Well, it has happened. Now nothing is for certain any more. I am not even sure whether I will be back in 2004 let alone for Christmas, such are the difficulties to overcome moving and working in this area. Plans have had to be changed at the very last moment with the proposed journey to Garsila postponed until my return to Nyala.
Whenever that will be! Even then it is not certain, as the offices may have to be evacuated if security deteriorates any further. The problem being that the land journey to deliver the equipment we had originally arranged to install could not proceed as the situation has now taken a turn for the worse. Unfortunately the goods have to be transported by road as battery acid and gas bottles are involved and there are strict rules and restrictions regarding transportation of dangerous items by air. So, here I am in Western Darfur, the smallest of the three Darfur states in terms of landmass, and this reflects in its primitive character bordering, as it does, upon the country of Chad. El Geneina, the principle town of the region is quite new to its role as the administrative centre, and I believe, unable to cope with the army of extra people descending upon the area. It is a small town, and there is a distinct lack of goods or amenities compared even to Nyala. In other words, there aren’t any! In travelling here we flew via El Fasher, a much larger town situated in Northern Darfur, although we only stopped briefly to pick up two more passengers. I am planning to return to El Fasher when the tasks here have been completed.
The aircraft we flew on was a single engine high wing Caravan, a plane with non-retractable undercarriage belonging to the UN. This does a daily journey around the region in whichever direction is seen as most practical. It is capable of carrying 12 passengers in relative comfort, or with the seats removed, can be used as a small cargo plane on short hops. The flight itself lasted just over 2 hours with a touchdown one third of the way along. We were flying around 6 to 8 thousand feet so our view of the ground was really clear. From the moment we left Nyala until we arrived in El Geneina the countryside varied little. Only the occasional outcrop of prehistoric volcanic rock, worn down by the centuries, rising above the ground, to relieve the flat, almost barren, sand coloured contours. The dried up water channels marking a pattern on the parched earth similar to the veins on a leaf but covering a vast area hundreds of miles wide and with no moisture of any kind to be seen. The few bushes that have managed to survive looking a little like small blemishes or spots on the surface. The occasional winding dirt scar of a solitary track could be seen stretching away over the horizon like a long thin snake. Every vehicle travelling along these sandy tracks having to cross riverbeds in the dry season without the luxury of a bridge. Many vehicles getting stuck in the soft sand and have to winch themselves out. At the height of the rainy season the many streams turn to rivers and it becomes virtually impossible to cross many of them, such is the strength of the water as it rushes down the channels cut by many thousands of years of seasonal rainfall. Travelling by road in this area of the world is fraught with danger at any time. For anyone undertaking the journey on their own, they need to be well prepared and experienced in off road travel, or willing to take foolhardy risks. Goods transported by road in Western Darfur are always undertaken in convoy, or at the least by two vehicles travelling together, and never alone. Even in the best of times there are robbers on the lookout for easy pickings along the road. When there are security problems to contend with as well, great care has to be taken in travelling and never without a good supply of fresh water, spare wheels, spare fuel, road springs, etc. From here conditions gradually improve and vegetation starts to become much greener and more plentiful. The Sahara desert imparting less of an impact on the climate as you move towards the west. Even so, it cannot compare with what we have in the English countryside by any stretch of the imagination.
Planes arriving in Geneina are restricted as to their size. The airstrip is of packed sand, from where it becomes almost impossible to use during the rainy season. Even in the dry season the ground cannot support the extra weight of a large transport plane either landing or trying to take off. As witnessed by the abandoned, broken and rotting aircraft littered around the airfield! With the continuing humanitarian work flowing into the area from all branches of the UN and the numerous different NGO’s all competing to provide aid, the number and type of vehicles to be seen in Geneina has increased enormously. The many and varied Land Rovers, Land Cruisers, Shoguns and various other makes of four-wheel drive vehicles are virtually destroying the road structure for the indigenous population. The normal method of travel, before the influx of these monsters, being by donkey, horse, camel or just walking, along previously hard sand packed roads. Two or four wheeled horse drawn carts being the normal method of transporting produce and goods to market. Now these very same carts can be seen struggling along the roads turned into soft dry sandy thoroughfares by the thoughtless, speeding drivers in their air-conditioned four-wheel drive vehicles. Apart form the odd transport lorry trundling along at a slow steady pace, mechanical transport before the crisis occurred was pretty well non-existent. Now, with the civil authority unable or unwilling to control these four wheels drive monsters, the roads are turning into long loose sand pits with many large potholes appearing randomly along the streets. A few big enough to swallow a Discovery or similar vehicle completely!
Here in El Geneina life is hard for everyone, including visitors. Donkey water, as it is known, is water from the wells distributed around the houses on carts driven by young boys, pulled by those ever long suffering animals. It is certainly not clean and the colour can vary considerably. I expect that this depends upon the well from which the water was drawn. There always seems to be a certain amount of sand included in its makeup. Sold by the container, the boys having no idea of Gallons or Litres, it provides our only source of water. Unfortunately we have no means of boiling sufficient drinking water before use, so all that water is chlorinated before being put through ceramic filters. It tastes pretty awful but at least it is drinkable. And with temperatures remaining very high we consume vast quantities of water all the time. My daily intake being in the region of 6 litres! And nearly all is lost through the skin, not by other means!
Have a nice day.
J.