I depart from Nouakchottgo, the capital of the Western Sahara, taken by some local merchants that put me in contact with the Tuareg caravan, and thus, as we go across the big desert, passing through some oasis, a series of canyons, a couple of sandstorms, I hear stories about the mythical creatures that used to dwell around these lands, like this one, about a certain scorpion God living inside some kind of crumbling palace with a troupe of enslaved mermaids serving him. And then, as it goes, they also tell me about Zerzura, "The Oasis of Little Birds", a city guarded by black giants who keep anyone from going in and coming out; about Jinns wandering through the desert, waiting for caravans where they could immerse themselves, and Marids, water spirits that are believed to dwell under springs; and Ifrits, gosht sprits that are believed to inhabit the hottest parts of the desert, and Ghuls, malevolent spirits that are believed to prey on humans and animals, often depicted as shape-shifting creatures that can take on the form of a hyena or a jackal, and then; somehow, there I go, already leaving this encampment, alone, mounting on my camel… actually advancing on the crest of a dune, counting the stars, and well, then, at some point, it’s like I see some shadows twirling on the sandbanks around, coming closer, and, as they come, I don’t know how, I also have this impression that the sky is actually approaching, coming closer, this is, apparently falling over our head, an then, my camel is gonne and the so-said twirling shadows are already here, dancing around me, tickling my bowels, tempting my spirit, and, as the sky keeps falling over, in a while, I have a palette of voices babling things inside my head, things like “I’m the true-truwe, and I will guide you through the stars…”; “I’m the real-reel, and I will carry you to the matter…”; “I’m the free-freeda, and I will take you wherever you wanna go…” and, as this happens, there I go, already being sucked by this magnetic sky, I mean, my body and existence being choked by the big eyes of the great matrix… and, after while, this is, after having passed through large toothed pulleys, I’m then falling through some big hole, and as I go down I see images of the world’s history passing by at high speed, this is, I see the primitive man naked in the hoods, running, going within the reach of some monstrous animal, and I see flying crocodiles, spaceships, sketches from the movie war of the worlds, this is, men dressing as soldiers running in ditches, trenches, aiming guns up, to the sky, and then, bombs are actually falling from above, overwhelming everything… this is, when I wake up I’m inside some kind of barge, going through a large river, and, there are a couple more of tanned guys more aboard, this is, both with turbans on their heads, the turban strings falling over their faces, moving in front of their eyes, therefore, here they are, now smiling at me, and then, as soon as I ask something, one say something in a language I can’t really understand, and the other, quickly inform sme that this is actually the Nile river, and, now, I’m peeking at the muddy banks of this same river, still recalling that war of the worlds thing from my dream, thinking that, somehow, these memories can be concealed there, but… no, as it goes, these reminiscences quickly disappears from my conscience, and then, the guys here, they also manage to explain me that, at this point, we are actually getting close Khrthoum, Sudan’s capital, and… then, somehow, we are already talking about a certain Manute Bol, “the tallest NBA player in history” the slimer guy says, “he was a Dinka… have you heard about him?”, “No”, “well, his main period of activity was during the eighties…” the other guy says, “Bol played for the Washington Bullets and for other teams over the course of his NBA career. A centre, Bol is considered among the best shot-blockers in the history of the sport and he is the only NBA player to retire with more career blocked shots than points scored. Do you know what shot-blockers are?” he asks now, and again, “no”, I say. “Well, in basketball…” he tries to explain now “a block or blocked shot occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt from an offensive player to prevent a score, do you understand now?”; “yes, I guess I can see it now…” I say, and then he continues, “Bol started playing Basketball in South Sudan and after he relocated here, to Khartoum, where he experienced prejudice from the northern Sudanese majority… and later, a US coach travelled here in order to held clinics for the Sudanese national team and this way Bol was convinced to go to the United States and play basketball there… and so, they say that when he arrived there, he couldn’t speak or write any English at all… thus, he would speak only with his hands during some time, and people would think he was mute... but, soon, as he would learn how to talk he would then get hired by the Washington Bullets, where he would play for a couple of years before moving into other teams like The Golden State Warriors, a team based in San Francisco, and then the Philadelphia’s 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, and the Miami Heat's, the Florida Beach Dogs, also known as the Rapid City Thrillers… and, after some years, he would even leave America to come and play in Italy in a small team named Fulgor Libertas Forlì, and then in Qatar, where