Unexplored crossroads of civilizations
Following the Nile south we search for an isolated desert church concealing petroglyphs made centuries before the region converted to Christianity.
Using the Nile as our guide to travel south we frequently encounter smaller narrow villages winding with the river surrounded by lush green vegetation which extends only 50-100m away from the riverbank before turning into desolate desert.
We are on our way to the village of Masida. It's there we aim to find an isolated christian church built in the desert concealing unique petroglyphs made at least 300 years before the region converted to Christianity.
After many km of walking through the desert and a jump into the river to cool down and wash we slowly start to begin our discovery of some hidden rock art.
After finding a place to camp we take a stroll along the riverbank. It's there we meet two local fishermen... extremely wary and perplexed... we later find out due to never having seen a foreigner in real life before.
Back at the camp we enjoy some of the roughly 1kg bag of dried dates given to us by a friendly local 15km earlier.
Adjusting to the hours of daylight we get up early and head to a less isolated place to find our next ride.
A group of men wave us over to come join them. Little did we know that they were about to have breakfast and wanted us to join them. We obliged and enjoyed the morning chatting with the oldest man as translator... Having learnt English as a young man growing up in Sudan as a British colony.
Funnily enough we then catch a ride with the familiar faces we met around a week ago. A delivery truck for supermarket supplies having just done one round of Sudan and starting the next. It takes us to a remote village where we meet a kind young man named Youssef who invites us into his life for a few days.