El Obeeid Gum arabic

Wednesday 52 Tarmac all the way to El Obeeid (250 miles in 3 hours!)

Passing the International airport ( see photo), probably “international” due to a large UN logistic base at El Obeeeid. We had our normal delicious lunch of goat chunks, bread, peppers tomatoes and spring onions with rocket. We found our way to the Gum “Arbic” company and market place. The company is run by an Army gentleman who was most friendly but did not speak English. We saw Hibiscus being sorted and cleaned before being sold for tea and Karkaday (cool Hibiscus drink). There was also some hundreds bags of Gum Arabic ready for sorting and purchase from local farmers. On sampling it really chewed as Rowntree’s Fruit gums used to! See pictures of Amber lumps.....

We then moved to a windy but cooler <31deg C mountain side to camp under a Baobab tree.

Day 53 Visit to Acacia tree plantation for Gum Arabic

  We drove 100 km south of El Obeeid towards Darfur which was only 200 km away. Despite this there was still no checking of documents at checkpoints! Just waved through..... perhaps the guide book was correct, the people in the centre of Sudan are very laid back compared to those in Kharthoum. It is so surprising as we are so close to the south- north dividing line.

We were taken by a collector sho spoke no English to meet a grower and be shown some trees. Some are wild some are planted. The gum Arabic is an exudation of the Acacia tree after an incision has been made. The gum is edible and has no real flavour but it has the texture of  childhood Rowntree fruit gums. Some was soft and gooey like but it was fascinating to see but we leanrt nothing more as neither party spoke English.