First thing in the morning was to make sure that all cars have enough fuel on board.
The navigation systems guided the teams nicely through town but every now and then a U – turn was required especially when new roads were constructed which the Navigation systems did not yet recognise.
Soon the landscape changed to a real desert like environment with hardly and vegetation on the side of the roads. Every now and then a small village situated within the water supply of an oasis could be seen and the temperatures quickly climbed to 43 degrees.
The teams went ahead to a medium sized town – Dongola – where Willy wanted to visit the brother of one of his business colleagues – Kalid Sahli .
Kalid works for a renewable energy company in Munich whereas his brother Ali works for the Ministry of Finance in Dongola.
Ali invited the teams to his house and we were introduced to his wife from Marocco – Miriam . The teams enjoyed some cool refreshments and after a nice chat headed on towards the planned Kerma desert camp.
The GPS data given for the Kerma desert camp led the teams to a little village where nobody knew anything about a camping place. The teams decided to look out for a suitable open area close to the Nile whilst at the same time staying on course towards Wadi Halfa.
Just before sunset and after asking many locals they landed at a Museum within the Kerma area. This must have been built recently and the adjacent ground shows some archaeological activity.
The teams spoke to the director of the museum about possible stay over and camping facilities and they were led to a stand-alone house consisting of 4 bedrooms. It was later established that this house is used by the archaeologists during their presence when they are here to dig into long forgotten history. The Director of this future tourist site gladly accepted payment of 100 Sudanese pounds per room and was very apologetic that he currently has no receipt book available …………….
This was again a great surprise and part of the luck that seems to accompany the team members on their trip through Africa…
WOW!! what exciting accomodation, i’m sure beers & loop dops were kept to a minimum that night knowing the army is waiting outside..