Sudan Travel

Sudan

All websites I have seen describe travel to all parts of Sudan as dangerous, but my curiosity led me to explore the country regardless. I was
interested in what adventures I'd come across and what treasures I'd find in Sudan that where unknown to the rest of the world. At the time
of my trip, Sudan had been constantly in the headlines for its civil wars such as Darfur in the west, or other conflicts that where taking place
in the south. But many people don't realize that Sudan is also the largest country in Africa, meaning that while parts of Sudan are at war,
other parts are relatively calm. One Sudanese man who lived in the capital compared the situation to an American living in a normal life in
New York but seeing wild fires in California or the hearing about Hurricane Katrina on TV.

Sudan Links

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Grasslands

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Huge Monitor Lizard

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Palms During Sunset

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 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 in the north, and with
Christian and tribal faiths in the south. On the left is a face mask created by one of Sudan's many tribes seen in a
Khartoum museum. Center is a typical scene that you would expect to see in Africa and the middle east, on the right
is a mosque in Khartoum. I was surprised to see occasional Sudanese Christians and a large cathedral in Khartoum.

Above 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 a market in a village outside Khartoum. I'm not sure if they were happy
that I took their photo, but the guy on the right was too involved in his book to even notice.

The Nile river is the longest river in the world,
and begins as the blue Nile in Ethiopia and the
white Nile in Uganda. Sudan's capital of
Khartoum was built along the Nile River where
a constant supply of water made life possible in
the otherwise dry and hot environment. It is here
in Khartoum, where both the blue and white
Niles meet and continue north to Egypt as one
river. On the upper left is a photo of the Niles
meeting, with the white Nile coming in from the
left and the blue Nile coming in from the right
side of the photo. To get a real shot of the Niles
meeting I would need to take an aerial
photograph or at least a high vantage point. The
Nile River is just as important to the people of
Sudan today as it was thousands of years ago.
On the left, people take rich soil from the banks
of the Nile to create bricks to build homes.
Above is a photo of a small hut where wood
carvings and even a boat are being built using
the trees and plants that grow along the river.

These pictures 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 since at the time of my visit a very large bridge nearby was still under
construction. It looked about halfway completed and I think it will be the largest bridge in Khartoum once it's completed.

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 the country's
main market place, but its size and variety make it stand out from others that I have been to in various nations. The Suq is made up of a maze
of large alleys and corridors each with its own theme. I came across one selling toys, a meat market, leather market, and electronics.

The next largest city after Khartoum and Omdurman is Port Sudan located on the Red Sea in the north eastern part of the country. This was
the only place I saw any other tourists in Sudan, apparently its easier to visit Port Sudan from Egypt with a special visa. With this type of visa
you can not leave Port Sudan or travel to Khartoum. I found Port Sudan to be a more attractive city than Khartoum, but other than the sea
there didn't seem to be much to the city itself. Above are photos of ships in port, on the left a sailing ship, on the right a cargo ship.

I was pretty surprised to find that scuba diving was available in Port Sudan. A golden rule of diving is to never go alone, but who I thought
would be my diving partner instead drove me 40 minutes into the sea in a speed boat and told me he would be fishing. I didn't even
remember how to put on some of my scuba gear 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. Since this was my first time doing
a wreck type of dive I found it to be a pretty eerie experience swimming around in the dark alone even though I never went more than 40 feet
from the surface. We had an overcast the day of my dive and you lose light quickly as you descend making you feel deeper than you really
are. Above are photos from the ship's deck and another area surrounded by dozens of fish acting as a 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 fail to show all the colorful species I came across
and definitely weren't the highlight of my dive. The species of the two fish above are known as the Sohal Tang; below on the left is a parrot
fish, on the right is a puffer fish. Most of the fish I saw in Sudan I came across in other parts of the world as well.

From sea to desert. Here 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
low level mountains and high sand dunes. On the top right is a photo of the largest sand dune I saw 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 by itself in the desert, but there were dozens more of the same species living in 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 not only are there pyramids in Sudan, but Sudan actually has more of them than Egypt! 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, dozens of pyramids of a slightly different design than Egypts. Meroe sites are Sudan's Gaza, but there are several other
locations along the Nile River that have dozens of more pyramid sites in Sudan, sadly there is just never enough time to do everything!