he would finish his career…” the slimer (and more tanned) guy says, and then, we are already disembarking at some colourful pier with miniature figurines of the egyptian gods, and, as I look at it, between other things, I recognize the jackal head of Anubis, the cow horns of Hathor; and the eye of Ra with the cobras coiled around the iris disk… and then, as we are already going up the embmkment, where there are some cottages that store some boat related items, I stare at some figure at the door of one of this cottages, I mean, some kind of eagle with a mohawk, and, “this is the Sagittarius serpentarius” the fatter (and plus pallid) of the guys say, “or as we say here, the saqr et-tair, the symbol of Sudan…” he adds, and then, as we go through this place, around, I see a couple of cottages made of terracotta, and, by its side, some guys wearing loose white vests and white berets, and, on the back of them, some desassembler carts stuck in the mud, and, some mules staring into the another side of the river, and, I also look in that direction now, and thus, there, in the middle of other buildings, we can actually see some taller building shaped like a bean, and then, as I ask the guys what is that, “that is Gaddafi's Egg!” one of the guys quickly informs me “a five-star hotel inhabited by the Tors”, and, accordingly, “what is the Tors” I ask, as we go around this muddy areas with some orange orchards and dappled bushes here and there, and then, they point me to one side and to the other, saying, “that is the MC Nimir Bridge, now closed, over the Blue Nile, that is not blue at all, this name was given by the Sudanese people that call everything which is dark in colour ‘Azraq’, that in arabic language actually means blue… and there”, he says, now pointing the opposite side, “...there is the bridge over the White Nile, it looks small from here, but that it's actually just an arm of the Nile that goes further…” and after this short explanations, we are actually following in the direction of the Tutti bridge, a bridge that will take us out of this island, this is, a bridge just in from of the recently cited Gaddafi's Egg, real name Corinthia Hotel, actually, a five stars hotel. And so, after going across the Nile Street we are already on the city centre, they tell me, and thus, then, as we go across some busting narrow streets, we actually pass some small shops selling trinkets of all kinds, things like, beaded necklaces, plastic fruits, pots of spices, spark plugs for motorcycles, shiny candles, sugar oil, muslim hats, leather pieces, sweet corn, and then, barber shops that also repair mobile phones, internet parlors that also serve as travel agencies, and also, some banks with their showcases full of dust, some crumbling governmental buildings, I get to know, and then, under a big guava tree, a tea stall with women in colourful dresses wandering in the middle of a tangle of kettles and water pans, and so, it is here that we halt, this is, they order a strong black tea infused with spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger… and then, just then, as we drink, they finally present themselves, one is called Bilal, and the other Farid, and well, I also say my name, and my name is Shima. And then, there we go again, this is, at this point, they actually take me to visit the Souq al Arabi, one of the largest open-air markets in Khartoum. And so, as we are already getting there, there are a multitude of stalls selling gold pieces, perfumes, incense and oils stalls, and so, as I make a multitude of questions about this products, I get to know that, Humrah is one of the most famous fragrances around here, being Humrah a preparation of mahlab seeds, cloves, sandalwood, musk, and orange peels, someone tells me. And then, there are innumerous kinds of clothes stalls, arabi, african and european style, leather shoes, crocodile bags, carved wooden masks, ivory pieces… and, as we go through, I see men lounging in front of their shops, young men and women offering buckets full of cotton, gum arabic, sorghum and sesame, between other things I can’t really understand. And then, as we approach the food stalls, they are already ordering a Ful Medame for us, being the Ful Medame a fava beans stew served in a large metal jug, and so, as it comes, and we start eating it with our own hands, they beggin to talk about the problems between Sudan itself and South Sudan, and as it goes, we even get in touch with a certain guy from South Africa seated on the side that quickly is already telling me about his travels in Africa, this is, as it goes, he is already disclosing that his family sent him to study in Europe, “but, in truth, I didn’t like it, and so, some months after I would come back to my country and then… then, well, I would make a plan in my head and go and travel all around Africa, this is, I would go north, south, east, west, all around… and yes, yebo, as I went around, I got to understand a bit about all the different African cultures, about African history in real, about the problems that came after the colonialism, the African fauna and flora, but above all, the African people… and how resistant we are…”, and so, as I listen to him saying those things, I ask which countries in Africa after all afteralls are his favourites, and he, well, straight away, he says that “Ethiopia and Madagascar…” were his favourites, and when I ask why, “Madagascar is a Island