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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Travel and Photo Permit


The Travel and Photo permit which allows us to travel freely through the Sudan AND take photos! Whoo-hoo!

My six-year-old Sony Cybershot camera. It is my all - time favourite camera and I'm never without it. It is showing signs of wear, but still takes amazing photos. One day soon I'll blog about the wonderful attributes of this camera (ha!)
My Canon Powershot which I'm beginning to love. However, I don't lug it all over with me unless I know I'm going to be in one place and able to take photos (like at a function or when I want to capture our beautiful grandchildren on camera)


I've posted before about how I was unable to just snap away while travelling in the city of Khartoum.  This week Grant and I drove to the tourism office and enquired about a photo permit. We were each given a Travel and Photo permit for three months. I'm so excited. As I write about everything we do and see here in Khartoum, the fact that I've been nervous of "treading on toes" by taking photos, has inhibited me. Now I have permission to take photos. Whoo-hoo!

There are many places which I may not photograph: bridges,  (although I may stand on the bridge and photograph the Nile, or stand on the riverbank and photograph anything, even if the bridge comes into play, lol!) police vehicles and/or -officers, the presidential residence, military instances, railway stations, water or gas utility stations, slum areas, beggars or anything defamatory.

But for the rest, I may click and click and click away. Amen! What liberation!

We're also planning a trip into the desert with our new permits in hand. This should be great fun.

The Arabic word for photo is swr (pronounced sewarr), for travel is Sfr (pronounced Safarr) and for permit is Tşāryḩ (pronounced Tisaree).

14 comments:

  1. Glad you can freely take photos now, Jo.... I always enjoy your photos --and can't wait to see more and more... How's Shadow???

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  2. I'm so happy for you and can't wait to see your 'liberated' pictures :)
    ☼ Sunny

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  3. This is great news Jo. Now you'll be able to share more of Khartoum and the surrounding area. Have a great journey.

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  4. Great! Can't wait to see what pics you are going to take! Wat is daar wat jy die graagste sal wil afneem (wat jy nie voorheen kon nie)?

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  5. How much do you pay for this permit?

    Do you know Irene Van Dyk? I am teaching her to my 8 year olds as a very famous and important New Zealander. Then i teach them tnat she is from South Africa.

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  6. Thanks Betsy;)You'e always so encouraging about my photos. Shadow is back to normal and "terrorising his toys" again. Blessings

    Hi Sunny;)I will definitely feel liberated when I next venture out with my camera.

    Hi Gaelyn;) definitely, I've waited for a chance to travel into the desert and to take PHOTOS! Whoohoo!

    Hi Ida, die ding wat ek die graagste wil afneem is die Nyl rivier vanaf die brug (ons kruis oor vier om in die stad te kom) maar ek kon nooit want ek sou tot in die middel moes loop en dan afneem. Manlief was altyd SO senuagtig maar nou het ons 'n permit. More oggend be-oog ek om dit te doen - ons is op pad woestyn toe. Sal nog daaroor pos. Kan nie WAG nie.

    Hi Ann;) this three-month permit is free. Irene van Dyk is a very famous netball player who was born in South Africa. You told me previously she is now in NZ and plays netball for your country. Well done for promoting that she is/was a South African.

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  7. I'm rather surprised that you couldn't freely take pictures. Glad you've got your permit. Now I can't wait to see all the pictures.
    Best to you!

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  8. mabrook ya Jo !
    I'm excited to see all ur photos :)
    sewar is the plural, 1 photo is soora
    safar is travelling, Safari is derived from it
    tasree7 is permit, tasaree7 the plural
    u've been using standard Arabic pronunciation lately, have u changed ur teacher or what ? :d

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  9. Strange, I know, Dedene;) this was also the case in West Africa. Now I'm legal though and will photograph whatever I may!

    Hi Raindrops;) thanks for the clarification. No, I've not changed my tutor.

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  10. Wow--the authorities in Sudan are pretty strict! I suppose it's for security reasons and not publicizing poverty. You are still going to have all kinds of great things to photograph. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

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  11. My daughter-in-law (married to my middle son, Ben) is also Johanna ( pronounced jo- honna) and she also goes by Jo.

    Beautiful name!

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  12. Hi Pat, yes, all these countries warn you against publiscising the poverty and slums... I'm looking forward to testing the validity of my permit at 5am on Friday (which is Sunday in the Sudan) when I snap the Nile. I wondered what your daughter-in-law's name was short for. Not many Jo's are short for Johanna (mine is pronounced Jo-HANNAH) rather Josephine. Thanks for popping in.

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  13. She goes by Jo most of the time.

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  14. Oh goodie! Can't wait to see what you come up with...just stay out of trouble!!

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