Since we had slept the night in a room with electricity (all electricity in Southern Sudan is by personal generators), we both woke up to our mobile alarms. My Zain account worked in Southern Sudan, so I could communicate with Molly both from Juba and Rumbek towns. John, my traveling partner, had to buy a sim for local service. We woke up at 6:AM, had a quick breakfast and rushed to the parking lot to meet our driver (who had not come yet). So we waited a while, then he came and we arrived at the bus station at 7:15 AM. We were told we could be left if we arrived late... The bus was due to leave at 7:30AM. We left at 10 AM.
The 80 passenger bus had less than 25 people on it... The temperature was 105 F (42C) when we left and it got hotter and hotter as the day wore on. The only tarmac in Southern Sudan that I saw was in Juba town and was told it had been paved in the last year. As we left Juba, I opened my window for a bit of air. Two minutes later I heard a great crash and realized that the window glass I had just opened had fallen out of its tracks and had crashed onto the road behind us. So, for the rest of the trip we had a huge open window area pouring in dust according to the updraft and wind direction.
Nine hours later, after passing about nine military and police check points we stopped at our last check point outside of Rumbek town. Up until then, the check points seemed to be routine security checks... This nation lies between the 2005 signing of a peace agreement with the North and the referendum of January 2011. All things, including de-militarization of society is on hold until after then.
Now at this last check point all the foreigners were asked to leave the bus and report at the guard post, a hut made of bamboo with a thatched roof. Once inside, things became less friendly as a couple Ugandans in front of me were summarily harassed and thrown into a small closed off section of the hut they called the jail apparently for having forged documents. My traveling companion, John, was asked for a fee of 10 SP (Sudanese Pounds). since I was an American, I was required to pay nothing... They apparently like the work of Colin Powell in forging the peace in 2005. After a few minutes of arguing, it became apparent that they were not going to let the Ugandans go, so we who passed well were herded back onto the bus and we entered Rumbek town. I have no idea what happened to the Ugandans...
As we entered the town I got our host (a Kenyan Missionary from our church in Nairobi) Silas on the telephone and let him know we had arrived. That was a shock to him, because apparently we were on the first bus to ever reach Rumbek from Juba in one day. We used a newly constructed road (actually it is being constructed now) which cut the time almost in half... So, Silas was about 15 minutes away from the bus stage. John and me alighted and almost immediately I was accosted by a man demanding money from me. I have had this happen to me many times in Kenya, but never so violently as this. He started in low tones, but quickly became agitated when I did not respond to his demand. A bystander tried to get him off my case and was punched in the face. Just as he was about to get physical with me, a young Sudanese stepped up and told him to leave (which he did) and then introduced himself as a close friend of Silas. Boy, I almost hugged the guy for relief. He had been sent ahead of Silas to insure our safety. A couple minutes later Silas arrived and so had we...
By then it was 7:30PM and starting to get dark, so the next thing was to find a place to shower and bed down for the night. We were now four people and luggage, so we found a tuktuk (a three wheeled motorized vehicle imported from India) and three of us and luggage got into there while our friend, Gao, got a motorcycle taxi and showed us to our lodge. It was a series of Tukul's (Sudanese name for their traditional hut) and a line of pit latrines and bathing stalls. The generator had a line with one bulb on it for our line of tukuls.
We were each given a bucket of water and a basin and I knew exactly what to do with that from my bush experience in Kenya. A bucket bath never felt so good... Then we bedded down for the night... Inside the Tukul, even with a thatched roof, the heat was too oppressive to sleep, so as most other locals do, I moved my bed outdoors and slept under the starts and a beautiful 3/4 moon... Mosquitoes, you may ask? Too hot... They all died in the 105F temps long ago... That would be the last night I would sleep outdoors, however, because I was told that there are snakes and scorpions in abundance (although I still doubt that since I never saw either my whole trip). Ignorance was bliss... I slept like a baby...
