Sudan 10 N / 11 D

Khartoum

Khartoum is the capital and second largest city of the Republic of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as the "al-Mogran", meaning the Confluence. The main Nile continues to flow north towards Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

Nuri

Nuri is a place in modern Sudan on the south (east) side of the Nile. Close to it, there are pyramids belonging to Nubian kings. Nuri is situated about 15 km north of Sanam, and 10 km from Jebel Barkal. All these remains belonged to the ancient city Napata, the first capital of the Nubian kingdom of Kush. The earliest pyramid (Nu. 1) at Nuri belongs to king Taharqa which measures 51.75 metres square by 40 or by 50 metres high. His successor Tantamani was buried somewhere else, but all following Nubian kings and many of their wives till Nastasen (Nu. 15) (about 330 BC) were buried here. The pyramids at Nuri are in general smaller than the Egyptian ones and are today often heavily destroyed, but they often still contained substantial parts of the funerary equipment of the Kushite rulers who were buried here. During the Christian era, a church was erected here. The church was built of many old stones, including several stelae originally coming from the pyramids. The pyramids were systematically excavated by George Reisner.

Karima

Karima is a town in Northern State in Sudan some 400 km from Khartoum on a loop of the Nile. The hill of Jebel Barkal is near Karima. Beside it are the ruins of Napata, a city-state of ancient Nubia on the west bank of the Nile River, including the temple of Amun. The Shaigiya tribe lived around Karima and Korti, but suffered for their support of the British against the Mahdi. The land around Karima is a center for cultivation of Barakawi dates. Karima is a terminus of a branch narrow gauge railway of the Sudan Railways system.

Kerma

Kerma was the capital city of the Kingdom of Kerma, which was located in present day Egypt and Sudan. Kerma is one of the largest Nubian archaeological sites. It has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, including thousands of graves and tombs and the residential quarters of the main city surrounding the Western/Lower Deffufa. The Kerma site has been confirmed by archaeology to be at least 9,500 years old. Around 3000 BC, a cultural tradition began around Kerma. Kerma was a large urban center that was built around a large mud brick temple, known as the Western Deffufa. Some unique aspects of this culture were beautiful pottery, the importance of cattle, a system of defense, and the King's audience chamber, which bears no resemblance to any Egyptian building.

Tombos

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Tombos in an archaeological site in Northern Sudan. The village of Tombos was located at the third cataract of the Nile, not far from Kerma near the present Karmah. An important granite quarry was located here in the Pharaonic era. Its stone was used mostly to build statues and buildings between the river delta and the southern regions of the kingdom. A statue to the Pharaoh Taharqa, abandoned for over 2700 years, contains inscriptions. About 3000 years ago, there were pyramids dedicated to ten noble Egyptians.

Bayuda Desert

The Bayuda Desert is located north of modern Khartoum, Sudan, west of Kadabas, and south of the Nubian Desert, together making up part of the Sahara's eastern flank. It is located at 18°N 33°E. Within the desert can be found the Bayuda Volcanic Field.

Meroë

Meroë is an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Sudan, approximately 200 km north-east of Khartoum. Near the site are a group of villages called Bagrawiyah. This city was the capital of the Kingdom of Kush for several centuries. The Kushitic Kingdom of Meroë gave its name to the Island of Meroë, which was the modern region of Butana, a region bounded by the Nile (from the Atbarah River to Khartoum), the Atbarah and the Blue Nile. The city of Meroë was on the edge of Butana and there were two other Meroitic cities in Butana, Musawwarat es-Sufra and Naqa.

Musawwarat

Musawwarat es-Sufra, also known as Al-Musawarat Al-Sufra, is a large Meroitic temple complex in modern Sudan, dating back to the 3rd century BC. It is located 190 kilometers northeast of Khartoum, 20 kilometers north of Naqa and approximately 29 kilometers south- east of the Nile, its MGRS coordinates 36QWD3477214671 . With Meroë and Naqa it is known as the Island of Meroe, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.

Day 01 - Khartoum

Arrival at Khartoum airport. Meet and Greet with the guide, and transfer to the hotel. Check in, dinner free and overnight stay.

Day 02 - Khartoum – town tour

Breakfast at the hotel and we then visit the Archaeological Museum that, besides many beautiful objects, contains two full temples rescued by the UNESCO and moved from the Lake Nasser area, when it was flooded by the water. We go to Omdurman to visit the Khalifa’s House and Mahdi’s

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tomb in order to learn about the quests of this charismatic leader that expelled the British and the Egyptians uniting the country under Islam. Along the way we cross the bridge on the confluence between the Blue and the White Nile.