country that has many rare species of fauna and flora, species I haven’t anywhere else” he says, “I mean, strange birds with wonderful chanting etc, and Ethiopia, well… Ethiopia we can say, has the most versatile people in Africa… its people are African, Arabian, Indian and European at the same time, and you know, Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that refused to be colonized by europeans and plus… you also know, all that reggae kings and queens from Jamaica that see Ethiopia as a promised land and, as a matter of fact, the Emperor Haile Selassie granted land to Rastafarians of all kinds in his country, have you heard about that?”, “No!” I say. And then, it’s his time to ask me, “But, what about you, why are you in Africa? I mean, from where are you coming? And, what’s the purpose of your visit? I mean, where do you want to go after all?”, and so, now, I delay my answer a bit, until that, “I don’t know…” I say, “...from the Sahara I came and… I’m not sure how I got here, I mean, I really don’t know!”; “hum, so, you don’t know where you want to go?” he insists, “Well, I think I wanna go south, those guys told me about the Nile river, which actually originates in some sort of big lake, a lake appointed as one of the sources for humanity… and well, maybe it’s all bluff but… I have been thinking about that, recently… and”; “Yes!” he says, “but not the Blue Nile, the one that comes from lake Victoria is actually the White Nile, being lake Victoria one of the bigger lakes in the world…” he says. And then, as I say buy-bye to the couple of fisherman that brought me here, I even give them some gemstones I actually brought from the desert, and then, I just leave the market accompanied by this guy that have been traveling around all Africa, his name Mandla, and so, as it goes, he actually takes me to the Al Sunut forest, a kind of forest inside the city, where we can see some people playing basketball, the baskets actually installed on the stems of some big acacia trees, and then, in the meanwhile, we are getting to some kind of marshland, this is, here I see a big group of pelicans landing on small muddy islands, and so, as we get here, “this is already the White Nile '', Mandla says. And then, as we go across the river bank, walking along a hard mud path, after a while, we get to one area with a lot of fishing gear, some wreckage, some fishing boats and some recreational boats as well, and it's onto one of these boats that we mount. And as it goes, straight away, Mandla introduces me to Abdô, the captain, and so, this certain captain also introduces me to his assistants, a couple of smiling boys dressed in basketball jerseys and baggy shorts. And thus, after some jokes about crocodiles, the boys are already bringing a bottle of wine, and, as we all drink, 6 then, Mandla is already making as leaving, this while saying, “ trust this guy, coz, he’s a very nice one” he says, “he will take you wherever want to go… coz, he’s not only a very experienced fisherman, that also, he makes recreational trips, if you give him the means…” he says, and then, Abdô, the captain, quickly comes by and explain that, “this isn’t actually a port, this is a shipyard, I mean, we do not have a house here, we live on this boats…” he says, and as he says that I just nod my head, showing some respect, this is, as it goes, during some time, we are all nodding and smiling at each other, what is funny, and then, after this nodding ceremony, the boys, I mean his assistants, are already running to the bow, laughing. And so, here we go, now departing, and as we begin this sailing journey, blaring arab music is actually coming from inside the boat shed, and as I ask something about this music, “not arab, this is Sudanic!” one of the boys says, and then, as it goes, they even begin exercising some dance paces like, jumping without taking their feet off the floor, and then, rotating in a crouched position while wielding a stick with their right hand, and then, the captain says “this is the “Hadandawa dance… it’s the dance from our people, the Beja people, do you know about them?”; “no” I say, and then he explains. “The Beja are people native from South Egypt, Eastern Sudan and North Eritrea… and our language is Tigre, not Arabi…ok!” And thu, after some more tribal dance demonstrations, a couple of hours later, we are already reaching the Jebel Aulia Dam, and thus, here, would be my first checkpoint, this is, I had to get out of the boat, go across the banks of the river, and get in another boat on the other side, what was easy, and thus, many fisherman boats after, I would reach the Lake Albert in Uganda, and after the Lake Albert, I would see myself in the Murchison Falls National Park, this is, a place with innumerous wild animals, like, leopards, buffaloes, elephants, hartebeests, waterbucks, warthogs, orbis, kobs, grey duiker, and occasionally, crocodiles… and how I have crossed all that, I’m not sure, the sure thing is that I was over the influence of local drugs… drugs applied by wizardry people I met on the way, and then, finally, I would reach the so said Lake Victoria, the promised land, one of the bigger lakes in the world and, as said before, a source for all the humanity, some say, and thus, now, as I go through it, floating, I can feel a big stench in the air, all around, something that is almost unbearable.
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