Wadi Haifa to Khartoum along the Nile

[Geoff van de Merwe]

I should be crossing inbto Sudan from Egypt on the 7th of April and am interested in following the Nile into Khartoum (as opposed to along the railway).
Has anyone done this recently and can give me more information on the likelihood of doing this?
ie. availability of fuel, water and food, road/track condition etc.
I am travelling on a 3AJ Tenere, with capacity for 43 litres of fuel and about 10l of water.

Geoff

[AliBaba]

I went from Khartoum to Wadi Halfa on a motorbike last August/September:

Day 1 Khartoum - Dongola
Tarmac to somewhere around Debba. When the tarmac stop it’s mainly stone-dessert with some sandy spots. It’s possible to avoid the soft spots if you like. They are building a new road from Dongola to Deba, I don’t know the progress.
-Petrol: Khartoum, Deba and Dongola. There might be petrol in some other villages to.
-Water: Same as petrol.

Day 2 Dongola – Abri
Crossed the Nile at Dongola and went north through a lot of sandy villages directly after the crossing. The rest is mostly corrugated gravel.
-Petrol: Dongola, at least one of the villages close to Dongola.
-Water: I only found bottled water in Dongola (Soft drinks in Abri) . Nile water is easy to get but it’s eeeh from the Nile, didn’t make me sick....

Day 3 Abri – Wadi Halfa
Mostly corrugated gravel all the way.
-Petrol: I bought petrol at the marked in Abri, took me a couple of hours... They have petrol in Wadi Halfa but you might need to shop around - or buy it in Aswan
-Water: Only Nile Water all the way. In Wadi Halfa you can get water softdrinks ++


I used three days and that gave me some time to hang around in the villages. Personally I would have liked to spend more time but I had to catch the ferry.

With 43 litres of petrol you have no problems.
I don't know the temperature when you are going but in Aug/sept it was more then 50°c in the middle of the day and some small sandstorms (from north). It rally dried me out and I used approx 25 litres of water and 10 softdrinks in Abri and ten more in Wadi Halfa:-)
Drank more then three liters changing a tube. Patching doesn't work well in sandstorms :-))



[This message has been edited by AliBaba (edited 26 March 2003).]