11-Feb-2019 -- This is the first out of 3 reports reaching two new confluence points during our one-week trip to Sudan.

Media has brainwashed us with bad news implying Sudan to be a no-go country. In fact, it is one of the safest places to go in Africa as long as you don’t go to Darfur, or certain border regions. Even after the separation of South Sudan, the country has a huge area with just a few confluence points visited (19 out of 217).

The car rental companies would only allow driving their vehicles within the city limits of Khartoum. For all other destinations, we had to have a driver. Therefore, we decided to take a car including a driver for one day and try to visit confluence points in the vicinity of Khartoum.

Khartoum is exactly at 15.5° North and 32.5° East, such that we had the choice of four unvisited confluence points within the same distance. Three of them are in the desert, only this confluence in the southeast is on cultivated land within the irrigated area of the Blue Nile valley. Therefore, we picked this one.

Our driver Babadir decided to change our compact car to a 4WD after we had explained him where we wanted to go – good choice! At al-Bāqīr (الباقير) (50 km from the confluence), we had to leave the tarmac road following minor sandy tracks, through agricultural land.

The confluence itself is located 200 m from the edge of the village Saʿdānat al-Ḥalāwīn (سعدانه الحلاوين). We parked under an arcadia tree in 400 m distance and walked to the confluence.

Approaching the confluence, we had to jump over an irrigation channel and follow the tracks between agricultural fields. We found the confluence point right on the edge of a wheat field such that we could zero out the GPS without the need to step into the crops.

After the visit, we asked where the nearest teahouse was. There was none, but we were immediately invited to have lunch consisting of Kisra (thin pancakes) in a private house with a local family.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance of car parking: 400 m
• Time to reach the CP from the car: 10 minutes
• Time at the CP: 11:16 AM
• Measured height: 403 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy: 2 m
• Topography: totally flat
• Vegetation: wheat
• Weather: sunny, 33° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Kisra Invitation Confluence

The story continues at 14°N 33°E.