Still August 6, 2016
Sufi dancer welcoming us.August 6, 2016 continued
The wild looking dancer put on a good show.
Yesterday afternoon, August 5, after a couple hours quiet time, Abdel and Mortada took us to see the Sufi Whirling Dervishes who dance and pray every Friday in front of the main Sufi mosque in Omdurman, the city across the river from Khartoum. We remember very exciting music and twirling by men in colorful full skirts on our first trip to Turkey 27 years ago and looked forward to seeing Sufi dancers again. The area around the mosque was packed with people full of anticipation. We joined hundreds of them, mostly men, gathered in a large circle in the courtyard of the mosque.
Sufi dancers chanting and swaying
Barefooted men and boys stepped into the circle and began to sway, then prance and twirl to the sound of drums and chanting. Most were wearing the traditional everyday garb of white jallabiahs. A few along had on more colorful outfits, including one wild looking man covered with rows and rows of large, heavy beads crossed over his shoulder, his hair in dreadlocks and his face oblivious to the crowd. As each chant ended more men entered the space and joined the movement, while the crowd around joined in the chant and swayed to the sound. We both took several photos and videos. Unfortunately I don’t know how or if it is even possible to attach a video to my blog. (If any of you know, please email us how.) This went on for an hour when I began to get bored and finally asked Abdel if it was going to get more interesting. When he told us it would continue the same, we decided we had had enough of the crowd and the scene and went back to the hotel to relax, have dinner and crash.
Today, Saturday the 6th, is our last full day in Sudan. We had a full day planned and headed out at 9am for Omdurman, which was the capital of Sudan long before Khartoum, to visit the Tomb of Mahdi, a charismatic religious leader who led the Sudanese against the British in 1886 to devastating defeat. Madhi had killed the British hero Charles Gordon several years earlier and the British General Kitchener, still angry about the death of his friend, took his revenge. Although there were 60,000 Sudanese troops and only 10,000 British, the British, armed with modern guns and cannons mowed down the Sudanese, who had only outdated spears, knives and shields. The result was a blood bath and a bit of an embarrassment to Britain. Madhi survived the battle, only to die 6 months later from malaria. Next door to the tomb is a very old museum where Madhi’s successor, Abdullah Khalifa, lived and worked from 1886 to 1898, when Kitchener had him and his sin killed. This was the beginning of the Anglo/Egyptian occupation, which lasted until 1956, when Sudan gained its independence. More recent history is interesting and complicated and too much for this blog. Google History of Sudan for more info.
After hearing the stories about these famous figures, we drove to the largest souk in Sudan to check it out. We were in it only about 45 minutes when we saw the light in the sky change to a dense reddish haze.
The red sky before the storm.
It was very eerie, but did not deter us from completing a purchase of some camel bone jewelry. We barely finished paying the merchant when we heard lightning, thunder and immediate heavy rain on the only partially covered roof of the souk. Then the lights went out and the whole souk shut down. Apparently exposed power lines next to corrugated roofing is a bad thing in the rain. We stayed put for about 30 minutes hoping the deluge would pass. Abdel finally reached our driver, who then managed to get the car within a block of where we were. At that point, we made a run for the car and got soaked in the process.
Can’t remember ever seeing so much rain at one time. Unfortunately, there are no storm drains in the old city and the water in the streets quickly reached 12 inches deep in low lying areas. I was glad again that we had our big, strong SUV.
So much for more shopping in the souk. We drove through many inundated streets to our lunch stop, a place called Al Housh, the courtyard. It was a big contemporary place with a huge skylight and made a great place to hang out, eat and listen to the rain. Abdel made good on his promise to buy us the traditional Sudanese meal called “Ful”, which included hot beans in broth (Mark and I are sure they are fave beans), mixed grill of lamb and chicken, grilled Nile Perch, hummus, a Greek style salad and the ever present bread. We enjoyed the food, which we tried, unsuccessfully, eating with one hand in the traditional Arabic way using bread as the scoop. The rain continued to pound on the roof. Fortunately, it abated by the time we were ready to leave. Our plan had been to see a wrestling match, but it was rained out, so we returned to the hotel to relax, happily, in our room. We have actually seen the Nile rise before our eyes during the week we have been in Sudan. Everyone says it will continue to raise for about 2 more weeks and then slowly subside. No-one expects serious flooding as happened in 1988.
August 7, 2016
Departure day. I am actually sorry to leave Sudan with its incredible landscapes and wonderful people. My concerns about terrorism and being heavily scrutinized were totally unfounded. I invite everyone to visit this lovely country, just not in July or August. We are now off to the airport for our onward journey to Uganda. Good wishes to all, especially our mothers, Kay and LaVonne.
Adventures with Julia 