We drove through the desert today in Sudan – and I mean “drove through the desert!”  Seven hours ago we left Khartoum and have been traveling over flat, hot, relentless desert ever since.  Just sand, sand, sand – forever.  How the people  survive here is beyond me.  There’s barely a bush in sight, and no shade from the blasting sun.

Just a few minutes ago, one of our hosts told us that much of this desert was forest just a decade or so ago.  The 40-year drought has really taken a toll.