Good news from Sudanese embassy

It rained a bit last night, but the sun was shining when we got up at 7h00. We wanted to get an early start as we only had a three hour window (from 9h00) to apply for the Sudanese visas if they were open today. It is great here at Jungle Junction where we can make our own breakfast in a proper kitchen and sit at a table to eat it. We arrived at the embassy at 8h45 to hear that they are in fact open and we should wait outside. The guy that had to open today was 10 minutes late, but we were first in line when he arrived. Inside we got the application forms, heard that we don’t need the letter of introduction from our embassy and handed over our passports. The friendly lady behind the counter wrote the collection time (not date!) on the slip: 2PM. We couldn’t believe our luck!

We decided not to get ahead of ourselves and did some shopping. When we got back to JJ’s Tania did the washing (a LOT of dirty clothes) and I made lunch: sausage rolls. We headed back to the embassy at 13h30 and waited until 14h00 when we got our passports. A Sudanese guy asked out about our trip and said we are going to enjoy Sudan and the people. He is on his way there and said we should meet in Khartoum. He didn’t ask for contact details or dates and times. He just said he sometimes goes to a coffee shop in the centre of town, so we might meet there some times in the future. We’ll try to remember to pop in when we reach there.

We left there in a high and realised again what a waste of time it is to worry about things that are out of your control! Back at the ranch everyone was busy cleaning their bikes and replacing tyres. After we changed the two Motomias’ oil, I set about dismantling most of the rear-end of my bike to clean off all the mud and grease from the previous 8 500 km. Tania had an afternoon nap instead, but quickly polished the chrome parts of her bike when she awoke. The shocking thing is that her bike almost looks cleaner than mine after I’ve spent the better part of three hours on it.

Here is a scene from the Jungle Junction yard:

And what’s left of my bike after taking it apart:

Tomorrow we’ll give her bike a thorough check-up as well and then on Sunday we’ll take on the inevitable road towards the North. We’ve heard so many stories about it the condition has changed so much in the past few days that we’ll just have to go and see for ourselves. Luckily the sun was beating down with fury this afternoon, which hopefully started to dry out more than just our washing.

Peter, the Ozzy on the GS, left this morning to go and see what the road beyond the tarmac looks like. He has been travelling for more than three years by himself on this monster of a bike:

There are some legends our there!!

After a hot shower (I am still a bit paranoid about the shower contraptions, but took my chances) we had supper with the other bikers and Darren (the Kiwi). It really is a great place to meet other overlanders this. Cheers.