Wednesday 1 September 2010

Riding the Desert Trail


Sudan Studies, Number 7 (January 1990)

Review: Riding the Desert Trail (by bicycle to the source of the Nile, by Bettina Selby. Sphere Books, Penguin, London, 1989)

This competently written account of the author's bicycle trek from the Nile Delta to the river's source at Lake Victoria in Uganda, presents a very typical traveller's log. In one sense it is a book of impressions rather gathered at speed, which barely scrapes the surface of its subject matter. Such a treatment is perhaps consistent with the transitory nature of the expedition undertaken by the author, but what she lacks in accuracy or detail, she makes up for in her sincere approach and sympathetic appreciation of the hardships endured by those who live in this region.

Just over half of the book covers time spent in Sudan and Bettina Selby dutifully records all the 'usual' things visitors encounter there. The friendliness of the people and their unstinting hospitality are present alongside the obstructiveness and apparent intransigence of Sudan's more fickle bureaucrats.

Opting to follow the Nile from Wadi Halfa rather than strike out into open desert and slog her way to Abu Hamed along the railway track (surely an impossible task by bike), the author loads her 18-speed, all-terrain bicycle into a souk lorry and enters Nubia through the 'Belly of Stones'. Alighting from the lorry at an unnamed village (most probably Abri) she moves through Sudan by pedal power for the first time. At Dongola she boards the Nile steamer which carries her upstream to the rail head town of Karima; after which she takes the train to Atbara, before mounting the saddle once again.

Inevitably her momentum is arrested when she comes up against barricades of paper work in Khartoum but she is persistent and manages to visit Renk and Nyala and gets through to Juba in a small plane piloted by an Indiana Jones clone posing as an aid worker.

The most valuable part of the book is that which deals with the author's experiences in the tragic southern region of Sudan. Not only does she paint a haunting picture of local people striving to lead normal lives amidst famine and war; her stop-over in the south gives a rare insight into the life of Juba and the ex-patriot community in that blighted part of the world.

The good intentions of Bettina Selby cannot be doubted. Her respectful adherence Sudanese dress codes, unlike the semi-naked trippers she meets on the Aswan-Halfa ferry, is the first indication of how receptive and open her attitude to her environment is going to be, and it sets the tone for the rest of the book.

Unfortunately many of her observations highlight the fact that she is taking everything in from her position on a moving platform and although insignificant in themselves, the book's errors are irksome. Had she taken a little more trouble on the southward, Halfa-Dongola leg of her trip, she would have quickly discovered that the stretch of rocky desert, empty save for a single dead tree at its halfway point - which she places after the village of Kerma - actually comes directly before that village; the place she was referring to, being Fareig.

Similarly, a stroll to the prow of the Nile steamer at some time during her three day cruise would have allowed her to quote with authority, from the brass plaque there, that the vessel was built by Clyde Shipbuilders in Paisley, instead of simply guessing that the British had, "undoubtedly built it".

Anyone who's paid any attention to her, "notorious packs of savage dogs" in Sudan knows that their notoriety stems from gross cowardice when confronted with nothing more threatening than a raised human hand. Bettina Selby's constant motion denies her the space to set these and other discrepancies to rights and it is tempting to suggest that the whole contrived venture was a pointless waste of energy. Rather, suffice it to say that the author's admirable conduct in Sudan is an example which future (sic) travellers would do well to copy. Her courage must be saluted, but the flimsiness of this well-intentioned work must call into question the validity of the short and sweet school of travel writing.

Saad Sweets had sweet wrappers to die for

2 comments:

  1. Ooh err. I was being a bit picky here wasn't I? It has to be remembered that I wrote this review 20 years ago! I was still getting over being a callow youth in those days. Sorry Bettina!

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  2. This is great! I don't have much time now to write anything but hope to do so in the future. I was in Sudan from 1983 to 1988: Rufa'a, then Tombora and Maridi in Equitoria province, Rosaris, back to Maridi again (no pay for three months due to Juba being cut off due to the civil war) and finally back up to Rosaries again. Adventures included two trips to Jebal Marra, mad lorry rides to Suakin, Dongola, up to Egypt, across to the Central African Republic and a 350 mile walk from a place called Bangassou to the Sudanese border at Sourceyubu...

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