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...
Read the entire article here:
Subscribe to our Newsletter:
Follow us on Social Media for regular updates on What Doesn't Suck
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
The Guardian of the Independence | حارسة الإستقلال
The Daughter of Independence, Alia El Solh, is the heiress of the legacy of Lebanon’s first prime minister, Riad El Solh. A politician who helped lead the struggle to drive French troops out of Lebanon, Riad El Solh, is considered a pillar of the pan-Arab movement. This documentary fol-lows Alia El Solh as she treads the noble path paved by her father. She started a long career of advocacy from the campus of the American University of Beirut in the early 1950s, influencing and writing about Lebanon’s political life.
On campus, she led demonstrations for women’s rights and wrote extensively, for a variety of publications, about Lebanese and Arab causes. When the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War en-tered its eighth year, El Solh left Beirut to settle in Paris. She publicly criticized the Syrian occu-pation in Lebanon at a time when most Lebanese politicians feared any disagreement with the regime in Damascus. On April 26th of the year 2007, she died of a heart attack a few days after checking in to the American Hospital of Paris.
This documentary is her story: the story of a woman, the story of a nation.
Khewra Salt Mine Valley updates nice visiting part 1
The main centre of mining is Khewra in the Salt Range where the world's largest salt mines are located. Khewra salt mines are 154 kms away from Islamabad.The Khewra Salt Mine (or Mayo Salt Mine) is located in Khewra, north of Pind Dadan Khan, an administrative subdivision of Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's largest and oldest salt mine and the world's second largest. It is a major tourist attaction, drawing up to 250,000 visitors a year. Its history dates back to its discovery by Alexander's troops in 320 BC, but it started trading in the Mughal era. The main tunnel at ground level was developed by Dr. H. Warth, a mining engineer, in 1872, during British rule. After partition the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation took over the mine, which still remains the largest source of salt in the country, producing more than 350,000 tons per annum of about 99% pure halite. Estimates of the reserves of salt in the mine vary from 82 million tons to 600 million tons.Khewra city famous for having world�s second largest salt mines (Khewra Salt Mines) is located in District Jhelum of province Punjab, Pakistan. The city is situated about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from Islamabad and 245 kilometres (152 miles) from the city of Lahore. Khewra Salt Mines are located 945 feet (288 meters) above sea level. The mountains containing Khewra Salt Mines are part of mineral-rich mountain range called Salt Range. Total length of Salt Range is 300 kilometres (186 miles), extending from Beganwala near River Jhelum to Kalabagh near River Sindh. Width of Salt Range varies between 8 kilometres to 30 kilometres.
Nafakhum and Remakri
Nafakhum is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Bangladesh and an excellent place to travel. Every traveler should have a tour plan to visit this beautiful tourism spot of Bandarban at least once and then they will feel to visit that travel spot again and again -
How to travel to Nafakhum Travelers should reach to Bandarban if they are interested to have a tour to this Nafakhum waterfall. There are many bus services among the districts of Bangladesh to reach Bandarban. Here we are giving some approximate fares information to the travelers to travel from Dhaka to Bandarban.
Travel from Dhaka to Bandarban It may cost around 550/- Taka (BDT) to the travelers if they travel by the bus of S.Alam or Saudia. The travel buses usually start from 10:30 pm to 6:30 am. The bus service providers may offer new schedule as well. It can be around 7-8 hours journey.
Travel from Bandarban to Thanchi Then the traveler have to go to Thanchi upazilla by bus from Bandarban to reach his destination tour spot. It may take around 4.5 hours for the traveler to reach Thanchi. The distance between Bandarban to Thanchi is about 79 km.
Travel from Thanchi to Remakri Travelers need to Hire a Tour guide Travelers must enter their full name,address and contact number at the Army camp of Remakri, Bandarban. Then the travelers need to hire a tour guide. There is a tour guide committee and that tour guide committee will select an experienced tour guide for you. Though that tour guide is not very necessary for boat but the travelers are bound to hire that tour guide. This tour guide will stay for 2 days with the travelers while they are having the journey to reach the particular tour spot and till the travelers come back to Remakri. For the first day the tour guide will charge 600/= Taka (BDT) and for the second day onwards the tour guide will charge 500/= Taka (BDT) for each day (exclude his food and accommodation).
Second day planning and visit the desired place, Nafakhum The Next day the travelers should start their journey very early. They should start the trip for Nafakhum at 5.00am. Travelers have to start their walk to travel from Remakri to reach Nafakhum. It will take about 2-2.5 hours through walking to reach Nafakhum. At Nafakhum travelers can stay about 2-3 hours. At Nafakhum travelers have to hire another tour guide and he will help you to visit other fantastic travel places. That particular tour guide will also take around 600/= Taka (BDT) for the first day and 500/= Taka (BDT) (exclude his food and accommodation) for any additional day. The natural beauty of Nafakhum is really amazing and mind blowing.