I later learned that where we slept was quite dangerous in another way as well. It was situated right next to a military camp. Soldiers had a habit of going to the bars, getting drunk and then bringing their girl friend to this lodge to spend the night. The danger lies in the drunk soldier thinking that you might be flirting with his girl... All of them carry their AK47's with them... of course!
The 80 passenger bus had less than 25 people on it... The temperature was 105 F (42C) when we left and it got hotter and hotter as the day wore on. The only tarmac in Southern Sudan that I saw was in Juba town and was told it had been paved in the last year. As we left Juba, I opened my window for a bit of air. Two minutes later I heard a great crash and realized that the window glass I had just opened had fallen out of its tracks and had crashed onto the road behind us. So, for the rest of the trip we had a huge open window area pouring in dust according to the updraft and wind direction.
Nine hours later, after passing about nine military and police check points we stopped at our last check point outside of Rumbek town. Up until then, the check points seemed to be routine security checks... This nation lies between the 2005 signing of a peace agreement with the North and the referendum of January 2011. All things, including de-militarization of society is on hold until after then.
Now at this last check point all the foreigners were asked to leave the bus and report at the guard post, a hut made of bamboo with a thatched roof. Once inside, things became less friendly as a couple Ugandans in front of me were summarily harassed and thrown into a small closed off section of the hut they called the jail apparently for having forged documents. My traveling companion, John, was asked for a fee of 10 SP (Sudanese Pounds). since I was an American, I was required to pay nothing... They apparently like the work of Colin Powell in forging the peace in 2005. After a few minutes of arguing, it became apparent that they were not going to let the Ugandans go, so we who passed well were herded back onto the bus and we entered Rumbek town. I have no idea what happened to the Ugandans...
As we entered the town I got our host (a Kenyan Missionary from our church in Nairobi) Silas on the telephone and let him know we had arrived. That was a shock to him, because apparently we were on the first bus to ever reach Rumbek from Juba in one day. We used a newly constructed road (actually it is being constructed now) which cut the time almost in half... So, Silas was about 15 minutes away from the bus stage. John and me alighted and almost immediately I was accosted by a man demanding money from me. I have had this happen to me many times in Kenya, but never so violently as this. He started in low tones, but quickly became agitated when I did not respond to his demand. A bystander tried to get him off my case and was punched in the face. Just as he was about to get physical with me, a young Sudanese stepped up and told him to leave (which he did) and then introduced himself as a close friend of Silas. Boy, I almost hugged the guy for relief. He had been sent ahead of Silas to insure our safety. A couple minutes later Silas arrived and so had we...
By then it was 7:30PM and starting to get dark, so the next thing was to find a place to shower and bed down for the night. We were now four people and luggage, so we found a tuktuk (a three wheeled motorized vehicle imported from India) and three of us and luggage got into there while our friend, Gao, got a motorcycle taxi and showed us to our lodge. It was a series of Tukul's (Sudanese name for their traditional hut) and a line of pit latrines and bathing stalls. The generator had a line with one bulb on it for our line of tukuls.
We were each given a bucket of water and a basin and I knew exactly what to do with that from my bush experience in Kenya. A bucket bath never felt so good... Then we bedded down for the night... Inside the Tukul, even with a thatched roof, the heat was too oppressive to sleep, so as most other locals do, I moved my bed outdoors and slept under the starts and a beautiful 3/4 moon... Mosquitoes, you may ask? Too hot... They all died in the 105F temps long ago... That would be the last night I would sleep outdoors, however, because I was told that there are snakes and scorpions in abundance (although I still doubt that since I never saw either my whole trip). Ignorance was bliss... I slept like a baby...
I later learned that where we slept was quite dangerous in another way as well. It was situated right next to a military camp. Soldiers had a habit of going to the bars, getting drunk and then bringing their girl friend to this lodge to spend the night. The danger lies in the drunk soldier thinking that you might be flirting with his girl... All of them carry their AK47's with them... of course!
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