Without breakfast, I took a tuktuk to Dongola’s station hoping to get a bus to Wadi Halfa. There were only minibuses and I didn’t fancy being squashed so opted to pay for an extra seat. I did keep the extra seat until close to the end of the trip when they picked up some extra bums but I didn’t kick up a fuss. I felt sorry for people living in rural areas who often have to wait for a long time before finding a spare seat on transport passing by.
After 4h30, I arrived at Wadi Halfa. It was a brief walk to the area where most of the lokandas (Sudanese style dorm hotels). The first was full, and so was the second (the only place with private rooms in addition to dorms). Third time lucky, I found a place that wasn’t marked in English, the Al-Shmaliya.
Apart from the second place, all lokandas in town are about the same. They are made up of rope-beds on a sandy floor with makeshift walls (eg. corrugated iron) and light roof (eg. mat). The going rate is SDG20.
I grabbed lunch and ran into Matthew from Australia who had just arrived from Aswan on the ferry. I invited him to stay at my hotel, which he did. We spent time exchanging tips and our SIM cards, my Sudanese for his Egyptian.
We tried completing our immigration formalities after that but was about 30 minutes too late. The government offices had closed. But at least I managed to get my ferry ticket revalidated (as it was prepurchased in Khartoum), saving me one small step in the morning.
There wasn’t much choice of food in town. I repeated my lunch of taamiya and egg sandwich for dinner. It was nice to have someone to exchange stories with under the stars and the full moon while having dinner. We tried to retire early but many of dorm-mates didn’t come back till late.
The dormitory did have a wonderfully atmosphere. I asked the Darfuri if Darfur was a Christian or a Muslim area and he replied it was purely the latter. That surprised me as he had a T-shirt that proclaimed “Christ is King” and he is fluent in English! He obviously didn’t mind.
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- A stop en route.
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- My hotel, the Al-Shamalia; entrance to the courtyard and sleeping area.
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- My hotel, the Al-Shamalia; sleeping area.
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- My hotel, the Al-Shamalia; more of the sleeping area.
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- My hotel, the Al-Shamalia; rear courtyard with toilet blocks.
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- My hotel, the Al-Shamalia; flushless toilets where a good aim is necessary to maintain good hygiene.
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- Wadi Halfa street scene.
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- Wadi Halfa street scene.
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- Wadi Halfa street scene.
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- Wadi Halfa street scene.
