We left our desert camp quite late and drove to the small town of Shendi to do some grocery shopping.On the way Kath and Guy decided to revive the BOG award (best on ground) and hand it out. I was surprised when Guy said I was the winner for my guiding efforts. I stood up and let guy affix the warthog tusk necklace around my neck.It looked great with my Sudanese dress, and it was a really nice gesture from the group.

When we arrived at Shendi, my group had to pick up supplies for breakfast tomorrow, so we set out to buy eggs and some vegetables.While we were out I spotted a guy selling daggers and added one to my growing armoury.

We probably had a bit too much time in the little town, which we filled by drinking cold drink after cold drink.We have been drinking purified water from the truck for the last three months, but in the 50 degrees plus heat the truck water boils and so does the water in our drink bottles.

After our stop at Shendi we headed for the site of Meroe.We stopped for lunch near the royal city, where some of us went in for a look.It was really ruined and I suspect most of the building materials have been reused in other monuments or modern houses. While we were sitting under our awning outside the truck, a man came up to us with a large sword on his back and Guy started asking how much and looking at me.

He wanted 300 Sudanese Pounds, no matter how much I tried I could not stop looking at the sword.It was unreal, that this man just came walking out of the desert with it.I ended up offering him $50 US and he took it.I wonder how I'm going to get that back into the good ol' land of Oz.

We packed up the awning and headed for the royal cemetery and the Meroe pyramids.This is something I had wanted to see since I was fourteen years old.The pyarmids are in the middle of the desert and they were built by the Nubian pharaohs of Egypt.They have a much steeper inclination, which almost makes them look like Indian Teepees, made from stone.Almost all of them have the tops knocked off, thanks to an Italian explorer who found gold in the top of one of them and thought there would be treasure in the tops of all of them.

I sat in the offering chapel with some of the group explaining the pyramids and almost giving a lecture, it was great fun for me, I don't think the group realise I'm probably enjoying doing the guiding more than they are enjoying getting the information from me.

We piled back on the truck after looking around for about 2 hours and drove around the next sand dune and set up camp behind the pyramids!The sun was about to set and some of us climbed to the top of the sand dunes to watch it set over the pyramids.I climbed up the sand dune and then climbed up the nearby rocks to find the very highest point to watch the sunsetby myself, and sat there for what seemed like an eternity, not really believing where I was.Kath climbed up and joined me and told me how much she was enjoying havingme around and that I was really bringing it all to life for her.Which I really appreciated, as I love to see people getting something out of the history I love so much.

We climbed back down to the truck, after I had marked my territory at the top of the rocks, ahem!I slid down the sand dune on my bum and the sand spilled over into my pants, how annoying.We had dinner at the truck and then I slept out under the stars for the second time.