21st Dec Entry into Sudan took about 2 days, simply because we fought the law at every corner. The ferry came into port at about 1pm on 21st December. The boys went off to find out what needed to be done as far as paperwork. We eventually went in search of them as this took a while and we wanted to get off the ferry. The were filling out some kind of Alien Registration form detailing where we were going and contact details. We alighted the ferry and Mazir found us on the way to the baggage check. I was so rude to him, and in hindsight I can see he was completely harmless. That’s what you get from me when I’ve only had 4 hours sleep. Wadi Halfa is a tiny dusty town that is there for no other reason that the ferry needs a place to port. We headed to the customs and immigration to register ourselves. After a lot of back and forth and 103SDG each later we were registered in Sudan. You need 1 photo as well. We asked the police captain if we could camp in the station building, but after much laughter and some broken English, he very politely turned us down. At this stage we were 3 Swiss couples and us. Strength in numbers seemed to be the order of the day, so we all headed off for the only hotel in town, Hotel Cleopatra… More like an old jail building or storage house, we decided to camp out in the common room for 5SDG per night. The rooms had dusty beds and metal, noisy doors. So after clearing the common room of dust and what looked like a massive desert spider of sorts, we set out our mattresses and bags. Heading into town, we had a tasty full meal for 19SDG for both of us. 22nd Dec We woke to the delightful sounds of metal doors clanging as various people used the toilet in the morning. We went for breakfast and it was a feast at 4 SDG each. Off we went in search of the tourist police to get our photo permits. This set us back a cool 26SDG, but not before we argued the point that our friend had just paid 23SDG for the same thing. After quite an argument we got an escort of tourist police to find this person that received his permit for 23SDG. Long story short, we were wrong and now we listen more carefully to the information people give us. The boys went off to get the cars through customs and that took all of the day. Neil apparently was quite notorious after the whole affair. We eventually drove out at about 5pm and went in search of a wild camp in the desert. We found quite a good spot amongst the dunes all in time to have a shower and prepare a delicious meal. 23rd Dec We drove in search of food and that took us into Abri market. Sudan is very expensive! It’s cheaper to eat out for two people that it is for 2kg of oranges. I’ve decided that I don’t like markets, at least not in Sudan. These people don’t realise that if they give the tourists the local price then they will get more tourists. Anyway, I find the markets a bit of a hassle. I don’t like going to them unless I really need something. I think it’s a good idea just to eat out. Well it’s only the first country of proper Africa, apparently it gets cheaper. We headed for the Nile and found a lovely spot for swimming and birding. The flies were never ending though, so we left after about 1 hour. We headed into the desert to camp. 24th Dec We drove south toward Kerma and found a lovely spot in the desert to spend Christmas. We went down to the Nile for a bit of a swim and some birding and got back to camp. While the boys were making an oven out of the flat rock. The girls were preparing something for dinner. We were joined by two overlanding families and they brought with them the two cyclists, Stephano and Adrian. We had a lovely dinner of baked bread, roast chicken and salad. We even had a Christmas tree made by Lawrence and Brigitte’s children. We stayed up until midnight with the Swiss couples and swopped gifts then. Roger and Marina bought us a lovely MacDonald’s towel. The very same one that Neil wanted Aswan, or rather tried to steal in Aswan. We gave Roger the fossilised whale bone from The Valley of the Whales and to Marina we gave a pair of used binoculars. What a cool gift, we love the towel and we have good memories of MacDonald’s on our trip. 25th Dec We rose early to make pancakes for almost everyone. Unfortunately we could only just manage to get ourselves fed on the pancakes. Neil tried to fill the car with diesel from the jerry cans and I tried to help, but not before I spilled in excess of 2 litres all over my trousers. Word of warning to all travellers….GET AN AUXILLARY FUEL TANK… Jerry cans are ridiculous and hard work. With my foul mood set for the day, we headed back to our previous campsite in search of Neil’s rugby ball. We realised that we left it there the previous evening, but worse was that the campsite was 150km back. Well we made a day of it. We found the ball, headed to the Nile for a swim and filled our water tanks. Then we went to the market and stocked up on some greens. We drove back into the camp at nightfall to find the families and cyclists had left. It was so quite compared to the festive feel of the previous evening. At least the kids had left us a pathway system and an extra oven built of rocks that they had built the previous evening. We were wondering what they could build if they had a week. Maybe some houses and a skyscraper. 26th Dec We woke this morning and got set to drive for Nuri Merowe. We found the small pyramids there. We were joined by the Belgian and French families who promptly decided to climb the pyramids. That isn’t something Neil and I like to do, but each to their own. We believe in the preservation of these archaeological sites for future generations. The police arrived shortly afterward and politely told us to leave. We drove around the site to camp, but were once again chased away or rather told to go and camp further into the desert. We later found out that the families were stuck in the sand and took an hour to free their trucks. We met a South African couple enroute. What a pleasure to hear the South African accent. Allard and Shelley were on their way up to the UK via Saudi Arabia. We spent the evening exchanging stories and route information. 27th Dec We had a good breakfast of eggs and bread. Packed up camp and said a final goodbye to the South Africans. After exchanging contact details we headed for Jebel Barkal. While the Swiss couples climbed the mountain. Neil and I reopened the tent as my glasses were still inside. I’m completely useless without my glasses. That didn’t take too long, so we went birding around the mountain. We took excellent pictures of Egyptian vulture and House Bunting. We headed for Meroe Royal City that afternoon, had lunch on the road and camped that evening in the dunes. We were visited by random sheepherders who seemed quite content to sit in the middle of our camp and watch us. Eventually I walked up to the guy and comically tried to explain to him that he should leave as the girls want to wash. He quickly understood and went on his way much to everyones amazement. Apparently the guy wouldn’t listen to anyone else. We spent the rest of the evening in relatively alone. The sheepherder resumed to watch us from a distance, but we carried on with dinner and setting up camp for the evening. 