Here are some close ups of the pyramids of the Meroe Sites. Both pyramids above have main entrances to the chambers instead of the
hidden ones that are used in Egypt's pyramids. 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 compared to the left. 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 but
is in otherwise decent shape. 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 right photo is
script taken from the inside of one of the tombs, on the left 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 in any other house, a kitchen, living room, bedroom, electricity,
and even a TV. The only thing the house lacked was running water, and maybe equally important for some people, no internet!

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 and since there are no hotels south of Khartoum, 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 or individual plates. You mostly eat with your hands and share food from the same bowls.

Other homes in Sudan have the more tribal look and so 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 weren't as nice as the one I had stayed in and lack electricity, but every occasional hut would have a power line to it.

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 of course use this to their advantage. Finally this rich soil
gave way to the African Savannah as seen to the right. One of the great things about road trips is watching the terrain gradually transform.

Since I didn't go to the west or extreme south, this was the only part of Sudan where I saw real tribal people. I asked my driver who was a
native Sudanese born and raised in Khartoum which tribe these people were from. He responded by simply saying these people are from
Africa, suggesting this part of Sudan was a completely different world for him. On the left are tribal women 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 and is also carrying wood to use
as fuel. On the right is a woman and her daughter selling tea by the road, a
very common sight in Sudan. She was also a fortune teller so I asked if I'd be
successful in climbing the 7 summits. Despite being so far from the ocean she
pulled out a handful of seashells and predicted my success with the 7 summits.
I'll probably need about a decade to finally find out if she was right.

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 before getting to Sudan. As a matter of fact, during the whole trip south my driver and I had
no idea what we would come across or where we might stay. One night on the way towards Dinder we even slept in Sudanese military base
because there were no hotels. I was given a cot and shared a room with some soldiers who placed big fans in front of us to keep the
annoying mosquitoes away at night. The shower was a rusted out shack with no electricity and had a gigantic lizard that ran away after I
shined my flashlight on it. When arriving to the national park, imagine how surprised we were to find out that they had a small museum, a small
restaurant with a cook, and several rooms to stay in. While back on the military base, a Sudanese colonel had just gotten married and asked
if he could join us for his honeymoon, so other than the couple, my driver and me, we had the whole place to ourselves.

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 from the military base outside the park. The soldier
directed my driver on how to get to Dinder, and choose so many random turns in the Savannah that I seriously thought he was making them
up as we went. Somehow he knew where he was going and the terrain changed again from Savannah to forest like the trees below.

Here are some wildlife photos from Sudan, on the left is a large baboon, on the right is a cautious family of warthogs that rarely see people.

On the left is Dinder River, and at this time of year it runs dry. During the rainy season, I was told this whole area floods with rushing water.
On the right is a fish that died because it lacked the intelligence to jump out of the puddle and into the main pool that was just a foot away
when 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 even if you're
pretty far away. 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 national park. On the right are some large vultures patiently
waiting for their next meal. The bottom two photos show some hawks that I remember from Tanzania as well. Like the other animals here
these hawks would fly away if I approached them on the ground. The hawks in Tanzania were so bold they'd take food from your hands.

Above is a butterfly and some giant 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 are called little bee eaters and they were among many other of its species in a large tree. On the right is
what I had assumed to be the bee eater bird's nest, but it actually belongs to weaver birds, who weren't home at the time.

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 giant 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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Comments:

Sudan Travel - For more information on traveling in Sudan please visit http://www.willgoto.com/377/1/categories.aspx

Umaima from Morocco: I have read this post and I just loved it. For several years I am thinking to travel and teach
english in Sudan. I am muslim myself and I know the culture. My question is: How safe for a woman can be to travel
alone in Sudan? I would really appreciate all the information you can give me.

George: I think you have nothing to worry about if you understand the culture, speak Arabic, and especially if are
Muslim yourself. Sudanese see their capital Khartoum as a safe city as there isn't much crime there so you will be
respected by the locals. Occasional protests do occur and in the Spring of 2008 over a 1,500 rebels from Darfur
tried to attack the capital. That might alarm some but I really doubt the rebels will try to attack Khartoum again
and even if they do they'll never take the capital so realistically I don't think this is anything to worry about. Also,
I'm not the best source on this, but I don't know of anyone being harassed in Sudan because of their gender.

