Jebel Awliya

I just returned from camping at Jebel Awliya. It is an area just south of Khartoum. A large dam was built years ago and this caused the river to flood and it left a large lake where many go to fish. We went camping and kayaking there.
It was so beautiful. The drive there was through the typical desert but once we got close to Jebel Awliya you could smell the water. We drover off road for about 20 minutes through hard packed sand and past a small town. We camped for the night and left the next morning.
We saw goats, sheep and cows come by the waters edge. We also saw some beautiful birds, hoopoe, spur-winged polover(black/white and grey) and abyssinian roller(blue).
I wasn't able to get any clear pictures of them but you can see what they look like from these internet photos of them. The hoopoe was amazing to watch fly. It was as if it were dancing in the air. It turned its head from side to side and flipped its body back and forth while it flew overhead.
The area around the lake had the typical prickely trees with thorns as long as your pinkey. There were also some small sand dunes wind whipped with soft sand.
At night the moon was about 1/4 full. There was enough light for us to go on a late night kayak ride. There were some other campers that came later and they built a small fire and went night fishing. One of the guys there was telling us how his father used to hunt crocodiles along the river about 40 some years ago but there haven't been sightings of crocs in that area in years. After that story I still ok out on the water with only the moonlight and the small beach side fire as my guide.

At the end of our trip we stopped at the Dam and had some tea. There was fresh fish cooking all around and the market was busy for a Friday morning. I had some spicy tea with cinnamon.