Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE GREAT BEND
Eastern Sahara, Sudan, May 2014
'S
hips of the desert,' said Moez. 'That's what we call them. Somali beasts aside,
Sudanese camels are the best in the world.'
Moez and I arrived at Omdurman's Souq al-Muwelih after midday, when the sun was at
its zenith and most sane people stayed in the relative cool of their huts. The souq wasn't
so much a market as a vast expanse of sand, with a small collection of shacks where local
Sudanese men lounged on string beds drinking
chai
. We'd already passed the goat market,
but here the scene was less frantic. Hundreds of camels stood around, chewing the scrub
like cows. Gathered in groups, with the females clinging together and the males tied up
in clots of four or five, they didn't seem to mind the heat at all. In front of us, one of the
males tried to stand but, finding his legs tethered together, all he could do was hop com-
ically about in search of tufts of grass poking out of the sand. I could have watched him
carousing all day.
From the midst of the camels there appeared a man in a long white shirt and blue waist-
coat, his head wrapped loosely in a turban.
'This must be Bala,' I said, and we made our way to meet him.
I had first heard of Bala from the great explorer Michael Asher, whose home I had vis-
ited in Kenya just before my expedition began. A noted desert explorer, Michael had spent
three years living with a nomadic tribe in Sudan, becoming as familiar as any man on earth
with the deserts I was about to traverse. His advice had been invaluable: camels were a
necessity, but a bad camel was worth less than no camel at all.
'Whatever you do,' he had said, 'don't get a
Sharaat
.'
'What's that?'
'It's a runner. They'll try and sell you one, but tell them no. If a camel does a runner
with all your water in the desert, you'll be dead in a day. And look serious when you're
buying - look like you know what you're doing. Otherwise, they'll sell you something old
and feckless. Check their teeth - you can tell their age by the teeth. You want a male, four