Safia from Canada: Hey there! you have some amazing pictures...i am Sudanese myself and i have yet to experience
the beauty you have captured here...I went to see the pyramids this summer and i learned that most of the damage is not
simply because of time but because a hasty British archeologist thought that there would be treasure inside like the
Egyptian pyramids and just lopped off the tops.. the Nubian pyramids are in fact much older than the Egyptian ones :)

Post a comment or question about traveling in Sudan

Nina from USA: I've just returned from 2 weeks in Sudan and enjoyed reading this. The two birds next to the picture of
a nest are bee-eaters. The nest looks like it belongs to a weaver bird. Both species have a couple of different types. The
topping of the pyramids was done by an Italian archaeologist, Felini.

Mohammed from Sudan: Hey bro, i liked this page immensely. I envy you for such amazing adventures. I myself didn't
vsiit other parts in my country Sudan other than khartoum, and so seeing those pics was just sensational. hHpe you
enjoyed it. plz come for more any time. will love to take you or your friends for a spin.

Sudan - Where the White And Blue Niles Meet in Khartoum

I think what really made the Suq interesting was how they often stacked so many of their goods in such a small area. I passed by some alleys
that had mountains of products on the street or walls that were completely covered with shoes and sandals while other goods where tied to
the ceiling. Above is a photo of the shoe and sandal section and meat market, below you can see the inside of two of the shops in the Suq.

Sudan - George Kashouh with Sudanese Family

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Orange Tree

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Green Tree Branch

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Wrecked Plane

Sudan - Dinder National Park - River Dried Out

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Dead Fish

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Lion Paw Print

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Dead Buck

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Butterfly

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Millipedes

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Bee Eater Birds

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Weaver Bird's Nest

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Guinea Fowl

Sudan - Dinder National Park - Strange Melon

Jackie from Sudan: Wow what a nice picturs you got there, am sure you had fun. I really like the nature and the beauty
of Africa espacilly my country Sudan, I love it and thanks for the sharring I miss my country alot and hope to go visit
soon. Am in U.S now and I love to see things that remind me home

Dego from USA: Very nice pictures and informative post.

Kim from Canada: The 2 pics of the fish is a Sohal Tang. Great web page glad I found it! Stay Safe.

Khanie from USA: wow i have never been to khatuom but it look so beautiful. i grew up in ethoipia so there is nothing i
can complain about. i love sudan and i wish i can go back it looks so beautiful.

Khor from Austraina: hi there i have seen some beautiful picture in sudan its really wonderful even though our country
its complicated it good to see fabulouse nature reserve.........i cant wait to go there i miss home very much........

Asangi from India: its really helpful:)i have a sudanese boyfriend:)thanks

Rita from Sudan: hey, thank you for sharing. the part that really struck me was when the guy said THEY ARE
AFRICANS, yes the south is completely different, how I wish you could have been allowed to enter, but the North
usually tries to keep some things down low and that's why you werent allowed to enter most places. You would have
been in shock if you did but, for the most part the south and the north are both beautiful(the south even more). Just a
terriable war that makes no sence is messing up such a nice rich country. Proud to say I am a Sudane

Mahoya from Sudan: u know ive only lived in sudan for 5 years other than that i lived in switzerland but sudan is my
country..i really thank you for showing these pictures..that show the great side of sudan..and it shows the beauty of
africa..im proud to be from sudan

Wafa from Sudan: Very useful information about Sudan thank you.

Zoe from Iran: hiya, i loved this page!!! specially because im doing a project on sudan in school. this page covered a lot
for me, and ide just like to thank u for it:-)

Muhammed from Sudan: Congratulations! You had a good tour with fine photos and a respectable understanding.
However, there are already three multilane bridges across the Nile between Khartoum and Omdurman and a fourth is
nearing completion. Also there are three bridges across the Nile from Khartoum Central to Khartoum North.

Sally from USA: Hey there...im Sudanese and i just game back from a 2 month vacation in sudan, i was going to go to
the dinder but i didnt have a chance hopefully the next time i go ill have a chance. i was in sudan in 2008 when the war
happened and they were attempting to attck khartoum i live in khartoum in a place called the mogran next across the
street from the university if you go now you can see the tree my mom and siblings planted while they were young. but we
moved to omdurman as you said the suq is really nice hopefully the next you go to sudan we can meet up..if i go then to.