Day 26 - Meroe

Yet another long checkpoint stop ("only" 1 1/2 hours) as another police checkpoint decided that we needed yet another type of official stamp - thank goodness for Nazar, who is worth his weight in hold on such occasions. About another dozen or so of these, but fortunately only a few minutes at each. The sun in Sudan is HOT - we made use of the canopy shade of another filling station for our picnic lunch, as we looked across the burning desert to the shimmering mountains in the far distance. We crossed another part of the Baiyua desert (this time with more scattered scrub) on our way south inland - the edges of the road are littered with the remnants of thousands of blown out tyres (whole or in shreds) as well as the occasional long abandoned car or truck wreck. We arrived in Meroe, the heart of the the old kingdom of Nubia, to set up camp by the light of the setting sun and the rising moon (while Ross set about making our camp fire), just by more pyramids.