Happy Easter everyone!
This last week has been pretty interesting, frustrating,
annoying, relaxing etc etc. A typical travelling
week.
I've had heaps of trouble with my bike this week.
So much so that at one stage, I was wishing I
was a 'talker' not a 'doer'.
ie. Just talked about doing this trip but not
actually bothered to go to the
effort of doing it.
But, as always when these things happen, once
the problems are solved and
you end up in a nice place, you are glad once
again to be out bush.
On Easter Sunday, we (Thomas and Lilli in their
truck) started to head out
for the Pyramids of Meroe, when my bike's main
fuse blew.
2 hours later we had rewired the burnt out mains
switch and headed off into
the desert.
We camped next to the Nile, amongst all the onion
and rice fields, awakening
to the braying of donkeys as the famers came to
tend their crops.
Once again, as we were about to leave, the bikes
mains switch blew.
This time, we stripped the bike totally down and
worked our ways backwards
until we found the cause of the problem: A short
circuit in the light
switch. After rebuilding the mains switch once
again, we headed towards the
pyramids of Meroe.
As opposed to the few huge pyramids in Cairo,
here there are about 30 small
ones...and no other tourists to be seen.
The pyramids are situated in the desert and have
a dramatic backdrop of
small reddish dunes, interspersed with weathered
volcanic hills. We camped
amongst the hills, overlooking the pyramids, where
we were treated to two
fantastic lightshows: Sunset and sunrise.
(AB, these were the pyramids you mentioned to
me, I have the GPS co-ords for
you)
Tuesday saw us head towards the 6th cataract,
where we hoped to camp for the
night, but for the first time in Sudan, we experienced
greedy locals, spoilt
by tourism.
So, rather than have any further unpleasant experiences,
we packed up and
found ourselves another campsite in the desert.
So now I am back in Khartoum, to sort out one
or two more things before
heading towards Ethiopia tomorrow.
Of the 4 Arab African countries I have visited,
I have definitely enjoyed
Sudan the most.
Our little trip up to the pyramids has been a
fitting end to this friendly
and beautiful country, but I am now looking forward
to being in a green
country which sells cold beer!!
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