About 30 minutes North of Shendi, the bus pulled over at a very indistinct patch of sand, and we realised that we really were in the middle of nowhere, at least it very much felt like that in the dark. The only feature of note was a sad looking petrol station, which one of our fellow passengers pointed at and indicated we should sleep there for the night, and with that the bus drive off into the starry night, leaving us to our own devices in the middle of the Sudanese desert…
Loud, uncomfortable, rusty, dangerous, and slow; local buses typically don’t have the best reputation when it comes to a reliable choice of adventure transport. However, given the choice between a busy and ramshackle public bus, or a spacious, air-conditioned private one, my heart will only be drawn one way…towards the more exciting and adventurous option…
We clambered into the rugged Toyota, and headed for the park gates along the now familiar bumpy, dusty roads. It took an hour or so to reach the park gates, and as soon as we entered the park we weren’t disappointed. Almost immediately we drove past the endemic Gelada baboons, only found in the Ethiopian highlands. These hilariously fluffy species of Old World monkeys were beautiful, but paled in insignificance to the scene which had appeared before us...
explore v. (ɛkˈsplɔː) 1. The action of travelling through an unfamiliar area in order to learn more about it
