Having decided to travel down the eastern side of the White Nile instead of the western side, we now needed to cross back over the Kosti bridge back to Rabak... but how to persuade the cops to let us do it! (When we first rode over the bridge together with the riders from KICS, one side was under maintenance and so we could ride there without any problems with vehicles!) Dawelbeit, our ADRA contact from Kosti, kindly spoke to the cops for us and organized for us to cross over the bridge between 12 and 3am!
Our alarms were set for 11.30pm when the rain started... and it rained and poured and thundered and lightning(ed) for hours, so we had to postpone until the next night! (19th October 2010). This time, there was no rain thankfully. The rain goddess had other things on her mind!
The cops at the bridge got very excited when they saw us and demanded to see all our paperwork... and then got very bored when they realised our paperwork was all in order! They waved us on and kindly sent some of the big trucks down the wrong side of the bridge so we didn't have to worry. I think the bridge is only about 500m long but it feels like it goes on and on forever. The horses had the wind up their tails but were very well behaved considering.. Nali was terrified of the expansion cracks... maybe he thought he would fall through to the wild river below.... obviously he doesn't know just how tubby he is!
After 6.5km, we arrived at our new home - the Coca-cola Warehouse in Rabak. I suppose, it is in fact the Dal Food Division Warehouse that stores Coke, Sayga and Capo products...
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| Did I get it right?! |
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| Just think how many jumps I could make! |
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| The fleet.... |
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| Where fridges go to die! |
And there we have stayed! Our passports and visas are finally ready but we still need a travel permit to go further south. Billy will be going to Khartoum tomorrow (24th October) to try and get that done.
We are looked after very well here. The horses have a nice spot and we can exercise them everyday. We have a room with a fan, access to the tea lady and a little restaurant for breakfast. Dinner is up the road... What more could we need!
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| Yummy! |
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| Extra yummy! |
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| Tea, water, breakfast?? |
Nali and Chami aren't sure about the herd of camels that we ride past everyday... Chami stares rudely and Nali tries to back away! Funny looking creatures they are! Somebody told us that there is a well known racing camel in the herd that cost 40 000SDG (about 20 000USD)! Everyone seems rather proud of it! (We haven't met it yet but we have spent some time wondering how we would know which one it was - how do you tell how fast a camel is when it's lying down?!)
The Sudanese passion for playing cards is no different here... I spent about 4 hours playing cards with the security guards yesterday. They were surprised that I knew how to play and amazed that I could beat them all! The game is called Arbatasha (14) and is basically Rummy with 14 cards but there is a complicated scoring system... All sudanese play with a certain flair, flicking cards here and there and dealing at the speed of light!
Abdel Khalid, one of the coke supervisors, took us to his home for a lovely meal with his wife Hafafaz. Abdel Khalid practised his English with Billy and Billy practised his Arabic with Hafafaz.... with all that talking there wasn't any need for me to say anything!! Abdel Khalid has also showed us round the operation at the warehouse... very interesting...
There is a little black dog here at the warehouse. She made friends with us very quickly and wriggles with delight everytime she sees us! Everynight she walks down the road to dinner with us. She is very sweet and makes me smile! The story goes that she has been at the warehouse ever since it was built... by the Chinese. Aparently she was brought there to be eaten but the Sudanese came to the rescue! No wonder she is such a friendly dog... she must be very grateful!
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| To be (eaten) or not to be (eaten)! |
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| I think not! |
This will be my last post for a while as Billy is taking the computer back to Khartoum with him to send home to SA... Hopefully the next time I write, we will be much further south!!
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| Billy at work... |
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| Rabak |
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| Laundry Day! |
1 comments:
It is so weird looking at Sudan again, and thinking of you guys back on the trail. I know it will go very slowly until you get home but have a great time....and keep in touch!
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