48 Hours in Sudan 2018: Pyramids, Dervishes, and UNESCO Sites!
48 Hours in Sudan
After having explored most of the Middle Eastern countries reachable within a short flight from Dubai, we just had to do one last unexpected trip before saying goodbye to the UAE - so we picked exploring the Sudan with our friends!
A short non-stop Flydubai flight away, Sudan is home to many pyramids (more than Egypt, fact!), welcoming people, unique traditions and unbelievable raw beauty.
A true gem and yet-to-be-discovered off the beaten path destination, Sudan has so much to offer for a quick escape from the UAE, that you’ve probably never even heard about let alone dreamed of visiting.
48 Hours in Sudan | Day 1: Market, Sudan Museum and Dervish Ceremony
After a convenient 4-hour Flydubai flight from Dubai arriving in Khartoum at 10pm (no time to waste!), we received a warm welcome at the Khartoum International Airport by our tour company driver, who brought us to our hotel for the first night, the Acropole.
Useful information:
Currency: Sudanese Pound
Language: Arabic
Time change: UTC/GMT +2 hours
Best time to visit: October-April
Dress Code: Conservative
Alcohol: Sudan is a completely dry country - do not bring any alcohol in!
We started our 48 Hours in Sudan with an early visit to the bustling Friday market at the center of Khartoum. Food, clothes, even kitchen appliances were displayed, and the atmosphere was truly incredible. We felt totally in sync with the ambiance, and not completely as out of place as we could have imagined.
Make sure to not film or take pictures too much though, as locals don’t particularly like it, understandably. Unlike so many markets or souqs around the world that we have visited, there was no being bothered, hassled or barked at, everyone was just living their lives and we were so happy to just observe. Such is the case in a country with such few tourists.
We then visiting Omdurman, the old capital of Sudan, the Mahdi’s tomb and the Khalifa’s house, we headed to the Sudanese National Museum, home of many beautiful objects and two full temples rescued by UNESCO and moved from the Lake Nasser area, when it was flooded by the water.
As we do with most trips, we pulled a classic Jeff and Anne, barely researching anything before going, so it was a great start to our trip getting to know a little bit better the country we were in. Some people prefer to travel after exhaustive research into where they are going, we like to do the complete opposite, just show up and discover what is around us as it happens.
Around 4pm each Friday, a very unique Dervish ceremony takes place, near the tomb of the sufi leader Ahmed al Nil. The Dervishes ceremony gathers women, men and children together every week to pray, dance and sing together in one of the largest cemeteries in Khartoum, outside of a small mosque. We were lucky enough to be warmly welcomed around the prayers.
Not far from here there is an interesting site of petrified wood, an ancient forest with hundreds of huge trunks strewn out completely in the middle of a vast desert with little explanation. Later on we reached the necropolis of Nuri. After a little walk among these ancient ruins, we stumbled upon the pyramid of Pharaoh Taharqa dominating high above the the others. After the visit we reached our beautiful Nubian Rest-House, located just at the foot of the Jebel Barkal, with the small town of Karima situated nearby. We ate some delicious food, took a hot shower to get rid of the dust and passed out.
48 Hours in Sudan | Day 2: Jebel Barkal and Meroe Pyramids
After a delicious breakfast at the Rest-House, we headed over to visit the Jebel Barkal area. A landmark in the Nubian Desert, the Jebel Barkal can be seen from a few dozen kilometres whilst still in the open desert.
A huge rock mountain in the middle of desolate sand a few hundred meters from the banks of the River Nile.
At the foot of this wonderful and isolated red sandstone mountain, considered holy since the ancient times, there is a big temple, dedicated to the Pharaohs of the New Reign and to their patron, Amon. Amon's ancient "Pure Mountain", the Olympus of the Nubians, was the religious Nubian heart for more than 1000 years.
The Jebel Barkal archaeological sites are on the World Heritage list and the royal necropolis of the ancient city of Napata, the Nubian capital before the Meroitic period, had a large number of pyramids, located in three different places: few hundred metres north of Jebel Barkal; a dozen kilometres southwards from the holy mountain, in El Kurru; in Nuri...
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