Greetings from Dongola

It's been a few days now and I don't know what to write or where to start.

The boat ride accross lake Nasser was always going to be pretty eventful so it was not really surprising when I found myself making 7 trips on and off the boat (which has a very small entry door and lots of people trying to carry food, microwaves, refrigerators, and anything else possible on and off to load themselves onto the boat). After a lot of pushing and shoving getting my gear, my bike, all the medical equipment, some of the other staff equipment on board I was starting to get the hang of it.

It was a bit of a squishy nights sleep on board the boat, but after filling out much paperwork we were finally able to disembark and enter the Sudan.

I was chatting to rider Ruth the other day asking her how she was finding it.
"It's almost like we've landed on the moon" she tells me. I know what she means. There are no trees, just lots and lots of desert. And a few rocks in the landscape.

Medically everyone is doing ok - nothing new. No trips to the hospital yet (apparently we're doing much better than last year when 4 riders had to be taken to Dongola hospital to get their eye infections, abscesses etc etc checked out).

Today is a rest day - but not for us staff. Mathias and I work and clean up the lunch truck (also our 'Clinic'). There's plenty of paperwork to be done - writing up an electronic copy of all our medical notes, going through the medical inventory again now that we are with our trucks - we have a lot more medical equipment.

It's great having the trucks, the Indaba staff to help us out, everything just runs so much more smoothly in the Sudan - it is still one of my favourite countries in Africa.

Love to all - thanks for fixing up my car insurance mum and dad x0