That's a Wrap Folks! - Sam

We left Sudan and entered Egypt with little to no money. We had exactly enough Sudanese pounds to make it through the Sudanese/Egyptian border and no more. And when I say exactly enough I mean we were 8 USD short, which Matt happened to have in his wallet. We couldn't have planned it better. And for that matter we couldn't have spent any more time in Sudan considering the only way to obtain Sudanese Pounds is by exchanging US dollars, no matter what country you are from. On top of that, they have no ATM's on an international network so the money you bring in is the money you have.

By the time we arrived in Egypt we were pretty burned out from traveling so long in Africa, a sentiment that is commonly shared among other western travelers on the continent who have made it as far, or farther, as we had. It's exhausting. Borders, buses, trains, schedules, foreign languages, foreign currency people regularly trying to get money out of you. After four months, we were tired. Fortunately Egypt is well developed and offered us a touch of modernity that we needed at that point.

Philae Temple south of Aswan

We first arrived in Aswan, a city that kind of resembled what I imagine Las Vegas might look like. It had huge resorts on the Nile and large ships that served as floating hotels and restaurants. People would stroll by on the street in horse drawn carriages. They even had a McDonald's! I couldn't get Matt to go. I'm still bitter about it.

Egypt, clearly had a booming tourist industry before the Arab Spring. In fact, in the city Luxor at any given time there may be 300 tourists today. Before the revolution of 2011 there could be 10,000. Every time tourism starts to pick up, another violent event happens and it suffers a blow. There was a bombing in a temple in the past few years and just last year there was a plane full of over 200 people that had been shot down by terrorists associated with ISIS. With so many destinations in the world, it seems that Egypt has been pretty low on the list for westerners. As unfortunate as it is for the locals whose livelihoods are dependent on tourism, we found it refreshing to not have to share the sights and streets with 10,000 other tourists. To be honest it seems like a great time to travel is just after a catastrophe of some kind. A little food for thought for the future.

I found the sights and museums in Egypt to only be interesting the first round through. After that you basically look at the same temples, sarcophagi and tombs over and over and I'm just not a history buff. I wish I had more inspired things to say, but I was feeling burned out and it was hot. I also hadn't been feeling very well after mistakenly drinking Egyptian water. I should have known better. I did know better.

Air Balloon over western Luxor

In Luxor Matt and I took our first hot air balloon ride. It was pretty anticlimactic. The most impressive part was just seeing the balloons and the jets shooting fire to inflate them and control their altitude. The landing was the fun part. We were instructed by the pilot on how we should brace ourselves so we don't fall over. Once the basket tapped the ground we bounced and dragged across the sand until a crew of men jumped out of a truck and grabbed ropes attached to the basket and helped stop the balloon from dragging us further or toppling over.

From Luxor Matt and I went to Cairo. At last we made it to Africa's largest city and one of the largest in the world. With a population of over 25 million it has around the same number of people as Australia. We first went to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities home to actual mummies and all sorts of artifacts and sarcophagi'. Of course we also saw the pyramids which were pretty impressive. It's amazing what slave labor can accomplish. They were heavily guarded so unfortunately climbing was out of the question. What you could do was ride a camel, which we didn't do, but oh how people asked. Oh how they asked.

After Cairo, we finally went to Alexandria, where we felt the journey officially ended. We made it from the southern most point of Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet to the Mediterranean Sea. We haven't tallied up the mileage, but I'm guessing we covered somewhere around 8,000 to 10,000 miles. We celebrated with a couple local Egyptian beers, which of course gave both of us a headache. One can expect no less from Africa.

Final Thoughts on Africa.

Since I've been back I've been asked all too much the dreaded "How was Africa" question. It's a question I of course anticipated and yet still don't have a good reply. I usually say something dumb like, " it was really big." It's an impossibly simple question with an impossibly complicated answer. One that requires a lot of reflection, thought and effort. It's too exhausting to explain in detail to everyone who asks the question so some people inevitably get "It's big." I will take this time in this last post to explain how I feel about my travels in Africa.

It was really big. It was also very complex and each country we went through offered new people, different languages, currencies, and often times a change in culture. I really enjoyed my time in South Africa. It's one of the few countries I would like to return to. It's landscapes are as diverse as the people with mountains, deserts, farmland and a huge diverse coast. It even freezes sometimes in a part of South Africa. That I like. It also has cities like Cape Town which is an amazing city to visit, very cosmopolitan. It has great wine, and the coast resembles that of central and northern California.

