Let me paint you a picture. We came to Aswan, in part, because it’s the easiest place to get a visa to enter Sudan overland, even easier than Cairo. Dave got his visa straight off (well, after they kept his passport for a few days).
But they told me I required authorization from the Sudanese Foreign Ministry. After a week and a half, Dave and I made new plans to split up for a bit: he’d go on through Sudan, and I’d backtrack to Cairo and fly to Ethiopia to meet him on the other side.
We had to set a drop-dead date, the last chance for my visa: Thursday, 28 June.
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, we got word that my authorization came through from Khartoum. Thursday morning, Dave and I got there at 0900 and handed over my passport. They had the authorization number! We asked for a rush job to get the visa that same day; they said “maybe”. We waited. We played cards. We drank water. We waited some more. 4 hours later, my passport came back: no visa yet. It wasn’t going to happen today. We were crushed. And then it got worse: due to a holiday, we wouldn’t get the visa until Monday, way past our “last chance” date.
We asked again: “no”. We begged: “no”. We offered money: “no”. Do you think that stopped us? Finally, 90 minutes after the consulate officially closed, they relented and punched out my visa.
7 half-days spent in that little waiting room of perpetual disappointment, and finally we were done. Out in the heat, we were too exhausted to be happy.
Why are we going to Sudan? Well, if you want to get from Cairo to Cape Town overland, you don’t have much choice. Everyone “knows” it’s a dangerous country and you shouldn’t go there, right? But our research showed that the route we’re taking is generally safe enough for careful and respectful travelers, and most state departments agree.
For whatever reason, the US map doesn’t detail which regions within a country are stable and which are in conflict. Instead, it wimps out with a legend saying “some areas are bad”. Compare that to the United Kingdom:
Australia generally agrees with the UK, particularly in the corridor we’re taking.
So we’re happy with our plan. We even celebrated our pending Aswan escape with a beer and wee footie match on the roof!
My mobile internet doesn’t work in Sudan or Ethiopia. We might occasionally have WiFi, but don’t be surprised not to hear from us much for a couple weeks.
Next time: who knows?
P.S. Dave says: “Hey Chris! Have you seen my passport?”