Sudan - The Lost Kingdom of Nubia

After a restful morning we meet as a group for a short briefing, then enjoy lunch together. In the afternoon we take a boat ride on the Nile to see the confluence of the White and Blue Nile rivers that makes Khartoum so unique. Afterwards in the early evening we see the Dervish Ceremony. Dervishes are Islamic holy men akin to monks and in Khartoum those of the Qadiriyah order make a weekly procession and dance at the tomb of Hamid al-Nin. The dancers, wearing their multicoloured jalabiya robes, perambulate and sometimes break into a spinning dance-like trance as a way of getting closer to God.

In the morning we will visit the traditional animal market in bustling Omdurman, full of merchants selling cattle and camels, before a long drive northward to Karima. We travel across the Western Desert stopping en route at a tea house for a picnic lunch, arriving early evening at the regional market town of Karima.

Our long journey today by road starts by following the route of the Nile. Our first stop is at Estabel fort a Christian and Islamic fortress on a panoramic flat-topped mountain, then afterward we make our way to Old Dongola, capital of the Nubian Christian kingdom of Makuria. Monuments here include the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and other early Christian churches with marble and granite columns, and Sudan’s first mosque, a converted ‘throne hall’ founded in 1317 by Saif al Din Abdullah, the first ruler to convert to Islam, as well as tombs and cemeteries. Afterwards we recross the Nile at the town of Ed-Debba where we cross the river to the west bank and visit El-Khandaq, the former Islamic trading entrepot, before continuing north and cross again to arrive at Tombos.

Please note:
Shower and toilet facilities at this camp are shared.

The morning will be occupied with a visit to Wadi Sebu at the southern end of the 3^rd Cataract, with its impressive and extensive array of prehistoric petroglyphs. Later we take a ferry to the Island of Sai and its plethora of archaeological sites, an important archaeological area where we find ancient remains from the Kerma, Egyptian, Meroitic and Christian civilisations. These include the ruined Ottoman period fort, cemeteries and a New Kingdom Egyptian town and temple. We return to Tombos in the afternoon.

Please note:
Shower and toilet facilities at this camp are shared.

Today is an Egyptian New Kingdom day as we will be journeying to the west bank by local ferryboat.  We shall visit Sedeinga a contrasting Egyptian pyramid cemetery with the remains of over 80 monuments. Then on to the extremely well-preserved temple built by Pharaoh Amenhotep III at Soleb, with a forest of columns and covered with hieroglyphs. Finally, a stop at the lonely columns of Sesibi temple. We return to Tombos for the evening.

Please note:
Shower and toilet facilities at this camp are shared.

A morning visit to Tombos, once a frontier post between the reaches of ancient Egypt and Nubia.  There are many official inscriptions and a huge, unfinished and toppled colossus of a Nubian king. Also, petroglyphs and a New Kingdom pyramid cemetery. Then downriver to Kerma, the type site of the Kerma civilisation, equivalent to the Old and New Kingdoms in Egypt. We shall see the town with its impressive mud brick ‘skyscrapers’ called defuffas and substantial burial mounds, and the nearby New Kingdom to Meroitic site of Dokki Gel. The museum close by holds many finds from both sites. Onwards to the temple at Kawa, one of the ‘heretic’ Pharaoh Akhenaten’s temples. We continue on to Karima.   

Our day starts at a landmark of the Nubian Desert, the red sandstone mountain of Jebel Barkal, considered holy since ancient times. At its foot is a large temple of Amon and other deities dedicated by the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom and the later Napatan kings, and a Napatan royal pyramid cemetery and site museum. The ancient capital of Napata was located nearby and, this afternoon, we drive to its earliest royal necropolis at the village of El-Kurru. These are rock-cut, and we enter one of the two tombs elaborately decorated with frescoes and hieroglyphic inscriptions.  We then continue on to visit the remains of the tumulus cemetery at Ez-Zuma. Time-permitting we will stop at the petrified forest before returning to Karima for the night.

This morning we board a small motorboat for a voyage on the Nile to enjoy the evocative stretches of far sands and cultivated islands along the river. A little further downriver used to be the beautiful granite rocky formations of the 4th Cataract, which prevented the Nile from flowing slowly and formed many rapids that obstructed its navigation, but much is now underwater following construction of the Merowe dam. In the afternoon we visit the Ghazali Monastery, an 8th-11th century AD desert complex including the remains of the refectory with circular benches and an impressive row of monastic toilets! Afterwards we make our way to the Pyramids of Nuri which served as a royal necropolis for the ancient city of Napata.

After breakfast we visit Karima market which gives an insight into the lives of the local Sudanese people. We then travel across the Bayuda Desert to Meroë. This desert is an area bounded by the loop formed by the Nile between the 4th and 6th Cataracts and characterised by sharp black basalt mountains, mostly volcanic and typically cone-shaped. En route we stop for a picnic lunch and during our journey we may encounter isolated groups of Bisharin nomads with their caravans and herds of camels and donkeys. We stay at an encampment overlooking the royal pyramid cemetery, which affords a stunning sunset view.

Please note:
Private shower and toilet facilities at this camp are provided behind each tent.

Today we explore Meroë, characterised by its rocky granite hills. The most significant part of the site are its series of Royal Necropoleis, great pyramid cemeteries of the ruling families. We see more than 40 hilltop pyramids, some of which are almost perfectly preserved dating between 270 BC and 320 AD. In the afternoon we visit the ruins of the accompanying Royal City and its temples (please note that the Royal Baths can’t be visited as they are under restoration following the flooding in 2020). We overnight for a second evening in our desert camp.

Please note:
Private shower and toilet facilities at this camp are provided behind each tent.

A morning visit to Musawwarat es-Sufra, a massive and totally unique mostly religious centre in the desert. Several temples and the ‘Great Enclosure’ dominate this mid-3rd century BC – mid-4th century AD site, located in a beautiful valley crowned by hills. We then continue to the site of Naga, one of the two centres that developed during the Meroitic period. Here, we find a temple dedicated to the lion headed god Apedemak, a wonderful building with bas-relief decorations and several ritual images. We then reach our final temple of the day, dedicated to Amon, with a host of statues of rams and beautiful gates decorated with bas-reliefs. We arrive back in Khartoum at the end of the day.

Our final day in Khartoum starts as we cross the confluence between the Blue and the White Niles near the Presidential Palace where in 1885 General Gordon was beheaded by the Mahdi’s troops and we reach Omdurman, the old capital of Sudan. Here we see the Mahdi’s Tomb and visit the Khalifa’s House, the home to his successor and now a small museum about the Mahdyia. Afterwards we walk in Omdurman Market. In the afternoon we visit the National Museum, home to numerous artefacts and several beautiful temples rescued by UNESCO before they were flooded by the waters of Lake Nasser and reconstructed on the grounds. We leave our hotel late evening for our return flight back to London, arriving on Day Fourteen.