Tuti Island

In Sudan, Saturday is Sunday.

As the museum was closed, the icy chilled aircon taxi dropped us to thaw in the 40C+ sunshine near the bridge to Tuti Island.

We first went into the super modern El Fateh Hotel, otherwise known as the Gadafi's Egg - for its shape and owner or vice-versa. At the top of the tall building is a cafe, where you can have expensive coffee while enjoying the views of Khartoum and the Nile just below. un?Fortunately it was also closed, so we just had the free views without the coffee.

Our Bradt guidebook says you reach Tuti Island by ferry boat. Not any more. There's a big new empty bridge with just enough traffic to erode the peace of the village. There are some things

that are lost with progress. With so many places polluted by traffic, having 'no access' can be a precious commodity. There are at least four villages in Switzerland whose sell this as luxory, with cars excluded mere humans can enjoy the roads to themselves (unless they get run over by silent electric cars). Anyway... that's progress... on the mainland river bank they are building more Eggs and dubious Dubai towers.

Tuti Island that lies in the middle of the Nile, where the two branches of the river meet.

It was quite a nice rural walk. Shady lanes through trees and small fields. Seriously the shade is a delicious respite from the sun, another precious commodity. Canals of flowing water pumped up from the Nile. No traffic noise, until we got to the north tip, our objective, to the point where the Blue Nile and While Nile meet. They are both brown. At that point you hear the rumble of traffic from the busy bridge that joins Omdurman to Khartoum 2.

[I miss being able to go for a walk. I tried to walk in our neighbourhood here, but quickly got worn out with the heat and the traffic noise. No pavement. No shady lane. No river Wye.]

Despite the intermittent shade we were soon facing dehydration, and exhaustion from the heat, as we headed back south, towards the Egg on the horizon. Friendly voices called to us as we walked past... a tree under which several people are quietly resting, some sleeping, some joking, big clay pots of drinking water, and a young lady with a beautiful smile making hot drinks. I discovered that I don't know how to pronounce coffee in Arabic, all attempts failed, resorting to English immediately understood. But this was Greek style coffee with a twist of spice: cardamom, cinnamon and pepper. Served in a glass, difficult to hold without scalding fingers. Delicious drink. Restful place. The sound of drums and chant drifting across the river, possibly from the Sufis. That pause under the tree, everything just right, a magical quality. We were recharged and ready to face the heat again. On the way we saw mangos for sale, just SP1 each, two big bunches of rocket (that is really good here) and we bought tomatoes, also cheaper than usual, and the guy was so pleased he gave us extra stuff for free: a handful of green chilis, some spring onions, and something else we didn't recognise.

So, I'm glad the museum was closed last Saturday.