TDA - Days 18 to 21

Sudan - Dongola to Khartoum


The landscape changed as soon as we left Dongola. We rode on the paved highway crossing the desert not far from the Nile. The terrain was flat and golden-brown. The settlements were small and looked quite depressing. Like matchboxes scattered on a floor - such looked the square flat mud houses on the sandy expanse. Of the same colour as the desert they had dark openings as doors and no windows.
There was little if any green at all there: a tree or a lonesome bush from time to time. People were living there, though, and they had a few goats, some donkeys and much more camels. And the few schools we saw stood proof that children were growing up there as well.
From time to time we passed by large herds of camels walking like gigantic centipedes across the desert. More often than that, though, we passed dead camels. There were hundreds of carcasses dried up or still rotting in the sun close to the road. A stark reminder of how merciless the desert could be with its extreme conditions.

For two days in a row we rode through sandstorms for long stretches at a time. With every oncoming truck passing by you were subject to a new exfoliation treatment as your face was hit by a wave of sand. Pitching up your tent was a bit of a struggle and I once got stuck in my tent for a little while. Leaving it would have meant losing it. Fortunately, Maria came by and saved me.

In spite of the hardships it imposed on the riding and camping and the natural peeling effect it had on our skin, the sandstorm was a fascinating experience I really enjoyed. There was no horizon line in sight, just a milky-cream space you were riding towards. The sandwaves were sweeping the road and the wind was extremely loud. The terrain was flat but there were some tough thorny twisted trees dotting the desert. The farther they were from the road the more washed out they looked shrouded in clouds of sand and dust. It all looked somewhat eerie and magic and I could not help waiting anxiously for a giraffe to pop up amidst those trees. No giraffe showed up, just camels from time to time. I wished I could record with my camera the beauty and magic of the desert swept by the storm.

Inasmuch as the landscape looked flat, monotonous and boring on a large scale over the last couple of days, it was extremely interesting and fascinating in detail. I never thought about that before. I enjoyed exploring the surroundings of our desert camps at sunset and discovered and found joy in many things: the shape of the thorntrees; the small bushes of grass shimmering silvery in the fading sunlight; the patterns on the sand; the texture of the sundried camel skin.

There is so much beauty in the desert, so much unexpected to discover. And so much peacefulness.