Andy Explores

I leapt inside as quickly as I could hastily zipping the door up behind to try and avoid a tent full of sand, only to realise that I had been beaten to it - the inside of my tent now resembled a child’s sandpit. I did my best to sweep all the sand into the bottom corner, only to discover it returning quicker than I could get rid of it. It was everywhere!

We headed back towards the road, and peered through the orange haze in the hope of spotting what, on a clearer day, should have been easy to see.  As we neared the strip of tarmac, we began to see unusual geometric lines in the distance, standing out against the natural shapes and curves of the surrounding landscape suggesting that something man-made was slowly appearing from the dust; and sure enough after a few more steps we began to see the familiar outline of a pyramid…

About 30 minutes North of Shendi, the bus pulled over at a very indistinct patch of sand, and we realised that we really were in the middle of nowhere, at least it very much felt like that in the dark.  The only feature of note was a sad looking petrol station, which one of our fellow passengers pointed at and indicated we should sleep there for the night, and with that the bus drive off into the starry night, leaving us to our own devices in the middle of the Sudanese desert…

If the scenario was frenzied before, then at this request it became absolute pandemonium!  The crowd clearly hadn’t thought about this possible development, and the excitement about what I was trying to achieve was palpable!  Shouts went out to find a bicycle, and within seconds one of the older guys from the workshop had produced a sturdy two-wheeled beast, not unlike the one which my Great Grandfather was leaning on in the photograph…

Welcome to the next instalment of my journey into the different types of accommodation you might encounter on your upcoming trip of a lifetime.  Part Two is all about staying in hostels and hotels, how to find them, what are the pros and cons of each one, and how to make the most of them when you get there…

Without really having time to process what was happening, the angry man marched me around the corner, and into the yard of a police station where eight other very serious looking men in police uniforms were sat around a boiling kettle making tea.  The atmosphere wasn’t welcoming in the slightest, and I began to feel very, very uncomfortable.