Lost in the Desert

So last weekend, three friends (Alex, Dillion, and Jade) and I headed north for another visit to Sudan's Kushite ruins. The plan was to first go back to the pyramids at Meroe (my third visit) so that Jade, who was visiting from Uganda, could see them and then to stop at the Nacqa Temple on our way back to Khartoum.

The first part of this plan was executed without problems. We drove to Meroe, ate a picnic lunch under the shade of one of the pyramids, and toured around. Dillion and Jade even engaged in a quite hysterical wrestling match on one of the sand dunes. And then, around 3, we decided to head back towards Nacqa Temple. On the way, we stopped for a soda at the Pepsi place. This also went off without a hitch.

And then we arrived at the sign pointing towards Nacqa. This is where things began to go wrong. Although the Nacqa Temple is one of the best preserved Kushite ruins in Sudan and one of Sudan's rare "tourist attractions," it's located somewhere between 20 and 35 kilometers off of the main road in the desert. And, believe it or not, there is no clear road, even a dirt road, leading there. Yes, there is a sign on the main road that points out into the desert indicating the general direction to Nacqa. And yes, there are dirt tracks that lead from there into the desert. The problem is, there are MANY dirt tracks in this part of the desert. In fact, the road probably forks at least once every kilometer. Consequently, it's pretty easy to get lost.



We had previously been told that we shouldn't try to go to Nacqa without either someone who had previously been there or a GPS. We had neither. We had also been told that even professional tour guides have been known to get lost trying to the temple. We were not worried. Armed with some general directions from a couple of different friends, we headed out into the desert.

At first, we were confident. Alex began joking about how after we found the temple, we would be able to brag to friends back in Khartoum about how easy the temple was to find. But after an hour of driving with seeing any sign of either the temple or other tourists, we began to get discouraged. Alex was the last to give up. As the driver, he decided that we should keep going, that we must be almost there. That may or may not have been correct.

Finally, around 5:30 or 6 in the evening, we ended up in this village. We actually ended up there by accident, but since we were there, I suggested that we ask for directions. So, Alex got out to ask for directions. Unfortunately, the first people we met didn't speak any English. Alex attempted to explain "temple" by drawing a sketch in the dust on the car window. This did not work. Instead, the man he was speaking to tried to give him directions to a mountain. But then we were advised that an older man in the village spoke English.



While Alex was getting directions, some of the boys and young men in the village started to surround the car. One of them came around to my side and asked me to give him a pen. I looked in my bag but couldn't find a pen. But he didn't understand that. Fortunately, Jade and Dillon found a pen in their belongings and gave them to these boys. It was an interesting experience, and I wonder just how many pens they have in this tiny village in the middle of the desert.



In any case, Alex came back to the car with what we believed to be accurate directions. These directions sent us back the way we had come and towards something we had previously seen in the distance. However, when we got back to where we had previously seen these buildings in the distance, we couldn't figure out how to get over there. And it was starting to get late. We decided that we really didn't want to be driving around in the desert in the dark, so we gave up and drove back to Khartoum.



But now we have a mission! Someday, we must make it to the Nacqa Temple. And maybe next time, we'll take others' advice and go with a GPS, a guide, or at least better directions!!!

Images of Khartoum

As many of you are already aware, in my option, Khartoum is not a particularly picturesque city. It's flat, crowded, and dusty and doesn't have a lot of trees or flowers. Moreover, the city doesn't do a particularly good job of keeping it's streets clean. So, a permanent layer of garbage adorns many of Khartoum's sidewalks. (The picture to the left was taken from the balcony of my old apartment in central Khartoum.)

Sure, the Nile's quite nice, both the water itself and the buildings and vegetation that line its banks. But other than that, I don't think Khartoum is a particularly attractive. Indeed, the most attractive part of a city may be the colorful and vibrantly patterned pieces of fabric in which Sudanese women drape themselves.



This having been said, some of the best views I've gotten of Khartoum have been from the roof of my friend Elaine's apartment building. She lives in Khartoum 2, one of the greenest parts of the city. Although some of the newer neighborhoods like Riad and Manshiya (located on the opposite side of the airport from Khartoum 2...yes, Khartoum has an airport in the middle of the city) are probably wealthier and have a number of beautiful houses, they seem much drier and dustier than Khartoum 2 and Amarat because they lack vegetation.



In any case, because I happen to like the view and that part of town, I thought I'd share a few photos taken from Elaine's roof.







Above is the new Libyan hotel, affectionately known as Qadafi's egg.

And just to show a little contrast, below is another picture taken from the balcony of my old apartment. I have recently moved to Amarat because my housemate was transferred to El Geneina in West Darfur, and I couldn't afford to live in a two bedroom by myself. But, I haven't had time to take photos from my new place yet. Soon...