Let’s try to do this great stage!
I bring the alarm ahead of half an hour, when I go down to the hall I find the manager asleep on a armchair, while listening to prayers from a radio station, from the television … last night too they were listening to the radio from the television they were all sitting down listening, watching the blue screen indicating the radio frequencies. He is sleeping, surely they have not prepared anything I think, shit, instead on my table everything is ready and protected by domopack, I manage to keep for the journey, a cheese sandwich and a apple. I pay without receipt because otherwise I have to add the taxes … the world is the same wherever you go … but my passport and visa are registered accurately on two registers … don’t cross checks exist here?
It is a shame that tourism in Sudan, and the number of hotels, is not yet developed because with the care and attention to the person they have they would certainly be among the best in the world.
I start off, turn North, heading towards Khartoum, the wind pushes me, but I am never relaxed I am always scared of that turn to the left, typical of when you find the biggest cities, which means adverse wind, the distance to cover is remarkable, it will be increasingly hot, I have to drink and eat, but mainly drink … In the first four hours I cover more than 100 kilometers, I think it is done, even if I will find an adverse wind, I will reach around ten at night …
I stop to drink systematically, a lot of water and low fat yoghurt, around one a couple of packets of crisps too, it may not be very professional, but they give me a bit of salt, and the feeling that I am eating something I needed …
From one onwards, the heat becomes unbearable, the wind too is hot, my body needs water … drinking is not enough, I would need a cold shower … but also for this, for now, Sudan is very organized, there are very often, next to bus stops, in petrol stations, or simply in front of shops some shelters, with under some terracotta containers, full of water for the travelers and the believers who want to do the ablutions … the water is more or less fresh depending from the structure, but all have a steel cup … it is the first thing I look for when I arrive … I take the water and I pour it first on shoulders and head, then I remove the helmet, and I pass on to head and face, the legs get all the brought-down water, it is a feeling of indescribable relief, the temperature goes down, the head thinks better, the fresh effect lasts exaggerating twenty minutes, then you are again like before and more than before … it goes on like this until five in the afternoon … then the temperature lowers a bit …
Getting closer to big African capitals, made exception for Dodoma, is always the same: the number of cities, factories, here I have seen many producing iron, and the traffic increases … the latter lets you understand that your destination is not far, and a bit of traffic helps with the adverse wind, many greet me with their thumbs up in sign of approval, the research of the Acropole Hotel, a benchmark for anyone visiting Sudan is long, but worth it, they did for me the registration at the Immigration Office, prepared the letter authorizing me to travel North and to take pictures, and … booked the ferry boat, to Aswan because they told me that flight prices have wildly increased and many opt for the ferry boat …
I think I could have been a decent Gregorian, and I look at the last stages, I impress myself a bit, … what a laugh, even today, the police is obsessed with the beer or whisky, today I had some tea in the bottle, but the question was the same …
The arrival in Khartoum, with an imminent storm, the desert roads because the people are eating for the end of Ramadan, is surreal, it looks like an abandoned city, here and there, groups of people eating on carpets, the wind, the dark, the singing coming front the mosques, and few cars … then after eating the roads repopulate themselves … and everything returns welcoming … this is Sudan.
Wad Madani 14° 39,954’ E 33° 52,026’ – Karthoum 15° 55,010’ E 32° 53,224’
193 km