| Sudan |
| Right now Sudan is constantly in the headlines for its civil wars such as Darfur, but many people forget that Sudan is also the largest in Africa; meaning that while parts of Sudan are at war other parts are relatively calm. All websites I have seen describe travel to any parts of Sudan as dangerous, but I decided to explore the country regardless, interested to see what adventures I'd come across and what treasures Sudan had that were unknown to the rest of the world. I was taken by surprise of the hospitality and good will of Sudanese people. |
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| Sudan Links |
| The capital of Sudan is called Khartoum and is located near the center of the country. Khartoum itself has about 2 million people, while the entire surrounding area totals about 8 million inhabitants. On the upper left is a photo of downtown Khartoum, on the right is are some students that were more that happy to have their photo taken. |
| Sudan is a unique country as it is a mix of Arabic and African culture with an Islamic faith. On the left is a face mask created by one of Sudan's many tribes seen at a museum in Khartoum. Center is a typical seen that you would expect to see in Africa and the middle east, on the right is a large mosque in downtown Khartoum. |
| Here are some photos of people in Sudan. The majority of the people from Sudan are black, with a small percentage in the north having a more middle easterner look. On the left is a photo of some people in their market, I'm not sure if they were happy that I took their photo or not, but the guy on the right was too involved in his book to notice. |
| Sudan's capital of Khartoum was built along the Nile River. The Nile river is the longest river in the world, and begins as the blue Nile in Ethiopia and the white Nile in Uganda. Here in Khartoum, both the blue and white Niles connect and continue north to Egypt. On the left is a photo of the Niles meeting, with the blue Nile coming in from the right side and the white Nile coming in from the left. The Nile River is just as important to the people of Sudan today as it was hundreds of years ago. Below on the left, people take rich soil from the banks of the Nile to create bricks to build homes. On the lower right is a picture of a small hut where wood carvings and even a boat are being built using the trees and plants that grow along the river. |
| This picture was taken farther south from Khartoum, but you can see that even today in modern times the Nile creates a challenge for people trying to travel across the country. Above are photos of cars and people being transported back and forth across the Blue Nile. Even in the capital, I had to take a small boat to cross one portion of the Nile as there were no bridges, but there currently was a large one under construction. |
| Just outside of Khartoum is the city of Omdurman, what could be considered the cultural capital of the country. There are many things to see in this city, but the Suq of Omdurman is by far the most interesting place I came across. The Suq of Omdurman is essentially their market place, but its size and variety make it stand out from others that I have been to in various countries. The Suq had large alleys each with its own theme. I came across one selling toys, a meat market, leather, electronics and many others. I think what really made them interesting was how they often stacked so many of their goods in pyramids or had them all tied to the walls and posts surrounding their shop. On the upper left is an area selling cooking utensils, on the upper right are some spices being sold. Below are the insides of two different shops also found in the Suq of Omdurman. |
| The next largest city after Khartoum and Omdurman is Port Sudan located on the Red Sea in the north eastern part of the city. This was the only place I saw any tourists in Sudan, apparently its easier to visit Port Sudan from Egypt with a special visa, but you can not travel outside Port Sudan or travel to Khartoum for example. I think Port Sudan was a much nicer city than Khartoum, but other than the sea there wasn't much to the city itself. Above are some photos of ships in the port, on the left is a sailing ship, on the right is a large cargo ship coming in from Europe. |
| I was pretty surprised to find that scuba diving was available in Port Sudan. You're never supposed to dive alone, but when I signed up to dive I was taken out in a speed boat about 40 minutes from the city and the driver told me to have a good time and he'd be fishing in the boat. I didn't even remember how to put some of my scuba gear on so I wasn't really enthusiastic about jumping in the water solo but I had no choice. I had never done any wreck diving or anything of the sort, but as I descended in the water I found a sunken ship. It was a pretty eerie experience swimming around in the dark blue ocean alone even though I never went more than 40 feet from the surface, but it does get dark quick making you feel deeper than you really are. Above are photos from the ship's deck and another area surrounded by dozens of fish and acting as an artificial reef for the coral. |
| I saw many species of beautiful fish while diving in Sudan. Unfortunately I brought with me a very cheap scuba camera, and as a result only a few photos from the surface came out. I'm happy with these surrounding photos, but they definitely weren't the highlight of my dive. I'm unsure of the species above, but below on the left is a parrot fish, and to the right is a puffer fish. Most of the species here I've seen in other diving spots around the world. |
| From sea to desert, above are photos taken north of Khartoum. The land itself in Khartoum is dry with a few scrubs here and there, but as you head north you begin to see huge piles of rocks such as the one on the left, and eventually mountains and sand dunes. On the right is a photo of the largest sand dunes I have seen while in Sudan. |
| I found the plant on the upper left to be very unique, that it could grow directly out of sand and somehow still produce fruits. This plant wasn't the only one in the sand, but there were also dozens around me coming out of the dunes. On the right is a waterfall of sand flowing down some rocks due to strong winds in the desert. |
