Travels With Palin

Pole To Pole: Shifting Sands (3x4)

: 11, 1992

Arriving in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, Palin boards a train bound for Khartoum, the capital. There he receives some bad news: he will be unable to journey further south into Sudan due to the ongoing conflict in the south. Seeking an alternative, he finds Eritreans willing to drive him to the border with Ethiopia. While waiting to leave Khartoum he checks out some camels in nearby Omdurman and a Muslim Sufi ceremony where people dance to attain religious ecstasy. When it comes time to leave Khartoum, the journey to the town of Gedaref near the Ethiopian border proves to be anything but easy. The road is very bumpy, and time after time the vehicles are stuck in the dirt, forcing Palin and the other passengers to push them free. Compounding the difficulty, in Ethiopia a long war has just ended, resulting in the overthrow of the Derg regime. There was the added risk of rebels from the war hiding near the border. Finally, after spending 24 hours travelling the distance from London to Oxford, 95.56 km (59.4 mi), he arrives at the Ethiopian border.