For our Sudanese guides this would be their first trip to Bir Tawil, so we stopped at the last main settlement of Abu Hamad.
The town was a strange little affair, but afforded us time to have some Sudanese tea, and some soft drinks. Aside from Sudanese coke, they also make a carbonated apple drink called Stim Apple that was even better than the local cola.
We also had the chance to buy cowboy hats and the local Sudanese clothes, something many of the group embraced.
As nightfall came we entered some super crazy off road shit, with our drivers speeding through a sandstorm to get us somewhere we could forge a settlement. But it was windy. real windy.
We settled on an area with hills both to protect from the wind and afford people morning privacy whilst crapping, and duly set up camp.
Dinner was salad, Sudanese bread, and charcoal cooked chicken purchased from Abu Hamad.
And now the fun was to start! How to sleep? Most of the group were smart enough to opt for a tent, I decided to sleep outside. It was windy and I consumed a lot of sand. Thr desert can also get pretty cold.
Funnily enough I didn’t do much star gazing. But as with anything epic the ends would justify the means, for tomorrow we would see Bir Tawil.
Gareth Johnson is the founder of Young Pioneer Tours, a published writer, and all round entrepreneur. He enjoys street food, and encourage others to get paid to travel the world.