| Many people are surprised to know that there are pyramids in Sudan. When the ancient Egyptians built their kingdoms, their borders actually spread into northern Sudan. The pyramids above are from an area known as the Meroe Sites. Here you can see there are large pyramids, of a slightly different design than Egypt's. |
| Here are some close ups of the pyramids of the Meroe Sites. You can see that both pyramids above have entrances to the chambers instead of the hidden ones found in Egypt. On the left is an ancient pyramid the way it was found, notice how high the sand dunes have climbed on the right hand side of the pyramid. The small pyramid on the right, was reconstructed the way they were expected to look thousands of years ago. |
| Many of the pyramids here have been damaged by the harsh desert and mostly by time itself. On the left is a pyramid that has lost its top, the pyramid on the right has almost been reduced to a pile of large bricks. |
| These photos were taken from both the inside and outside of the pyramids showing some drawings and hieroglyphics. The left photo is some script taken from the inside of one of the tombs, on the right is a drawing that has survived on the entrance of another one of the pyramids. |
| Aside from scuba diving in the Red Sea and exploring the Sudanese pyramids in the north, another adventure I did in Sudan was take a road trip south of the capital. I got the opportunity to visit a Sudanese home in a random village as seen on the left. I was surprised how modern the inside of the home was. The pretty much have everything you'd expect, a kitchen, living room, bedroom, electricity, TVs but the house I visited lacked running water. |
| On the left is myself visiting one of the Sudanese families a few hours south of Khartoum. They were some of the nicest and most hospitable people I have ever met! I was invited to dinner and to rest in their home as if it was mine. There are no hotels south of Khartoum, so I even ended up spending the night here. On the right is a photo of their dinner, many different foods served with bread that is shared with everyone at the table, notice there is no silverware. |
| Other homes in Sudan have the more tribal look, and I expected the people to have tribal beliefs as well, but they still spoke Arabic as their primary language, and every few villages had its own mosque. On the left is a home made out of mud, on the right is one made out of straw. Most of these homes lack electricity, but some actually have power. |
| As I continued further south into the country, the terrain slowly changed from the dry arid land to a dark rich soil. On the left you can see some of the richer soil which makes it much easier to grow crops, and many villagers use this to their advantage. Finally this rich soil gave way to the African Savannah as seen to the right. |
| This was the only part of Sudan where I saw real tribal people. On the left are some of them walking through the Savannah carrying food on their heads. The photo to the right is of villagers gathering water from a dried out river. |
| Here are some more villagers from the eastern part of Sudan. On the left is a man riding a camel with a make shift saddle. On the right is a woman and her daughter selling tea by the road, a very common sight in Sudan. |
| Finally after two days of driving I reached my destination, one of Sudan's national Parks! This one is known by the name of Dinder, and I could find almost no information about it online. As a matter of fact, during the whole drive we had no idea what we would come across, and one night we even slept in a police station because there were no hotels. Above you can see that Dinder itself distinguishes itself because of its forests and unique trees. |
| Travel in this region can be considered dangerous, so I was required to have an escort by the Sudanese military. On the left is a plane that has crashed into Dinder forest. On the right is a Sudanese soldier that was traveling with me. |
| Here are some wildlife photos from Sudan, on the left is a large baboon, on the right is a cautious family of warthogs. |
| On the left is Dinder River, and as you can see at this time of year it runs dry. During the rainy season, I was told this whole area floods with water. On the right is a fish that died because it wasn't smart enough to jump out of the puddle and into the main pool just a foot away as the water receded during the dry season. |
| It seems that I came across three species of antelope and gazelle while at Dinder. On the left is a photo of two of them before they ran away. Unlike southern and eastern Africa, the animals here are not accustomed to visitors and usually run at the sight of the vehicle. On the right is a foot print of a large lion that must have passed just a day ago. |
| Here you can see a dead buck, one of the easier animals to photograph in Dinder. On the right are some large vultures patiently waiting for their next meal. |
| These large hawks seen above where common throughout the park. I have seen the same species in Tanzania, where they are known to be so bold as to take food directly from your hand. |
| Here is a butterfly and some huge millipedes. I didn't come across any millipedes during a long hike I did through the forest, then suddenly around a pool of water there were dozens of them, many mating like above. |
| The colorful bird species on the left was found among many other of its species in a large tree. On the right is what I'm assuming to be a bird's house belonging to this same species. |
| The bird species on the left are known as Guinea Fowl, I've seen these all the way at the bottom of Africa in Krugger Park. On the right is a type of fruit found on a tree, it looks exactly like the one I found in the Sahara Desert! |
| While hiking I saw a splash in the water and barely caught this huge monitor lizard before it disappeared into the vegetation. On the right is another one of the soldiers with me, carrying his AK-47 in case he has to gun down a lion. |
| Here is some beauty of Dinder, the green grass and trees to the left where growing next to a large swamp we came across. On the right is the sun setting among the palm trees. A trip to Sudan is definitely for the adventurous! |
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