is and that is amazing. After lunch I went back to my room to sleep some more. That's when I met my new friend, Mr Mouse. From the corner of my eye I saw something pop up near my bag. I knew I had some snacks in there and everytime I moved Mr Mouse disappeared. Then he appeared again. As I didn't want to have Mr Mouse all over me while sleeping I decided to catch the little bugger. After a few hours and with the help of an ashtray, tooth pick and dental floss, I caught him and released him outside the window. I knew he might come back eventually. Then I fell asleep ready for the next day's trip to the desert.
We headed into the desert in a convoy of 5 4x4 as there were 15 of us in the group plus the rest of the team. It would take a whole day to get to our destination which was the pyramids of Meroe. Before that we stopped along the way at local rest stops for tea or coffee and snacks but most of all the obligatory black market gasoline. As most of all the oil is in the South of Sudan, they nearly always run out of fuel in Sudan especially from the state run gas stations. So most people buy black market gasoline. So the drivers were constaly getting the jerry cans and hose to fill up their 4x4s. We finally got to the pyramids just before sunset and it was worth waiting for. Beautiful pyramids in the desert covered in a beautiful orange light from the setting sun. After spending time sinking in the sand and looking at every pyramid it was finally time to camp. I decided against the tent and opted to sleep in the drivers car. He made a space for me in the back of the truck and he slept in the tent. At least this way I was shielded from the strong winds, the annoying sand and any desert creepy crawlies. Well 2 out of 3 was good as I was visited by a spider at 1am. I felt something crawl across my chest and instinctively grabbed it and I could feel it curl into a round fuzzy ball about the size of a ping pong ball and I threw it against the window and sat bolt upright as I saw it crawl away. I realised it was still inside the car so I wasn't able to sleep all night. I just watched the milky way and just as the sun was rising saw a load of people set up a market right next to our camp.
The next morning we headed to Karima and to more pyramids along the way. I slept in the car most of the way because of the lack of sleep the previous night. We stayed in a local guesthouse. It was more like a dorm style building but at least there was a clean toilet and shower albeit a cold one. We found a mini beach along the Nile and some of the group went for a swim. I explored the area meeting the kids and the boat workers along the Nile. We ran out of fuel again and still couldn't find any legal fuel and had to rely on the black market again. It did take longer this time so we were stuck in a small town of Tanqosy. I found a starbucks equivalent. A lady who ran a tea/coffee shop invited me to sit down and offered me tea. She wouldn't take any money of course no matter how much I insisted. She was happy I was Indian and was happy to name the many actors and actreses to me. Then she got on her phone and I guess I became the talk of the town as everyone wanted to meet the Indian girl. Suddenly I was surrounded by very many people. Luckily the fuel was found and the 4x4s filled up and I was ready to go. I don't think I would starve in Sudan as I was invited to everyone's house for a meal. After 6 hours and a 2 hour delay we finally made it to Khartoum at 10pm where I headed straight to my favourite shwarma shop with the lovely Syrian guy serving me the best shwarma in Sudan.
We had a late start the next morning with a visit to the local camel market. Some camels sell for thousands of dollars. I guess it is cheaper then a car I suppose. Then we headed to the market to buy the every popular peanut paste. As usual I went to pay for mine and the lady who was also buying some bought it for me no matter how much I insisted I paid. Then she took me to have some tea and again as she went to pay another man paid for us. I can't believe how friendly people are and so generous too. I know everything is cheap here even my meal was a dollar each time even with a drink. I only exchanged $10 but I was only able to spend half of that as I changed it back at the hotel and got $5 back. It's hard to spend money here when everything is so cheap or free.
Then it was on to the obligatory Nile cruise. We had a lovely hour on the Nile and saw where the white and blue Nile meet. Then as the sun was setting we headed to the only 5 star hotel in Khartoum, the Corinthia hotel but affectionately known as the Gaddafi hotel for an all you can eat $25 buffet. I forgot to say that Sudan is an alcohol free country as it is illegal so we drank lots of mocktails at the Gaddafi hotel.
We spent our last day at the Palace and National hotel. As it was Friday everything shuts for 2 hours from midday for juma. So I was happy for the break and slept. At 4pm we headed to the Hamid el Nil cemetary to see Sufis gather to celebrate the prophet, dance and sing like whirling dervishes. It was a site to see but it wasn't as inclusive as it said it was supposed to be. The women are second class citizens as usual. They weren't even allowed in the front of the circle. They had to be at the back. I tried to enter the inner circle to where the other males in my group were and was quickly expelled. Luckily for me I was waved away by many wagging fingers as another lady who entered the circle was chased away by a stick.
When we got back to the hotel to pack we heard on the news that the President had just sacked his government and declared a curfew. This got me a little worried as I needed to leave at midnight to get to the hotel for my 3am flight. My taxi came on schedule and the roads were clear but the airport was so busy. There were so many people there and it didn't look like there was a curfew at all. I barged passed the poeple to get into the airport and checked in. Then headed into departures and waited for my flight to Cairo and then onto London. Everything went well except for a slight delay but boy was I happy to take off as I had no clue what was to come the following day.
