36 Hours to Port Sudan

. . . well that's how long it takes to go by bus.

This weekend while E was away on business, I took my first trip outside the capital city. My departure from Khartoum was scheduled for 2pm . . . and 6 hours later I was still at the airport . . .

6 hours of flight delay, 1 1/2 hours flying time, 2 1/2 hours waiting for the resort manager to show up and open his office, 2 hours negotiating with authorities to get the right permits to travel to the resort, 3 hours waiting for the resort driver, and 1 1/2 hours driving up to the resort, I was finally in the Red Sea snorkeling with the fishies!

So was it worth it?!?! You bet. Port Sudan may never be the same . . .

This weekend four khawagas from Khartoum ventured east for a coastal getaway. Port Sudan is the capital of the Red Sea state of Sudan. It is gateway for travellers and goods making their way to and from the East. The original staging point for traders and pilgrims heading to Arabia was Suakin, about 45 minutes south of the modern port, but just after the turn of the 20th century the British founded Port Sudan seeking deeper waters to accommodate their merchant fleets.


We were seeking sun, sand, and sea - and maybe a little relaxation. We booked rooms with a view, and from inside the hotel, we could have been in any one of a thousand places. But outside, it was a whole different world. For starters, we were likely the only four westerners in town. Midday Saturday a boatload of Italian scuba divers disembarked, but they ventured only as far as the hotel pool and restaurant, then back to their vessel.


The sand and sea proved harder to get to than we would have thought. We could see it from our hotel windows, and could walk along the port corniche, but to actually get wet required quite an adventure.

There is effectively no beach in Port Sudan. The city's waterfront is industrial rather than touristic and although it is marketed as the gateway to the Red Sea, we found that we had to travel to a separate resort some 40 km north of this second largest city in Sudan (after the greater metropolitan area of Khartoum/Omdurman/Khartoum North) to actually get in the water.

But this was after we:

• piled all four of us into the back of a tuk tuk (twice)
• checked out the central market
• honed our snorkeling skills and lounged by the pool
• debated with the authorities (no photo)
• explored the ruins of Suakin
  and more.

. . . quite a weekend.