Eastern Sudan- On the edge of Eritrea

Eastern Sudan- On the edge of Eritrea

Standing in the "Gush" river, with the Taka mountains behind, on the Edge of Eritrea.

July 10^th 2013- Kassala, Eastern Sudan.

This part of the journey was not part of my original plan for Sudan, as my jet east for Ethiopia was more of a direct route to avoid any trouble down in Blue Nile state. However, one night I was online and I got in touch with my friend from high school Meron Hambton. Meron is of Eritrean ancestry and informed me he was born outside of Eritrea in the Sudan, nearby to the town of Kassala. Then it struck me! I knew another friend, Biniam, who also was born in a camp in Sudan outside of his ancestral home in Eritrea. With an opportunity to see Eritrean culture without actually being able to go inside Eritrea, I could not say no. My good friend Adele is half Eritrea, and is one of the kindest and fantastic people I know to boot, I just had to do this!

Chilling with some Jebena in Kassala.

I was not disapointed. I arrived on the eve of Ramadan to the wafting scent of Eritrean coffee, surrounded by the stunning Taka mountains, the natural barrier that separates Sudan from Eritrea.

Cooking up a storm in Kassala.

I figured the first thing I should do after a grueling bus ride was go for a run. I jogged about the town, waving to locals, and they waved backed smiling, but also looking a bit puzzled, as I was surely the only white person in town, and to boot, people don’t normally go jogging in this part of the world. The stories I have from jogging on my travels are priceless and at some point I will write a book entitled “Jogging around the world”.

The busy streets of Kassala pre Ramadan.

Needless to say, after a quick shower I went about in search of some Eritrean food, and some company for the evening. I wandered about the town and was hailed down by about a dozen different people for “jebena”, or coffee in Sudanese Arabic. I was buzzed beyond belief by the power of this spicey concoction, so I knew sleep was going to be short on this night, lol.

Sun set over the Gush river , and Ramadan is set to begin!

OK, the gush river got the best of me.

I ate some dinner, and went to smoke some sheesha at the local hang out in the centre of town. As it was the final night before Ramadan, the town plaza was busier than time square (ok that is a bit exadurated, lol, but you get the idea). I was hailed down by a few fellas, non Arabs, men who claimed to be of Eritrean heritage, and one of them spoke very good English. We talked the night away, from the politics of Sudan, to the Egyptian revolution next door, to the sad state of affairs across the mountains in Eritrea. 

Chilling the night away in Kassala with some Eritrean's.

They explained to me that Eritreans come across the border to stock up on fresh fruit and other commodities that are largely unavailable to them, and many stay and work in Sudan as refugees. I have to say it was one of the most informative conversations I have had in Sudan, but all the while I kept very quiet (which many of you know if difficult for me), as discussing politics in Sudan can land you in very big trouble if you take the wrong side. These gentlemen even invited to take me across the border, citing they know the guards well, and that their villages is right along the “gush” river, right at the border. The gush river was ironically dry at this moment, which I got a good kick out of, but as the rains come down over in Ethiopia and Eritrea it apparently has quite the flow from August until October.

Beyond those beautiful mountains lies one of the most closed countries on earth.

Regardless, I went back to my hotel after a lovely day and night in this border town and began my preparations to go to Ethiopia. As I was packing I turned on the TV, and wouldn’t you know it, one of my favourite films comes on, Titanic! Since I was still buzzed on the caffeine from all that pungent Eritrean coffee, I sat down and watched the entire film. One scene struck me in the film in reference to my trip so far. It was the scene when Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack Dawson), sits down for dinner with all the first class people and they begin to interrogate him about this “lifestyle”, he responds “Life is a gift, and I don’t intend on wasting it, just yesterday I was sleeping under a bridge, and today I am sitting here having champagne with you fine people”. 

Titanic on Arabic TV, a good sign.

You just never know where you are going to end up, or who you will meet, and to me that is so exciting. I got a sudden surge of energy and took this fine message as a good sign for the rest of my trip.

After a long day’s journey I write now at the border of town of Gallabat, on the Sudanese and Ethiopian border. The journey in Sudan is coming to a close and as like Leo in Titanic, I am sleeping the night in a “Lokanda”(A Sudanese version of a hostel), surrounded by flies, and dozens of locals preparing to make the crossing, but I cannot be more excited about what lies waiting across that border in the green hills of Ethiopia!

Kassala bus station, onwards to Ethiopia!

Cheers to all back home and abroad.

God bless.

William Delaney