Nubian desert

Our trip from Khartoum to Wadi Halfa took us straight through the heart of the Nubian desert. We chose to follow the train line through the desert instead of taking the highway along the Nile since the train line route takes less time. The first thing to mention is that it is HOT here! Between 39 and 44 degrees everyday and cools down to about 35 at night! We knew we were in for a long hot trip. There are ten train stations between Abu Hamed and Wadi Halfa that serve the desert communities. Before we even reached Abu Hamed one of the truck family is so sick from dehydration he needs the hospital and a saline drip! How anyone can live out here is beyond me! Station six, a small village with water and cold drinks appeared out of nowhere. This water serves all the local communities and passers-by. Although we didn't see it, apparently there is a gold mine out here in the middle of nowhere with hundreds of people living in tents! To me, traveling through the desert was one of the best experiences on the trip! We saw almost no one over the three days and nights we spent along the train line. We knew the stations were used though because everywhere we stopped there were used toothbrushes littering the ground! We stopped at station five to set up camp for a night and it was like being in a science fiction movie! All these deserted buildings and nobody but us! The stars were amazing and most of us abandoned the tents to sleep on the sand. On the second full drive day the truck got bogged in the soft sand about four times! Out came the sand mats and shovels again and everybody helped out! It was way easier to get out of the sand than it was to get out of the mud a few days before!