Met my good UN friend from Denmark this morning at the place I had to meet my bus. He is the logistic officer who told me he looks out for us Canadians and our prized GOLD bags. These are the bags that Canada House ships our boxes from home in. When he spotted me he said that my three gold bags (Thanks MOM!!!) were there and ready to go BUT there is no aircraft to ship them. He went and spoke to the driver and security and basically forced them to take my bags on the bus with us to Damazin..It was awesome!! (Owe him a beer or two).
There were two buses going to Damazin and they were the UN buses...Just a little bigger than the Park-and-fly buses at Toronto airport. There were 21 seats (actually 3 half seats) and 21 people on each bus. This also had to include our luggage which was stored behind the last set of seats (not even large enough for storage underneath). The bus had A/C and a radio. My fellow passengers were all from the Pakistan Army who were all heading to Damazin where they work. I was the only one in uniform. Oh and the only real English one...LOL.
The seats were VERY small and most had wheel housings or A/C or something so you couldn't have both feet on the ground in a normal sitting position. As we left Khartoum I could not stop watching out the window as we drove through the parts of the city that we were never allowed to go. This is where most of the people lived and their markets were. It was amazing to see.
As we left Khartoum I finally got to see the desert, vast openness with barely any vegetation. It was interesting to watch the landscape change constantly as we drove along our 8 hour trip. There were deserts, farm land, small forests and one or two mountains. We traveled along the great Blue Nile for part of the trip. Other times we would cross over extended parts of the Blue Nile. It was interesting to see a desert landscape with a large berm about 100 m away and once you were able to see over the berm there was the Nile.... I figured there would be more vegetation for a greater distance from the water... not just 20 ft.
We passed many many villages. Some were in the middle of nowhere. You wonder how they eat and live (I will find this out in about a week as I start traveling to them). Other villages (still in the middle of nowhere) were alive and bustling with traffic and people. I can sort of equate it to rural Ontario or Canada. We have vast spaces and then a town with a couple of stores and a few homes and then vast emptiness again.
Animals - True African experience...NOT! During the trip I had seen MANY donkeys and Goats (the two main livestock here) and a few cows and a horse of two. The coolest was seeing a caravan of camels and another group herding goats on camels.
Interesting.....Only two hours outside Khartoum and I spot a village with the South Sudan Flag and a building/compound marked as SPLM. Very unusual as they are primarily in the south Sudan area....South of the 1-1-56 line.
Oh by the way, I should mention that the great Blue Nile... Not so blue... milky brown is more like it.
This highway is really interesting....It's two lanes wide, no lines at all, no shoulder and vehicles (including ours) going above 90kms towards each other...
We stopped at a gas station for a group pee break... Located right behind the gas station was an IDP style camp. Internally Displaced Persons. Basically a Shanty Town. Probably about 2-3,000 people. The smells were pungent. There was garbage everywhere. Again, I will get to see more of that in the next 6 months. There was no real bathroom so many of us walked down a slight hill behind the gas stn and did our thing. This was a dirty area with garbage and other nasty stuff. I was shocked to see several syringes and IV bags... all old and used just thrown there. With all of the villages that we passed there was always a field of garbage on the opposite side of the road. I tried to get some pics of it. The only garbage that survives is plastic. They have small fires in these areas which I assume is to burn off some of the garbage. Often I would see kids going through the area looking and collecting stuff.
The weirdest thing I noticed is that with some of the small villages out in the middle of nowhere attached to their mud hut was....ready for it... a satellite dish!!
There were many carcasses of deal animals alongside the road... cows and goats. Some were fresh whereas others were skeletons. The skeletons reminded me of the old west movies...
I took some pics of the national railway which has been dead for a couple years I think. If you look at the pics try to figure out what is missing....
2 hours away from the destination...I have now come on the world’s flattest roller coaster. The bus drivers are going 70-90kms while swerving back and forth to miss monstrous pot holes and missing road ways. My ass is now killing me as I am squished in this seat for over 7 hours and now its the bumpiest ride ever.
I was amazed to see three mountains during our trip..Pics included.
We arrived at our camp. What an interesting town.... more to describe later..
I will be staying here until Wed. I have been given a room in the exact style of container that I will be living in for the next 6 months. It's not too bad...nothing a trip to IKEA couldn't fix LOL Send them here!!!
So I am off to bed. Talk to you soon!
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
