Leaving Ethiopia we drove down out of the mountain range and onto the HOT plains of North-East Sudan. Crossing the border was easy but the border town left us thinking Sudan would be exactly like Ethiopia. After 8 or 9 months surrounded by poverty and filth some of us are feeling suffocated by it. Like you might go crazy if you can't get away from it for just a few minutes! Our 4 star hotel in Gondar did give us a small break but it also provided a very harsh contrast, showing us all how our lives back home compare to those of the people here. Immediately I feel guilty for feeling so suffocated by what is normal everyday life In most of Africa. Oh our first world pains... surely I can do this for another month!
We find that leaving Ethiopia we leave "Africa proper" and enter the Arab world and a more "Middle-East" feel. With this comes and immense shift. Almost immediately, we notice the power lines seem more solid, the roads are better, and the farmers actually have tractors and farming equipment rather than wooden ploughs pulled by oxen. There is a collective sigh of relief and the sense that Sudan is going to be a refreshing change!
On our first night in Sudan, we bush camped somewhere en route to Khartoum. We pulled into an absolutely beautiful bush camp and set up camp. As I sometimes do, I decided to sleep in the truck rather than setting up a tent. Shorty after 10pm, the rains came and the sky unleashed it's fury! We were later told this was the worst rainstorm in 10 years! Well, in the middle of the night people came running into the truck! Tents were flooding and being blown away! We woke up to a river that wasn't there the night before and a huge mess to clean up!
Turns out the flooded out tents are the least of our worries! It didn't take long to realize the truck was bogged and we'd need to cross the new river to get back to the highway! Down came the sand mats and shovels....
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