I have spent the last few weeks writing up travel reports. In the near future, I shall publish all my travel reports here on my weblog. I would like to start with my first and oldest report, on my journey to the Sudan in 1995.

Jens Kuhfs' "Sudan Travel Journal"

In February 1995, I flew to Cairo with Lufthansa, and then on to Port Sudan with Sudan Airways. The transfer and connecting flight at Cairo airport were, as expected, somewhat chaotic. But everything worked out, and the plane even started on time. The flight to Port Sudan was on an old Boeing, where I could neither do up my seatbelt nor put the seat in an upright position. There were people standing in the aisles or sitting on their baggage as if the plane were an overfull bus. Next to me two old Sudanese men with scars on their cheeks sat, wearing traditional clothes. The scarification symbolises tribal affiliation in Sudan. The north of the country is mostly inhabited by Arabic Sudanese, and the south by Christian Africans. This division of the country has led to a very long and bloody civil war. A shame, as the Sudan has a very interesting history and culture. The country contains endless old pyramids. The two Sudanese next to me were very interested in diving and underwater photography, which I could show them in the form of a fish field guide. The high point was pictures of hammer-head sharks from Sanganeb. Hammer-heads are indeed imposing sharks, which have impressed me many times on my dives. In any case, I found the clothes, the speech and the "dark black" colour of the Sudanese fascinating. I now also know why the turban stays on. One of the Sudanese blew his nose on a white cloth, with the appropriate noises. He then folded the turban together again, looking questioningly at me because I was watching him doing this. We arrived punctually and safely in Port Sudan. Immigration took a little longer than usual, as the formalities are very bureaucratic for us Europeans. We then continued onto the Aurora, which became our home for the next 14 days.

The following morning we sailed on the Aurora through the port of Port Sudan, and could gaze at old ships from all over the world. Some were rusty old tubs... After an hour it was time to put on the diving rig and prepare the photographic equipment.

The place we were to dive was called the "Wreck of the Umbria (city in Italy)". This ship was sunk by its own captain when he heard that Italy had entered the Second World War. The Sudan was at that time a British colony, administered from England. The Umbria was heavily loaded with military hardware, especially bombs. Today it is no longer dangerous, as most of the bombs have been defused.

The wreck was beautifully overgrown with corals, and the home of many fish. Hans Haas also mentions it in his books.

After the dive, we had our first midday meal cooked by our Sudanese cook. The food was delicious. He conjured up lovely food with the simplest of ingredients. He watched us before and after each dive, as he found our equipment and intentions a little disturbing. After the meal we had a second dive, where I could see the Umbria's propeller in relation to a diver. The size of the ship and its propeller give some idea of the violence with which it must have hit the sea floor.

In the early evening we sailed on to the "Sanganeb Reef". We anchored by an island with a pretty turquoise border. There was also an old lighthouse on the island, manned by two Sudanese during the time I was there. We paid the lighthouse keepers a visit, which made them very happy. A welcome distraction from the deep silence of each day. The lighthouse has lost importance in recent times, as many ships today travel over the seas using modern communication and navigation aids.

After a couple of glasses of wine and a good meal we laid ourselves down to a well-earned sleep, as the next dives were to be in strong currents.

The first dive was then indeed in a strong current, which exhausted me. This was also the first dive where I had a camera with me, and then under such hard conditions. But where there is a strong current at a reef like at Sanganeb, large fish are not far away. I was just in the process of getting myself roughly sorted out underwater, when an enormous hammer-head shark appeared swimming directly towards me. My first photography underwater, and then such a huge hammer-head. I managed to shoot off a photo, but made the mistake of leaving my position of shelter from the current. I made a somersault and even lost the flash arm. The flash and flash arm only hung from a cable. The dive ended for me after 30 minutes, but I was very satisfied with the first photo. Checking the equipment, I found that I had taken it at a depth of 45 metres. The hammer-head appears dark because of this, unsurprisingly at that depth. We spent a couple of days diving in this area, where I was able to take most of the photos of hammer-head sharks.

