above:
ruins at Suakin, Red Sea coast south of Port Sudan
More about Port Sudan or picturesque Suakin, a former slave trade harbor

SUDAN

In January, 1978 I left KISR, Kuwait and traveled via Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Port Sudan, flying across the Red Sea. To my surprise, I was greeted at the airport by a man who asked me if I was "the marine geologist?". Thinking that someone at KISR had arranged this pickup, I acknowledged that I was a marine geologist and went along in his car to the hotel where he told me I was to stay. On the way, we talked about the Red Sea mud deposits and Ocean Mining A.G. which was to explore the deeps where the metalliferous muds had been discovered. It was only apparent the next day that they were awaiting a German marine geologist, but what with my Dutch accent I did understand the error. In my defense, I did at some time work for Ocean Science and Engineering, the parent company of Ocean Mining, and one of the WHOI scientists who had co-authored "the" book about Red Sea muds was my fellow student Dave Ross at Scripps.... Anyhow, I did visit some old ruins along the coast and took a fantastic coral reef dive from the Cambridge platform in the Red Sea.
Next, I tremulously rode a truck to
Khartoum,
where I met the movie star "Zein",
saw the junction of the two Niles,
learned more about General Gordon and
the Mahdi in Omdurman,
visited the Dutch Embassy
and then flew on to Juba...

 left:
collective hunt

JUBA
More information about
the SUDAN
(plural of the Arabic
word 'aswit',
meaning "black")
above: elections arboreally promulgated

left: girls gathering firewood for cooking

The southern Sudan was peaceful (for a short interval) and I was cordially received by the Provost of the University at Juba, who held court under a high tree. Separately, I joined a spontaneous mass-hunt on foot, bathed in the Nile and met some Ethiopean refugees. I also came across a traffic sign directing me to "the Belgian Congo".

BLO refecit 19990710..........

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