Letter
from
Rahad el Berdi, Sudan
26 July 84
Mom and Dad,
Just a letter to let you know you won't be hearing from
me for awhile. Traveling has become very difficult because
of the rain. Actually, it doesn't rain that much but the
roads have no bridges here and nothing dries out here.
From Khartoum I took the train to Nyala in the west of Sudan.
It took four and a half days for 820 miles. I had to ride
on the roof the entire trip the train was so packed there
was only sitting room even on the roof. Three people fell
off, one was killed when he fell down in between the cars
the other two just broke some bones.
Everyone said in Nyala that there were no cars to the border
(180 miles). So myself, a girl from Holland and a Danish
couple started walking. We got a ride in a Land Rover after
15 miles for about another 20 miles. Caught a government
truck at 8:30pm loaded with gasoline.
There was so much mud and the ruts were so deep that once
we went around a curve and the truck came so close to tipping
over that the girl from Holland and I were thrown out into
about two feet of mud and a bunch of thorns.
We
stopped about 1:00am when we came to another truck stuck in
the mud so thoroughly that the rear wheels weren't even visible.
Amazingly enough they got it out.
We arrived in Idd el Granham at 9:00am. We were told there
were no rides so the Holland girl and I started walking the
next morning to Rahad el Berdi the next town about 35 miles
away. The Danish couple were too whipped to make the trip.
We walked a day and a half covering 25 miles when a Land Rover
came by and gave us a lift.
The next section of the trip is from Rahad el Berdi to Am
Dafog about 75 miles. There really is no transportation to
there other than animals which is too expensive for us. A
donkey is about $30, horse about $125, camel about $200. There
is a river that runs from here to there so right now we are
building a raft.
The locals say the trip is dangerous as far as animals goand
advised us to buy spears, which we did ($1.75 can't go wrong).
The topographic map of the region shows elephant tracks so
the trip should be interesting. This girl from Holland, Hatty
Groendyk, is very tough and about the most useful girl I've
ever met.
Anyway, you can tell that it is going to take me a long time
to get to Nairobi, maybe two months or longer. But I will
call or write when I can. I'm having a great time in the mean
time,though.
Dad, happy birthday and tell Anthony happy birthday too. I
hope to be sending some really good stuff from Nairobi. Take
care and tell everyone I said hello.
Your son,
Bill |
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