We carried on towards Schab Rumi and struck anchor near the legendary Toyota freighter Blue Belt. The ex-captain of the Blue Belt had driven it straight onto the reef. The ship up-ended, and the stern sank. The prow still sticks out of the water. There was an attempt at recovery, which resulted however in even more new Toyotas sinking to the sea floor. As nobody was harmed, the whole thing has been great for nature. The cars are now nurseries for countless small fish and other animals, and corals grow on the wreck, which is home to many small and large fish. Occasionally a whitetip reef shark would swim past us curiously, without seeming to really take us seriously. The dives are so relaxed that one quickly loses track of time. Fortunately the dive computer then starts to beep, and shows 56 metres as the maximum depth. We always ended the dives at the car wrecks in about 15m of water.

We then moved on to Schab Rumi, and then further north, where we made landfall again after a week .The view of the craggy mountains was impressive.

On the way back from this tour we passed the place where J. Cousteau built his legendary underwater garages and equipment. There are still shark cages, garages and a mushroom-shaped metal construction there today. We dived into the mushroom, and were able to talk inside it. Other divers had let air out of their tanks and formed an air bubble. One diver, a doctor (!), even had a can of beer with him. The diving area is beautifully overgrown with corals, and it is great fun diving there. The currents are also not as strong as in other places where we dived.

The trip was now approaching its end. As I had never before been diving for 14 days in strong currents, and at the same time taken photos underwater, I realised for the first time how much effort was involved. We concluded the diving safari with a last couple of interesting dives at the Sanganeb reef.

We sailed into Port Sudan. Our arrival was fascinating to the in part very poor population. To finish, we took a trip to the market. In many places one could see the better times that Port Sudan had had, everywhere were the typical English buildings. I also got the impression that some Italians were living there. Our captain and his wife were also from Italy. The meat market was particularly disgusting, as the meat was covered with hundreds of flies. I had never seen whole cows and pigs hanging from hooks in 30 degree heat. The captain asked us all "But the meat on the boat was tasty, was it not?". The trip through Port Sudan was depressing, as the people were utterly destitute. There were beggars everywhere and the children wore rags. The port city is relatively rich for the Sudan..., I wonder what the southern cities look like?

The next day we flew back to Cairo. The Sudan Airways plane was this time a modern Airbus, and the service on board was good. I was really surprised, as the flight in the other direction had been quite different. Some weeks later, the same plane was hijacked to London, where the hijacking fortunately ended without casualties. The hijackers surrendered, as they wanted asylum in order to escape the misery in Sudan. If everyone did this, it would be the end of civilian air travel.

We arrived in Cairo punctually and were quickly taken to our hotel. They drive like maniacs in Cairo. The bus rushed through the city and was even sometimes overtaken. All the drivers ignore the traffic lights, honking their horns all the time instead. The hotel was fantastic, as there were not many Europeans there. The many Arabic guests gave us the feeling of really being in the Arabic world. In the evening we took a short cruise on the Nile, and gazed at Cairo. For us tourists there were of course also a "belly-dance" and good cuisine. The evening and the journey ended in the bazaar in Cairo in the evening.

It is always worth while to visit the Sudan, even if one is not a diver. The civil war is indirectly good for nature, as typical package tourists are too scared to come here. Though many regions in the world profit economically from mass tourism, nature necessarily suffers. Tourists want the same luxury there as they are accustomed to from home. Much needs to be flown in and then disposed of after use. With my photos I have in any case captured a piece of free nature, and hope that the people in Sudan find peace.

Literature:

- "Abenteuer unter Wasser; Meine Erlebnisse und Forschungen im Meer" by Hans Haas published by Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung München

- "Sudan" by Oswald Iten published by Silva-Verlag, Zürich

Written on 29.12.2005 at 10:40, Category: Travel.
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