Sudan Scrolling through my friends on Facebook to find somebody in Sudan to enter the country
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Johan Kruseman
Updated on 30 September 2024
Updated on 30 September 2024
WOW, I got him. Some are harder to conquer than others, but this one played extremely hard to get. My journey started about 4 months ago....
Visiting the website of the Sudanese Embassy in The Hague was my start. It seemed to me that this website should cater, a.o., for Dutch people wanting to travel to Sudan. The entire website however was in Arabic. Except one button which read “Tourism”. Clicking the button opened a whole page explaining how to apply for a visa ..... in Arabic. So I set Google Translate to work and found out they only need a flight ticket, hotel reservation, invitation letter (faxed), travel program, health certificate and blood group. That seemed challenging but all doable.
So I started with the easy part: buying a flight ticket. Also made a nice program with visiting the Ethnographic museum as a highlight on Thursday afternoon. After about 10 unanswered e-mails I found one hotel which apparently is connected to the internet and they confirmed my hotel reservation. I replied with greatest kindness and sincerest humble appreciation and asked if they could also fax the reservation, only to find out that neither they nor I had a fax.
So I decided to call the Sudanese Embassy in The Hague and propound them the challenge. First week I couldn’t get through and then found out on the website that it was Ramadan and that they were opened only between 12:00 and 13:00. Trying the next week at 12:30 didn’t help and after 4 more trials I found out that the Ramadan had ended in the meantime and that they were back to the original opening times: 9:00-12:00 (can I work there?). The next week the “consular section” was still unreachable but letting me connect to the ambassador did the trick and he informed me that the hotel reservation indeed needed to be faxed. –“Needed?” I asked. “Yes, right now you don’t need a hotel reservation at all.” –“Great!” I responded with full enthusiasm.... “you need an entry permit” he continued, changing my enthusiasm into fear. –“Entry permit?” I asked while trying to add a perplexed smiley at the end of my sentence. “Yes, it's easy. You just ask if a friend will go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kharthoum, pays US$ 100 and requests them to send the entry permit to us. After that we can arrange the entry visa for you”.
A bit desolated I hang up and started to go through my friend list in Facebook. No matches in Kharthoum..... I didn’t know what to do: had my flight booked, had a hotel reservation (not faxed, but still) and I knew my blood group, but no “entry permit”....
Weeks later I visited my parents, and as always when I say I am going to (or at least trying to) visit a country, they have some aunt or far friend who has just been in that country and has lots of advice. Where I normally politely confess I prefer to discover the country myself, this time I thought “maybe.....”. This time they had been to a small conference about Africa and that I should contact the presenter. Thought it was a far shot, but I did email this presenter. And as if god had decided I had done enough effort by now, suddenly things started to work out. This presenter had a colleague, living in Kharthoum and this Yasir was willing to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a copy of my passport and carefully selected travel program (the Ethnographic museum was still on for the Thursday afternoon) and advance the US$ 100.
I still can’t believe the trust and the willingness to do this for me. And when I said it would be great to have a dinner together when we would be there to thank HIM, he replied that he of course would invite US for a dinner. I mean, could you imagine that on a rainy afternoon you get an email from somebody in Ghana saying he is a son of somebody who visited a conference of your colleague asking if you would like to go to the ministry of foreign affairs, advance the money and request a visa for him and his friend???
This Monday I was there and within the hour, the guy behind the counter had converted the “entry permit” in a nice shiny full-passport size “entry visa”, with a stamp. I am so looking forward to visit this special country. And since the US has just recently revoked the entry ban for people who have been in Sudan, I think I can even share some photos and stories soon. Stay tuned!
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Traveled route: Metema, Al Qadarif, Khartoum, Pyramids of Meroë
next country: Ethiopia
A school for 35 pupils
Couldn’t believe it at first sight, but this is a school, for 35 pupils, each having their own little rock to sit on.
Sudan
Did this story inspire you to go to Sudan? Read more on what Sudan has to offer, what the best months are for visiting and check the handy links for backpacking there.