A message from Dongola, a middle-large town on the Nile, half-way between the Egyptian border and Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. We’re camping on the grounds of a former zoo, which went out of business in 1998. Looking at all the children that are standing on the fences trying to catch a glimp of us, monkey watching has never stopped!
The past four days we traveled 430 km through the desert, 90% on off-the-road conditions: sometimes packed dirt, sometimes loose sand that smothers your bike, and almost always the road is corrugated. This of course slows you off enormously, and it wears you down. You constantly have to be on the alert to find the right track to minimize the vibrations. I’m very glad I bought a mountain bike with front suspension, it makes these corrugations a little bit less tiring. A lot of riders are having a hard time, starting at 8.00h and coming in around 16.30h, totally worn down. For me it is very hard as well, but luckily I manage to get to camp on a reasonable time. My body is still working ok, no need for any worries (yet!).
The scenery is absolutely breathtaking: very dry, spacious and empty, beautiful. The villages we pass are poor, but everybody has large clay houses, some of them decorated with all sorts of colors, and built to keep the heat out.
The people are very open and friendly, and willing to have a chat with you or to be put on photo. This also goes for the veiled women. Upon till now Sudan does not comply with the image that normally is presented in the media. But then of course this hardly ever is about the ordinary people.
Temperatures are gradually rising, yesterday we hit the 30 degrees mark, so no problem there yet. Probably it will get higher every day, I wonder how I will adjust to that.
Tomorrow we will be leaving for Khartoum, 600 km in 5 days. Luckily it will be a 100% tarmac road, that should be a nice ride.