Southern Africa, besides South Africa, was honestly not that great. There was a drought that ran through the whole southern part of the continent and you could feel the desperation when you passed through towns. They were dirty, the food was boring and the people didn't have much of a culture, at least that was easily experienced. I don't think their situation in life allows for it. We traveled quickly through this part of Africa and I have a feeling we didn't miss out on that much.

Once we reached Tanzania we got out of the desperate south and into a country that had a livelier culture and more bustling cities. It was also the first time I saw veiled women in Africa and heard the call to prayer and aside from opinions on things like veiled women, it was a nice change of culture.

I enjoyed my stay in Kenya and most of all riding motorcycles for a month there and then into Ethiopia. That was the highlight of the trip for me, even though I wrecked into a car. That's just another story at this point, a thing of the past, history. Northern Kenya transformed into the real African bush with tribesman wearing traditional clothes, yielding spears, and herding goats and camels. It was classic Africa and it housed hundreds of miles of a massive, expansive landscape It was also the most dangerous road we were ever on in Africa. Thankfully, we didn't break down and again it's all history now.

Ethiopia is another country I would potentially go back to. It's a mountainous country that deserves more exploration than we had time or money for. The food is good and the people are kind, the ones of course who aren't trying to get money out of you. It was nice change from east and southern Africa.

Once we reached the Arab north and left Sub-Saharan Africa (often referred to as black Africa) it was, as Matt mentioned, a breath of fresh air. The people of Sudan are kind, welcoming and were not constantly trying to take the white man's money. The ruins way out in the Sahara were really awesome to see, much better than the tourist trap that is Egypt. But, with that being said it's the Sahara desert and it's really hot and empty. Once I've been in the desert for a week, I'm ready to go. I'm not sure I care to go back. Maybe later in life.

Religion plays a large part in the lives of Africans and I think it is important to express my take on religion in Africa briefly. I find that traveling through heavily religious countries reaffirms my disdain for religion. I think it's amazing how all of southern Africa has adopted the white colonizing religion, Christianity, so wholeheartedly. Colonization robbed them of their way of life and called them savages and Christianity, a tool by the colonizer has proved to hold it's ground well after decolonization. I think Sub-Saharn Africa, with all the millions of desperate people is the perfect breeding ground for religion. It gives reason for suffering and hope that something better is coming if they follow a certain set of rules. It also takes donations from people who have almost nothing and there are massive evangelical churches where people get "healed" and have the demons cast out of their bodies.

As for Muslims in the Arab north. I found them to be a bit more modern and their cities and countries far cleaner. They seem to have a better standard of living than Sub Saharan Africa. I also found the Muslim people I talked to to be open about talking their views and open to my lack of belief. Actually that was common throughout Africa. I believe, though that Islam mistreats it's women. Under Sharia Law a women isn't to leave her home unveiled so that she not tempt other men. A women should only show herself to her husband. She also must not leave the home without being accompanied by a man. They seem to be treated more as children or servants to man's needs rather than independent, intelligent human beings who have every right to live how they please as any man. I should note that I only observed from a distance and this comes from my own research and not necessarily from first hand accounts. I must also note that this is under Sharia Law and many Muslims are more progressive than this. Women walk the streets unveiled and as I mentioned before even some drink with men openly in places like Cairo. But they are still far from equal. But that can also be said about women in every religion including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. So Islam is not unique in it's unequal treatment of women.

Overall I think the trip was a success and an amazing opportunity. I am happy to have my stories and experiences and I'm happy to be back in the United States. It's hard to say what I learned the most as I really just got back and I think the lessons you learn from traveling unveil themselves over time. They aren't always obvious. Maybe I will take less things for granted, but let's be honest. How long does that really last?

Yesterday I had a beer in one of my favorite bars that plays stoner metal, hung out with good friends and didn't pay for a band that was half decent. It was great. The Midwest is an awesome place to return to. The trees are budding and the weather is cool. The thunderstorms should be coming soon, Inshallah.

Hello North Africa, Hello Desert - Matt

Well we'd waited long enough for our Sudanese visa. We tried over two months ago in Kenya and bureaucratic errors caused that to fail so we tried again in Addis Ababa. On a Monday, having heard nothing from the embassy or from our sponsor in Sudan who had said they would contact us when it was ready, we decided to try go to the embassy one last time and see if it was there and lo and behold it was. It looks like it had actually been there for four or five days. So it was on into Sudan for us but not without one last curve ball from Ethiopia.

