Totsiens aan Italië en Europa!

(English below)

My mal skippie kom nou weer skielik ‘n dag vroeër in Monfalcone aan. Ek gaan vanmiddag aan boord, en vannag vertrek ons. Hierdie gaan moontlik die laaste inskrywing vir ‘n week wees.

By al die vreugde het nog ‘n donker wolk op die horison verskyn: Israel en die Soedanse visum. Die donker wolk is tans die grootste bedreiging vir die hele toer.

Met ‘n Israelse stempel in jou paspoort kry ‘n mens geen visum vir Soedan nie. Dis twee state wat mekaar baie vyandig gesind is. Israel het oor die jare op versoek ‘n stempel op ‘n los blaai gegee. So kon ek ‘n “skoon” paspoort vir my Soedanse visumaansoek hê.

Die “trick” werk ook nie meer nie. Gister het ek vir die eerste keer gehoor dat Soedan nou ook geen visums meer gee as die Egiptiese grensstempel ‘Taba’ in jou paspoort is nie. Die stempel is vir hulle voldoende bewys dat mens deur Israel Egipte binnegekom het. Vergelyk dit met ons situasie. As ‘n stempel by ons Beitbrug wys, beteken dit net een land en dis Zimbabwe. Ook ‘n tweede paspoort help nie. Soedan wil die Egiptiese stempel sien.

Taba is die engste oop grenspos tussen Israel en Egipte, en dis die grens wat ek moet gebruik.

Ek het laasnag aan duisende alternatiewe gedink en vanoggend met my kussing in my arms wakker geword, asof ek ‘n geliefde sou vashou. Mens kan nie om Soedan reis nie. Ook Libië blok jou as jy in Israel was. Egipte het slegs een grensoorgang suid, en dis na Soedan. Ek het die duisende opsies tot net twee moontlikhede uitgedun. Die een is so onwaarskynlik soos die ander.

Die reis het dit in hom om ‘n riller te word. En al wat ek wil doen, is reis.

Groete, en as jy glo, doen maar ‘n klein gebedjie vir ‘n oplossing van die probleem.

English

My mad ship surprised me again. It will arrive in Monfalcone today, and tonight we leave south. This will probably the last blog post for about a week.

Another huge threat appeared on the horizon. The Sudanese visa and Israel. This threat has got the potential to derail the whole tour.

If you have any stamp or indication of Israel in your passport Sudan will not issue a visa to travel through the country. Sudan and Israel are bitter enemies of each other. One needs a “clean” passport to get a Sudanese visa. Israel was always prepared to put its stamp on a loose piece of paper.

This trick doesn’t work anymore. Yesterday I heard that Sudan refuses visa now if the Egyptian stamp shows ‘Taba’. The word Taba is sufficient proof to them that one has entered through Israel. Compare that to our situation. The stamp ‘Beit Bridge’ means only one thing: You had been to Zimbabwe. A second passport is of no help either. Sudan wants to see the stamp where one has entered Egypt.

Taba is the only border post open between Israel and Egypt, and that is where I have to enter  and get my passport stamped.

Last night I tried to figure out thousands of options. This morning I woke up with my pillow in my arms, as if a loved one would give me the solution to the problem. Should Sudan refuse a visa, then I am stuck. Libya refuses entry to anyone who had been to Israel. To the south there is only one open border post, and that is to Sudan. At the end only two options remained. The one is as impossible as the other, but I have to try.

This trip has all potential to become a real thriller. And my only sin is that I want to travel.