Sudan (Suakin and Port Sudan) Log
Sudan...
The short summary for those not wanting to read too much is this: Sudan is a poor dump of a country.
Imagine no trash cans, but tons of trash, flies, donkey and goat droppings everywhere, ruined buildings,
shacks, houses made from tree branches and plastic, no sanitation, no running water, electricity only at
night, etc.
Ok now for the details on things. The agent here in Suakin is great and he can get you fuel or water.
Supposedly the water is safe, but after getting Giardia from Aden forget it. The fuel is mostly clean so by
all means filter it! The folks here are nice and unlike Eritrea don't try to beg or con money out of you.
They are dirt poor and live a hard life, but still they seem happy and are generally nice folks. Travel is a
bit restricted to any place besides port sudan. Port sudan is just a bigger dump, but has a few things for
a cruiser. There is a store or two to buy expensive groceries, one ice cream shop (interesting flavors),
good internet at the Palace Hotel (seriously fast connection for this region), and some places to eat.
Otherwise it is pretty much a very run down poor city full of 3 million people and tons of motorcycle cabs
(tuk tuks).
So basically if you treat this place as a fuel and veggie stop fine, but if you are expecting much more
other than to make you appreciate how fortunate you are to not live here then good luck. I think if more
unhappy folks from the USA would come visit here they might go home happy to be living in america and
stop complaining all the time. Complaining is something that well to do folks can afford to do. Here they
are too busy trying to survive to complain! Ironically the folks here are likely more happy than the
average american (they don't have electricity, running water, indoor toilets, cars, etc.) In this town the
major forms of transportation are foot and donkey!
I must be too well off because I seem to be complaining darn it!
P. S.
Sudan was fun right up to the end where I got arrested the last day there for taking photos of secret
clown fish in northern sudan! I am about a mile from some stupid security building (not that one would
know that because it was a shack with no sign of any kind) taking a dive. They were not at all happy to
have me off the boat let alone diving so they took me in. Eventually about 1/2 hour later they gave me
the choice of giving up the camera or the memory chip (this is after reviewing my photos, not
communicating with me what the problem was, etc.). So even the final Sudan experience was typical of
the country.