Traveller's tales

Saturday, January 06, 2007

A Journey to the Red Sea # 8












-8-
Old Suakin


Old Suakin, twenty odd miles south east of Port Sudan, used to be the country’s main link to the rest of the world. For centuries, it was a centre for Arab trading and was also a centre for pilgrims making the vjourney across the Red Sea to Meccah in Saudi Arabia.

The old town, now unhappily in a very dilapidated state, was built on an island which is connected to the mainland by a short causeway. Since the opening of Port Sudan with its deeper water and its wider approaches so vital for modern shipping, Suakin has been in a state of slow decline, until it stands today in mute testimony to the advance of the modern age.

Since 1900, Suakin has been deserted and now resembles a scene from the London Blitz. Its houses – what is left of them, were built by Turks and Egyptians, from local coral and Javan teak and still bear the stamp of former grandeur and affluence.

What immediately strikes you as you pass through the gate at the edge of the island is the contrast of colours – the white ruins, jagged gables, stairways that lead to nowhere, and the azure sea all around. The shores of the Rea Sea are similarly contrasted, with the white and blue – the golden brown of the strand of sand lining the brilliant shore – all bathed in bright sunshine under the canopy of a clear blue sky.

The former colonial presence is now only hinted at by a few rusting cannons that may have seen the great Osman Digna, leader of the Mahdist forces in the east of the country, and to whose memory a statue stands on a corner across from the Olympia Park Hotel in town.

Along the shores of the island we met groups of small boys fishing and swimming in the crystal clear water. As the heat has more or less reached its height, we quickly join them in the water to splash about and have fun while cooling off, ever mindful of the razor sharp coral beneath our feet, as well as the fishes, some of which the boys had caught and proudly held up to show us. They had sharp teeth, like sharks in miniature.

They noticed that we had cameras in the piles of our clothing, and pointed at them and shouted, “Sura, sura!” The Sudanese are a joyful race of people, given to laughing a lot and being cheerful. If you once point a camera at them, however, they become deadly serious looking. It is best to obtain consent before you take photographs of people, but these lads obviously had no problems – they wanted their photos taking. Even the smallest boy stood quickly to attention and looked as if we were going to shoot him with something else.

Cajolery, pleas to relax or else catching them unawares, which is almost impossible, is necessary if you want anything like a natural photograph that goes some way to catching the real nature of these friendly and hospitable people. We managed it with the boys in the water, and with another group proudly displaying the fish they have caught.

After a breakfast of ful and laham, in the mainland village which gains its living from fishing and light trade, we return to our hotel and a short rest before again wandering around the streets of the bustling port.
Robert L. Fielding

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