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Provided By: Muslim Harji
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Travel Log - From Cairo to
Cape Town
Update #4 - Feb. 4, 2006
Dear Friends and Family, and of course, my very special Mom,
we have reached Khartoum! What an amazing city! Compared to the dusty, sleepy
villages and towns we have been seeing, arriving in this (paved.. phew!)
metropolitan city is like a breath of fresh air! We arrived today, after a 30-km
convoyed ride into the city. This convoy has to be the funniest one so far,
because there were Sudanese police at the front, sirens blazing, leading us
through the city. You would have thought royalty was coming to town! It was all
I could do not to wave like the queen to the hundreds of people lining the
streets watching us pedal in. Of course, this also opens the door for some more
serious problems - there is no better way to highlight the fact that we are a
large bunch of seemingly rich foreigners that are now camping with all our
expensive equipment than to have the entire city know about it as we come riding
in with the cops... Oh well, we'll see how it goes. We are camping on the
grounds of the Blue Nile Sailing Club, a very chi-chi little yacht club with
rich westerners and Europeans drinking soda on the waterfront. We are all a
little out of place because we are extremely dirty, windswept and tired, not at
all like the other club clientele. The spot is really beautiful, however, and is
the site where the Blue and White Nile Rivers converge. Before coming here, I
didn't even know there were two different colored bodies of water that composed
the Nile! We have now been in the Sudan for about a week (I've completely lost
all notion of date and time!) and would have written earlier at our previous
rest day in Dongola but the entire city had only a handful of terminals and,
horror of horrors, it was dial-up! They were asking for the equivalent of $13
USD per hour so we nixed that idea and decided to wait until Khartoum.
Northern Sudan has been a tremendous experience, filled with wonderful memories.
First, let me tell you a little bit about the biking and then perhaps more about
the things that really bring the Sudan to life for me in my mind. Biking has
been brutal, plain and simple. After the paved roads of Egypt, we arrived off
the ferry at Wadi Halfa, only to find dust, deep sand, huge rocks and potholes.
I have now learned (and felt) the meaning of corrugated roads, much to my
displeasure and discomfort (for those of you still lucky enough to not know what
that means, it's when the road is made up of small mounds of hard-packed rock
and sand that you ride like waves. It is THE MOST jarring and jerking you will
ever experience, sort of like what happens when you stall a standard car, but
non-stop for tens of kilometers on end). The roads here, if i can even call them
that, are horrible for biking, but give us a true sense of what Africa is like.
If the road by itself wasn't bad enough, the heat here is tremendous. Two days
ago, it was 52 degrees Celsius as we biked, 30 degrees at night when we try to
sleep. The conditions are really quite extreme, and although we are constantly
drinking water, in one 30 km stretch, I drank 4 liters of water with another 20
kms ahead and no chance to refill my water bottles. This type of situation is
not uncommon, as we consume massive amounts of water, but to stave off complete
dehydration, we hitched a ride with some Chinese electrical engineers. Yes, you
read that right, Chinese electrical engineers out in the middle of nowhere in
the Sudan! We have seen relatively many Chinese people out here, all helping to
bring Electricity to the most remote regions of the country, and while at first
it was a surprise, now it has become a common occurrence. I have noticed though,
that compared to Egypt (especially around the Red Sea - where all the oil
excavation is being done), Sudan is not being as rapidly developed by outsiders.
I could wonder aloud (very sarcastically) why nobody takes an interest in the
Sudan, but i think that would be wasting my energy.
The heat is not the only extreme weather that we have gotten. Yesterday, in
fact, we rode through a dust storm! This was a pretty amazing experience, if not
a little tough on my eyes, which were constantly filled with sand. Riding in a
dust storm is like driving in the fog. You can barely see more than a meter or
two ahead of you and everything around you is a blur. The one big difference, of
course, is that the sand and dust that were lifted off the floor of the Sahara
(yes, we are riding across the Sahara Desert!!!) hit you all over, and it can be
a little painful. It was just like one big long skin exfoliation exercise, but
definitely a memorable experience.
I am really loving the Sudan, however grim
I may have made it sound so far. The tough weather and road conditions are
tempered by the warmth and friendliness of the Sudanese people everywhere we go.
