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The next morning we decided that discretion was the better part of valour, crossed back to the main tarmac road, sped to the correct turn off and drove along a smooth sandy track to the temple. Our camp had been three miles away, and yet we had not known it. Some of the Bedu who had seen us the day before smiled when they saw our tracks. But navigational embarrassment aside, the twin temple complexes were stunning. The second temple had been carefully re-constructed and was a jewel. Due to a distinct lack of information from the director of museums, we had not been given a video permit from the archaeology department of Sudan. Our "Cine permit" from the Ministry of tourism was not acceptable. And thus an altercation grew with the "guard". He was doing his job, we though he wanted a bribe. Shouting began, and fearing for his life he picked up a stone. I quietly retired to the Rover, picked up my police baton and advanced upon him, intent on beating him to a pulp. His large stone had scared me. All he had to do was land that accurately on my head and I would be out. Stuart's shouting brought more Bedu, some of whom were friendly to us. The young guard grabbed one of their staves and stormed towards us screaming "no video, no video" The stone gone, I decided to annoy him, I filmed him. As he came forward, Stuart grabbed him and put him in a humiliating headlock. I decided not to video this as it showed us to be winning. Eventually, with great respect for his courage, we disarmed him, deferred to his authority and put the video back in the truck. (I filmed the site from outside when he was not watching.)
In true Sudanese Spirit, he then accompanied us around the site. We thought he was trying to annoy us, but it turned out that this was his way of making amends. He was pointing out the special carvings. Thoroughly impressed with his honourable behaviour, we apologised, thanked him and gave him a Swahili Divers Sticker. At this his eyes lit up, he apologised to us and thanked us profusely and slapped the sticker on his official guest book.
Stuart now took the wheel and pointed us north again to the Pyramids of Bajarawiya. Happily we found these very easily and camped on the crest of a huge dune. 52 Pyramids originally marked the site, but now some have crumbled. The Sudanese have restored some, and some still stand proud. The result is simply stunning. Sand laps up to these great structures that might see twenty visitors a week. I filmed and photographed. Somehow I got the feeling that I was not able to capture the true majesty of this site of kings' graves but I tried none the less.
Here we encountered a German of questionable sanity who was driving a 4X4 Magirus fire engine to "wherever". He was remarkably enthusiastic.
"This is 40 year old car, when it breaks you fix it with your hands. You don't need spare parts" I thought this was a touch airy fairy, but when I saw him climb a small mountain with his dog and beat a pair of ethnic drums for an hour, I believed he might just be able to do that!
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