Sam's aunt was kind enough to offer up some of her unused airline miles to buy us a plane ticket from Addis to Khartoum since we were starting to run short on time and we'd already done the majority of the distance to Khartoum when we went to Gondar. We didn't relish the idea of two more days on Ethiopian buses. So we appeared at the airport early two days later and are told that our ticket, while reserved, were not booked. Not sure what that means. We had a reservation number and a confirmation number but not the magical ticket number which no one ever daned to email us. We're then told that we couldn't even purchase tickets for this, the only, flight to Khartoum today. It doesn't look like we're going to Sudan today. Somewhat annoyed, as you might imagine, we scrambled in the airport for any internet connection to check our booking (which was much harder than you would expect for an international airport in the city which is host to the African Union). Check booking. Go back to counter to talk about it. Still no dice but now we can buy a ticket for 380 bucks for some reason. Discuss options. Go back to counter. Price is now 260. Interesting. Just a little goodbye kiss from Ethiopia.

So we ended up making it to Sudan after all. The elusive jewel of the Cape to Cairo. To bleak sand dunes and arid desert covering this particular portion of the Axis of Evil. To Khartoum. Where Osama Bin Laden hid out in in the 90s with his al-Qaeda cronies. Where the White Nile finally absorbs the Blue and the both make there long ponderous march north to the Mediterranean Sea. With this in mind we stepped off the airplane expecting a stark difference from the rest of Africa.

The first thing any non-Sudanese person will notice upon entering the country is the money. Because of the US sanctions on Sudan the country is unable to get any US currency through the normal channels. To get around this they require that all foreigners, not just US, bring US Dollars to exchange for Sudanese Pounds. Since the sanctions also mean that the entire country is not on the global banking network none of the ATMs here will work for foreigners. These two facts mean that one has to bring all the money they expect to spend in the country in the form of US Dollars, no other currency is accepted in exchange and you can't get any more once here. Sam and I didn't exactly have a lot. Working in our favor, however, was the black market: circumventing unrealistic governmental controls since the dawn of civilization. The official exchange rate is 1 USD to around 6.5 SDP. However we were immediately told by helpful people working in the airport that we could exchange our dollars for 9 SDP. Since being in the country we've heard as much as 12 SDP for 1 USD. So that gave us a little more dispensable cash than expected.

The next thing we noticed was that Khartoum is one of the nicer capitals we've seen

The Corinthia Hotel, also know as Qaddafi's Egg

in Africa. It is a small relatively quiet city, but even so the traffic is horrendous. It is cleaner than any major metropolitan area we've been to since we left South Africa. There are virtually no homeless on the streets, a huge departure from the rest of Africa. It is hot and sand piles up on the sidewalks and on the sides of road even though the entire city is paved. It is as though the sand slowly seeps up through the cracks and the sewers as the city sinks into the desert.

Khartoum is home to some nice museums and the confluence of the two immense Niles. We tried to plan our time in the city around the heat of the day, spending them in museums or A/C'd restaurants. In the evenings is when Sudan seems to come alive with people sitting along the Nile or outside restaurants socializing till close to midnight, drinking coffee and tea and smoking hookah.

One of many shady spots to sit, socialize and drink some tea.

Khartoum is also the capital of Sufi Islam in the more western Muslim states and on our short stay in the capital city we were fortunate enough to make it to Omdurman, across the river from Khartoum, and to the Hamid Al-Nil tomb in the middle of a large Muslim cemetery on a Friday evening to experience the Sufi traditional prayer practices and the whirling dervishes. This was a stimulus heavy event with much dancing, drums, incense and chanting. Everyone is exceedingly friendly and eager to talk with foreigners about their religion. From the Sufis we talked to, this branch of Islam seems to me more like new-age christian movement in America in terms of peace, love and good will towards your fellow man mixed in with strange ritual and tradition. We got there early and were bought tea and food by some regulars while we waited for the ceremony to really get going. Not really knowing what to expect, we watched for over four hours as the sun descended to the horizon and the crowd and chaos grew. The crowd in front of the temple started with just three or four people banging drums and chanting and dancing in a circle in front of the mosque. It got bigger and bigger. Then a dump truck full of people yelling and professing their

Hamid al-Nil tomb throng with Sufis

love for Allah arrived, equipped with drums and speakers, and it truly became a party. After much whirling, stomping and singing the sun finally went down and it was time to pray to Mecca for an hour before starting it all up again and going till midnight. We'd met a man in his early 30s named Abdu before the ceremony and he offered to give us a ride with his mother back to our hostel if we were willing to wait for him to pray. Everyone was exceedingly nice and all seemed to have one question, in varying forms, on their minds; "why does America hate us?"

