A week in.... Sudan

[netllama]

Continuing a periodic trend of visiting the world's deserts, I recently returned from spending a week in Sudan.  For anyone not familiar with Sudan, its the nation immediately south of Egypt, along the east coast of Africa.  Most of the country occupies the eastern Sahara desert, although its technically referred to as the Nubian desert. The average annual rainfall in the Nubian Desert is less than 5 inches.



I spent half the time in the capital, Khartoum, and the other half exploring the region approximately 350km (215 miles) north of Khartoum.  While Egypt's pyramids are rather famous, most people have little to no awareness of Sudan's pyramids.  While smaller than their Egyptian cousins, there are quite a large number of Nubian pyramids, and I was fortunate to visit several dozen.  Tourism levels remain quite low throughout Sudan, so I was fortunate to have the pyramids all to myself.  Good luck pulling that off in Egypt, even during a global pandemic.





What follows are the highlights of my time in Sudan.






IMG_0243











The Nile







Meroe pyramids 







Hotter than it looks







Nurri pyramids







Sunset







Nurri







Naqa ruins







Meroe







Blowing sand







Meroe 







Naqa







the void







Nurri







fuel stop 







Meroe







Sunset over pyramids







IMG_0186





For the curious, many additional photos are posted here.  I also spent some time in Turkey immediately before flying into Sudan, so there's some photos from there as well, but no desert stuff in Turkey.




Photos from past trips are posted here.

[GowerGulch42]

Wow! Is there a single part of Africa that isn't absolutely stunning?

[netllama]

Wow! Is there a single part of Africa that isn't absolutely stunning?

Indeed, Africa is the best. I can't get enough.

[David_Bricker]

Very impressive! Thanks for sharing the photos. I especially like to see the pyramids in a state of natural decay. Seeing pictures of the Egyptian pyramids, they look in too good a condition to be believable.

David Bricker / SYR

[MojaveGeek]

Wow, awesome stuff! You really get around!

In 1972 I was in Morocco and wanted to go to East Africa (and whence by boat to India). The plan had been to travel along the Med coast to Alexandria, and then down the Nile. But could not get entry into Libya and travel very restricted in Egypt (none below Aswan) so had to switch to Plan B - across the desert in Algeria into Niger and then across the jungle lands of central Africa.

Always been interested in Sudan.

[MojaveGeek]

I looked at some of your other albums and read some of the trip reports there. Quite a traveler! You have gotten to a lot of places. In the 70s I spent 5 years wandering around Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, so I appreciate the sense of adventure as well as "just doing it" once you're there.

It sounded like you were in N. Korea at some point (something you wrote about the subway stations there) but I don't see an album, so maybe it's just images you've seen elsewhere?

[netllama]

Wow, awesome stuff!  You really get around!

In 1972 I was in Morocco and wanted to go to East Africa (and whence by boat to India).  The plan had been to travel along the Med coast to Alexandria, and then down the Nile.  But could not get entry into Libya and travel very restricted in Egypt (none below Aswan) so had to switch to Plan B - across the desert in Algeria into Niger and then across the jungle lands of central Africa.

Always been interested in Sudan.

Super jealous.  Its just about impossible to travel overland south from Algeria into Niger today.  Even if you can avoid the military restrictions, that area is crawling with unavory militant groups who would love to take a westerner hostage.

[netllama]

I looked at some of your other albums and read some of the trip reports there. Quite a traveler! You have gotten to a lot of places. In the 70s I spent 5 years wandering around Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, so I appreciate the sense of adventure as well as "just doing it" once you're there.

It sounded like you were in N. Korea at some point (something you wrote about the subway stations there) but I don't see an album, so maybe it's just images you've seen elsewhere?

My wife went to DPRK a few years ago (before Trump banned Americans from going). Everything I know is from her experiences there. Photos from her trip to DPRK are here:
https://netllama.linux-sxs.org/pix/trips/2013-10-dprk/

[netllama]

Very impressive! Thanks for sharing the photos. I especially like to see the pyramids in a state of natural decay. Seeing pictures of the Egyptian pyramids, they look in too good a condition to be believable.

David Bricker / SYR

Very true. However, Egypt's economy desperately needs tourists to survive, so preservation & restoration of their historical sites is a high priority. Sudan hasn't developed that part of their economy at all. Egypt gets more tourists in a day than Sudan gets in more than a month. While its great to be able to explore somewhere unspoiled by tourism, I also saw the other side of the coin. The country has severe fuel shortages, lots of people living in poverty, etc.

[MojaveGeek]

Algeria crossing: Yup, and to think that I hitch-hiked. Northern Nigeria is definitely not cool right now. I think eastern Niger is not much safer. Those were different times.

I enjoyed reading your three part description of the 'Stans. Do you have other write ups? I also enjoyed your pix of Iran. Seems brave to travel there as an American, but maybe it is a different world outside of Tehran. It was very different there in the 70s in so many ways, but back then, Tehran was just a different world from the rest of the country.

I saw something amazing in Tehran. This was after overland through Africa, boat to Bombay, overland to Tehran. Women's knees. How risque Really, it was a bit of a shock. But Tehran was the "Paris of central Asia" and very fashion conscious, in the center of town at least.

Hitch-hiking in Iran was bizarre too, but for that I was with my brother, who was living in Tehran and could get by in Farsi.

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My wife went to DPRK a few years ago (before Trump banned Americans from going).  Everything I know is from her experiences there.  Photos from her trip to DPRK are here:
https://netllama.linux-sxs.org/pix/trips/2013-10-dprk/

Interesting to see the classic light blue buildings of the DMZ from the "other" side!