Working in Sudan …hotel, office, hotel, office…air conditioning , indifferent food, I could be anywhere…I decided Sunday I am going to break the pattern. Got other guys crazy enough to come with me and make a hike on the ridge of the Djebel, a mountainous outcrop east of Juba. Picture 1. Hard work in the heat of about 30 – 38 .In the begining, going up, there were quite a number of good paths, made by the poor stone workers ( people who bring stones from the Djebel and then crush them with hand hammers to make gravel) . You must be really poor to do this…( see picture)
Later the paths disappeared and to come down we went straight through the bush. I saw a pair of monkeys , a pair of Guinea Fowls, a couple of snakes. I was using the old technique to make sure I don’t surprise any snake, beating the earth ahead of me with a stick. We exited the Djebel at a modern quarry, where the foreman told us they don’t go up there because of mines left from the war. I could assure them there are none in view of our own experience …We had only found a fragment of an artillery shell. Of course, I had checked before but still it was an unpleasant moment. I rather think they spread the word so that they don’t have to worry about unwanted visitors and eventual accidents.
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