Posted by: Wayne
on Jan 30, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged
Did we tell you about the ferry from Aswan in Egypt to Wadi Halfa in ‘the Sudan’ yet ?
As i sit here at dawn in the old Dongola Zoo (with the only green grassy surface in town) at sunrise I will recall it for you. After a dawn convoy ride from Aswan, over the Dam to the port, the passenger Ferry awaited us. The process was pretty straight forward tho slow. It would be another 9 hours before we sailed. We had all packed according to instructions as some gear would be separated from us and transported on the ‘trucks’ via another ferry and it was an uncertainty as to when exactly we would be reunited with them. Of course each official has a different ‘take’ on how things should be processed anywhere the 60 plus riders and bikes show up enmasse. Bag first then bikes or bikes first then bags or bikes and bags together with the riders. The port had i am guessing recently purchased a new security scanning device which they decided should also be used. All the bags were to go through but it seems the guy with the authority to actually read the screen (or turn it on)was off that day so we dutyfully placed our bags at one end walked our bikes to the other end watched while the bags passed through the unmonitored xray machine then collected them and moved on. All were in pretty good spirits as we waited dockside for our next instructions. We embarked with bikes, carried them to the top deck, stacked them side by side, disembarked, split in 2 groups (some electing to sleep on deck and those who would chance a cabin). Deck space was first come first served and cabins allocated by chance. We did well !! A cabin a porthole that opened & ‘roach’ free. The TDA guys had successfully done a seamless but lengthy job of getting us all on board.
Patrick in our first class luxury cabin
Bikes on Board !!
The remainder of the afternoon was spent watching the endless and varied 3 classes of passengers and their cargo stream aboard. Major electrical appliances seem to be the popular purchase item as huge boxes were delivered dockside one after another and somehow miraculously manouvered aboard. There are no lifts, no cranes just a lot of willing manpower and a great deal of visual and verbal instructions of varied determination and intensity.
Meanwhile, from what had become ‘the zoo’ on the upper deck those who had managed to establish a favourable position went about securing and protecting it by whatever means were available using varied creative techniques, there was no protection however from the ‘Call to Prayer’ ... or the late night ‘call to medical and immigration’ for passport collection’. We snaked our way through narrow corridors where we all dutifully surrendered one ear to the ‘ships doctor’ as he poked an unsterilised implement in it’s general direction called a figure ?? to his able assistant for recording then on into another cabin for immigration, passport surrender and processing. For us, back to our cabin, for the top deckers, back ‘into the breech’.
Meal vouchers were included and to be had in the dining room. Big bold bouquets of brightly coloured plastic flowers, the faded sparkle of Christmas decorations draped carefully from a slightly discoloured and faded ceiling, booth seating with contact covered tables and bright friendly service could not conceal the ‘roaches’ who once the meal trays were passed around. The initial abject horror was soon overcome with the humour of a game of ‘squash the roach’.....having said this it was agreed that both the Sydney & New York cockroaches would have eaten these for breakfast.
On the many occasions we spent meeting in the dining room at various times over the next 18 hours i so often found myself drawn to stare at someone or something that was new or fascinating to me. The style or type of a womans dress, the varied headwear of men, decoration to the eye or the artwork applied to a hand or a womans nails, the colour and texture of fabric, the unlikely and unexpected fur coat and hood, deep sunbaked wrinkles and ‘fashionable’ Sudanese facial hair of differing eras on the darkest of skin tones, young men in tight low slung jeans & designer logo emblazoned t’shirts in the company of their mates who wore traditional gelabaiah .... mannerisms, hugs, handshakes, the melding of cultures, all of it still so truly fascinating.
We woke just prior to dawn and were watching the sunrise from the forward deck when the announcement came that we would be passing by Abu Simbel in about 2 hours time. Even this far out the first of the suns ray were seen to be highlighting on e specific landform far in the distance. We passed close enough to appreciate the grand scale and vision of both the original designers and those who more recently engineered the temples relocation and reassembly to above the water level of Dam and lake.
As we were first to load so we would be last to unload. Wadi Halfa port was a concrete slab and barge with no visual connection to anything man had constructed other than a dirt road which disappeared to the distance. Watching the unloading process was as entertaining as the loading process as was the short ride to Sudanese customs and the entertainment that was to follow.
Finally we were released into the late afternoon of Sudan with a short ride to our campsite at the local football field. We arrived to find it packed to the rafters with every local within 200kms there....no, not celebrating Australia Day but the local military/police on parade gunfire and all. We figured it would be over soon and we would be making camp on the lush green field so were happy to wait until we were directed to the adjoining field of dust , all you could ask for !!!
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