Day 42: Karima - Wawa

After the drips ran dry, the towel dried up and Grant ran out of energy, the temperature came back with a vengeance, making it the hottest night most of us have seen in a while. With this in mind, wake up was not the prettiest of sites and after a breakfast that dragged on a little too long, we were on our bikes setting the air conditioning to 140km/h. Today we were blessed with no wind, and for the first time we were actually able to grasp the sheer barrenness of the Nubian Desert. As usual coffee was not far from our minds and after making the 180km drive through the Nubian Desert we arrived in Dongola with a coffee place already in mind. While sipping on our caffeine concoctions, we were privileged enough to witness the local economy at work, which was an old ferry that formed the back bone for most of Dongola's merchants. Once the bikes and the team had been filled, it was back on the road for what the team expected to be a short enjoyable ride, this was not the case. With the temperatures climbing into the mid 40’s the tar road ended and we found ourselves navigating along a desert road that wound its way up the Nile to Wadi Halfa. The next 90 kilometers to the town Wawa took us a little over four hours and if not for the advanced training we had all received on our drive from Isiolo to Moyale, it would have taken us a lot longer. The sand road in itself was not the greatest of challenges, however coupled with the rising heat and the tons of dust, these last few kilometers proved to be Sudan’s final challenge for the Boyz. Finally we arrived in Wawa, where we were welcomed into the rustic house of a local Nubian. After settling in, we were taken across the Nile to the Temple of Sulb, here we spent a bit of time walking around the ruins, with Moyis as our tour guide.