One day, in the small town of Karima, we were invited into the home of a man we
didn't know, who didn't speak any english at all. Being the cautious traveller,
I was worried that this was going to be some sort of scam with a request for
payment at the end, but we went in and sat down on the floor of a thatched
little open-air hut surrounded by palm trees. After some small talk where, with
some difficulty, we explained to them that we were on a bicycle expedition (only
to get the same incredulous response), a young boy came forward with an
enormous tray that he put down on the floor. He uncovered four bowls of food -
salad, a delicious curry-type dish similar to what my mom makes at home, beans
(called foul, pronounced "fool") and a sweet vermicelli dish (like sev for all
you Indians out there). Around the four bowls were round pieces of bread and we
all sat there on the floor and ate together. The man also gave us a tour of his
compound (including ahis home, a wheat-grinder, a kitchen and a women's section
- there were a lot of them, don't know how many wives this guy has, but anyway)
and also gave us fresh figs right off a tree. After all this, they just led us
back into the street, we all said our goodbyes and they pointed us back in the
direction from whence we came. No money, no payment, no nothing. It was just
plain and simple hospitality, and he disappeared back into his home like this
was nothing out of the ordinary. Everywhere along the road, many members of our
group have experienced similar displays of openness and good will from the
people in this country. In the Sudan, unlike in Egypt, when people invite you in
for a "welcome tea", it really is for just tea and not "please have tea and now
buy something form my store." It really is wonderful! So far, we have not felt
the least bit threatened or in danger and although there is much civil unrest in
parts of the Sudan, the people we have encountered have always gone above and
beyond to make us feel welcome in their country.
After Khartoum, we will head off towards the Ethiopian border, towards a new
country with new surprises. Unfortunately, this email has already gotten too
long and i'm going to say goodbye for now, but we'll try to write again soon! If
any of you would like to read past journal entries, you can find truncated
versions of the originals on the Aga Khan Foundation Canada Website under Pedal
for Hope. Of course, at the same time, you can also make your very valuable
contribution to our cause, if you have not done so already, and encourage all
your friends and acquaintances to do the same!
Much love,
Ayesha and Muslim
Sunset on Lake Nasser… between Egypt and Sudan
“Biking has been brutal, plain and simple. After the paved roads of Egypt, we
arrived off the ferry at Wadi Halfa, only to find dust, deep sand, huge rocks
and potholes. I have now learned (and felt) the meaning of corrugated roads,
much to my displeasure and discomfort). The roads here, if i can even call them
that, are horrible for biking, but give us a true sense of what Africa is like.
If the road by itself wasn't bad enough, the heat here is tremendous. Two days
ago, it was 52 degrees Celsius as we biked, 30 degrees at night when we try to
sleep. The conditions are really quite extreme, and although we are constantly
drinking water, in one 30 km stretch, I drank 4 liters of water with another 20
kms ahead and no chance to refill my water bottles. This type of situation is
not uncommon, as we consume massive amounts of water,”
“One day, in the small town of Karima, we were invited
into the home of a man we didn't know, who didn't speak any English at all.
Being the cautious traveler, I was worried that this was going to be some sort
of scam with a request for payment at the end, but we went in and sat down on
the floor of a thatched little open-air hut surrounded by palm trees. After some
small talk where, with some difficulty, we explained to them that we were on a
bicycle expedition (only to get the same incredulous response), a young boy came
forward with an enormous tray that he put down on the floor. He uncovered four
bowls of food - salad, a delicious curry-type dish similar to what my mom makes
at home, beans (called foul, pronounced "fool") and a sweet vermicelli dish
(like sev for all you Indians out there). Around the four bowls were round
pieces of bread and we all sat there on the floor and ate together. After all
this, they just led us back into the street, we all said our goodbyes and they
pointed us back in the direction from whence we came. No money, no payment, no
nothing. It was just plain and simple hospitality, and he disappeared back into
his home like this was nothing out of the ordinary.”
Falafel Vendor on Street of Dongala Sudan
Connecting with Young people.. University of Khartoum Sudan
Enjoying Unconditional Sudanese Hospitality
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