We have been asked this a multitude of times since arrival in Sudan to which we have no other answer than "our governments are stupid and American news media make people paranoid." So now I'll fulfill the request of many Sudanese, to communicate this message: The Sudanese have no ill will towards Americans. In fact, they really seem to like us. They are eager to learn English and want to come and see New York. They want Americans to come and see their country. Sudan is the first time since South Africa that someone coming up to us on the street isn't something to guard against but something to be welcomed. We are still stared at but not nearly as much and with much more subtly. The people do their best to be helpful and welcoming even if the language barriers means they can't even understand our problem they will track down someone who can. Sudan is a breath of fresh air after Ethiopia, which is far away on the other side of the spectrum.

This is not to say that there are not dangerous parts of Sudan. Every traveller we meet doing some sort of pan-African journey has stories about Sudan and especially South Sudan and Darfur. The stories you hear are of banditry and locals taking pot shots at passing ferries, similar to stories we heard about the region south of Moyale, but these stories are back up'd with civil wars and a clear lack of governmental control. These rumors almost exclusively apply to the regions to the south and to the east of Khartoum. Everything north and west of the capitol seems positively decent.

Highway from Karima to Atbara

So, with our meager amount of money we decided that it would be best to spend it quick, see the sights we can and get out quick. Blitz Sudan. Rented a car for three days, that cost us about half the total amount of money we had, and pushed out intothe sand for a tour of desert ruins, sand blown over highways and rocks burnt black from 360 days of sun a year. Finally. Finally I am reaching that which has been a main goal from the start. In fact, the first time I heard of abandoned Nubian pyramids and ruins in the middle of the desert in Sudan when I was 17 I've been dying to get here. Now we are here, in Sudan, in the desert, making it a reality of our own.

Approaching the pyramids at Jebel Barkal

Seeing how much I've desired getting here I don't have much to say. We've seen a 4500 year old temple to Amun-Ra (the sun god) carved into the Mountain of Jebel Barkal. We've seen pyramids older than those in Giza drowning in sand with their peaks destroyed by Italian treasure hunters. We've camped next to ruins on the side of the road slowly being swallowed by sand that could be anywhere from 20 to 2000 years old. There are abandoned mud-brick walls every where and all seem to hark back to a less industrialized age. The profoundness of these experiences do not come across well in text but must be experienced for ones self.

Apart from the car rental and just the overall bureaucratic nightmare that is Sudan, the country is quite inexpensive. A large meal can be bought for two USD and a bed in a courtyard would cost about the same. However you are free to lay out a sleeping mat anywhere you like outside of the cities including, if you have a quick tongue, next to pyramids over 4000 years old.

Entering Wadi Halfa

Our tour of the desert complete we dropped the car off in Khartoum and made the 13 hour bus ride north to Wadi Halfa, the last stop in Sudan and stepping stone to Egypt. We arrived thinking we had quite a bit more Sudanese money left than we had anticipated but had heard that there are some exit fees when leaving Sudan, so it might come in handy. As it turns our we had just enough to get over the border. Actually five USD short but I had a filthy fiver from Zimbabwe that no one had been willing to exchange, for goods, services or currency, that I convinced the border man to take since we had no other money and no way of getting any. We had heard that people were supposed to register with the police after arriving in Sudan. No official ever told us anything about it so we neglected to do it. But upon leaving the country they got angry at us and made us register upon our exit. Then we bounced back and forth between various windows paying people small amounts of money in exchange for various slips of paper. That allowed us to get our stamp out of the country. From Khartoum to Wadi Halfa was 1000 kms and took us 13 hours. Wadi Halfa to Aswan is 350 kms and took us 14 hours. We sat at the Egyptian border for a seemingly unending amount of time. Security is tight here on the border.

Sudan is great and I cannot recommend it enough for those who desire to get away from western comforts and appeasement and who can handle the dust and the heat. The people are friendly, polite and respectful. The country is relatively clean and the history is rich. It will make you wonder why you thought you might ever be in danger in a place like this.