28th Dec Neil and I rose early to do some bird watching and watch the sunrise over the dunes. We drove towards the Meroe Pyramids. Upon arrival we decided it was too expensive. Instead we drove around the site to go and look for the campsite pointed out on the GPS. Turns out it was someone’s wild camp with a very awesome view of the pyramids. We took advantage of this with some photos and very politely ignored the tourist policeman that approached us as we were driving off. We met the Swiss couples for lunch around the other side of the pyramids. Once again we were joined by the travelling families. We spent a good hour exchanging stories and having lunch before heading for Khartoum. We arrived that evening at the Blue Nile Sailing Club. It was quite nice as far as the view went, but $15 is too expensive for a place with no hot water. We headed to the National Camping Residence where we didn’t mind paying 15SDG (5 for the car and 5 pp). We met a father/son pair who had to get their Ethiopian visas the next day. We were relieve that we wouldn’t be the only ones needing to slog it at the embassy the next day. 29th Dec We rose really early and packed up the tent. We drove to the Ethiopian embassy only to find out that the GPS point was incorrect. Something told me that we didn’t need to go far to the new site as the physical address mentioned something in the way of the embassy being near the graveyard. We drove around the block or rather the graveyard. Neil decided it was best to ask the traffic policeman we had just passed. Wow, what a brilliant idea! He grabbed the pen and paper, jumped out the car. With a slightly bemused look on his face, the policeman gently led Neil with a hand on his back exactly 10m to an entrance of the building he was standing in front of. Wow we were the first people there for visas and the Belgian father and son were right behind us. This didn’t help as Africans don’t believe in lines and simply stood in front of the door the whole time. The actual application process was pretty painless and $20 each later we were finished with instructions to return the next morning to collect. We only opted for the 2 month single entry and the multi entry is $30. Americans pay more though, well at this office anyway. The rest of the day we spent at the Steers in Khartoum and at the Afra Mall. We ate takeaway the whole day, but felt we deserved not to cook and toil any further. You learn to appreciate shopping centres and their coffee shops while travelling. 30th Dec We were off to get our visas in a jiffy. After which we filled our tanks and headed to the Afra Shopping Mall to meet up with Roger and Marina. We tried to contact the South African Embassy in Ethiopia. Can I just say that I spoke to the most unprofessional person over the phone. I’ve only ever had one good experience with a South African Embassy and that was in Syria. So honest and professional. The same can’t be said for the Embassy in Khartoum or Ethiopia or Egypt for that matter. It’s like only one person can ever do the official letters and everyone else is just too lazy or has an ‘it’s not my job’ attitude. How pathetic was the Khartoum Embassy you ask? Well they didn’t even have the contact details for the SA Embassy in Ethiopia for us. These officials always seem to be on lunch or at breakfast. My rant doesn’t end here… Appalling service from embassies, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Represent your country for crying out loud!!! I’ve experience less frustration at the Egyptian, Sudanese and Ethiopian Embassy together. We won’t admit to what we had to resort to get this letter. Otherwise we stocked up on water and headed for Dinder National Park. Adrian and Corine had driven ahead of us, so we met up with them at a really cool little spot in the bush. Neil and I spent the rest of the evening doing some much needed birding. 31st Dec We arrived in Dinder. After getting a little lost we stopped and asked some official looking people where we could find the National Parks Office. They were so surprised to see us that they were hugging the boys in welcome and offering some awesomely cold water around. I drank it with much gusto and so did Neil. We ended up following one of the locals to the office. What an amazing office these guys had. Ceiling fans and lush furniture, we felt we could sleep right there with no problem. Well after lots of what looked like serious administration we eventually got around to asking the price. Can you believe our complete disbelief when the captain rolled off a cool $100 each per day. Choked, gasp, splatter…!!! Thank you we’ll skip Dinder. It doesn’t even have lions and the Buffalo are kept in an encampment. After much negotiation, our guide said that the price could be brought down once we arrived at the park. Well six hours one badly scratched car and no working headlights later we were at the camp. Don’t get us wrong, the birdlife in the place is amazing, but nothing you couldn’t get anywhere else for any cost at all. The officials couldn’t get the price down enough for our liking so we gave them a number to ponder upon and had dinner in the meantime. After dinner they returned with $50 for all, but we could just stay the night. They couldn’t understand that we didn’t want the use of the rooms, just the showers and we would sleep in our tents. We were quite happy with the price thinking we would just take our time driving out the next day. Unfortunately for the officials and workers there Neil was quite revved up by the day’s events. Marina and Francis went to shower, but returned with the story of some worker asking for baksheesh before they could enter the showers. Oh boy, that was it for Neil. He lost the plot completely. We drove out of there in a massive convoy leaving our guide, John, behind. Apparently he was crying and begging for us to stay. I don’t think he understood what happened. Shame poor guy. Six hours away from home right on New Years Eve. It was really mean of us, but we’d had enough. Roger and Marina felt really upset that we left John behind, but he wouldn’t get in the car and we couldn’t be persuaded to stay for anything. Bunda bashing our way out of the park we stopped just outside to wish each other Happy New Year. Before long someone came running down the path with torchlight. Serves us right to stop just outside the park. Oh well, we raced further with flickering spotlights, seems they were on the way out as well. We stopped to camp a ways outside the park grounds.