We then visit the interesting souk of Omdurman, which is the largest of the country and where it is possible to find some handcrafts. Time permitting we will then visit the Ethnograpihic Museum. Return to the hotel. Dinner free and overnight stay.

Day 03 - Khartoum – Nuri – Karima

Breakfast at the hotel and then we begin the journey northward through the Western desert. We travel in a flat desert where the view can span 360° around and we reach Wadi Muqaddam with its many acacia trees. We will stop at the "chai houses", literally tea houses, which are simply a sort of very Spartan "motorway restaurants", in the desert where local truck drivers usually stop for a quick meal and some rest. In the afternoon we finally reach the Nile in the small town of Merowe.

We will continue until Nuri to visit the ancient pyramids of this necropolis. On the other side of the river, we reach the charming Nubian Rest House just at the foot of Jebel Barkal. Dinner and overnight at the rest house.

THE NUBIAN REST- HOUSE IN KARIMA

Karima is a small town located on the right bank of the Nile, close to the famous archaeological site at the foot of Jebel Barkal, south of the 4th Cataract. The Nubian House is a charming small hotel built in the typical Nubian style just at the foot of Jebel Barkal, the holy mountain of the old Egyptian and Nubian Pharaohs. It is surrounded by a large private enclosure, with a nice garden and leisure area. Each room is characterized by a peculiar Nubian door and has its own private bathroom and a pleasant veranda.

The decor and finishing have been carefully selected. They come mainly from Italy and provide an elegant yet rustic charm. A reception, a restaurant and a living room with decorated walls complete the wonderful setting. All the buildings are made with local bricks covered by hand-spread clay plaster as used in the Nubian area. The hotel is managed by an Italian manager with the help of well- trained Sudanese staff.

Day 04 - Karima - Kerma – Tombos - Sesibi

Today we drive north west through the Nubian Desert, we reach the village of Kerma to visit the majestic “Defuffa”. Not far from here, among the rocks near the village of Tombos, there are the granite quarries and the remains of a huge statue of the King Taharqa, simply left there in the desert 3000 years ago. In Sebu, right on the river bank of the Nile it is possible to visit one of the richest sites of rock engraving of all Sudan with hundreds of images from prehistoric to Egyptian times. We then reach the granite boulders of the Third Cataract which used to be the third huge obstacle that the ancients Egyptians had to face when trying to sail on the Nile River. Late in the afternoon we cross the Nile and reach Seisibi Hotel.

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Day 05 - Sesibi – Soleb – Sesibi

Today we drive north to reach the Temple of Soleb, the most beautiful Egyptian temple of all Sudan, testimony of the New Kingdom in Nubia, with many walls rich in hieroglyphic inscriptions, bas-relief figures and many columns. Not far we’ll reach Jebel Dosha to see a nice stele on the rock just on the shore of the Nile.

Picnic in the area and then return towards Sesibi, where we will visit the remains of the Temple of Sesibi and the Egyptian colony that used to be here during Amenohotep IV times. Dinner and overnight at the hotel in Sesibi.

Day 06 - Sesibi – Nubian villages – Old Dongola - Karima

Today we drive south following the Nile. This area is the central part of the Nubian region. Here the population lives in small villages amongst yellow sand dunes and palm trees they speak a different language from the Arabs and also the Islamic religion is not as "strict" as in other regions. The women don't cover their faces and readily speak to foreigners. Some houses in the Nubian Villages are painted and decorated with colourful patterns and flowers.

Enthusiastic hospitality abounds, people will often invite foreigners to visit their home and share a meal or a cup of spiced tea. We then reach the site of Old Dongola, where a Christian Coptic temple with marble columns as well as several churches are situated on the banks of the Nile. Arrival in the evening at the charming Nubian Rest House. Dinner and overnight.

Day 07 - Karima - Jebel Barkal and the necropolis of El Kurru

Landmark in the Nubian Desert, Jebel Barkal ("Jebel" means mountain in Arabic) can be seen from a few dozen kilometres whilst still in the open desert. 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.

Besides the ruins of the big temple there are still several sculptured granite rams that were supposed to border a long avenue that probably led to the pier on the Nile. In the mountain wall there is a big room decorated with bas-relief. The Royal necropolis of the ancient city of Napata, the Nubian capital (from 800 to 400 b.C.) 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, which is located on the other bank of the Nile.

We then move southwards to the village of El Kurru where there is one of the necropolis of the

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ancient capital, Napata. Here we can visit two tombs, which are excavated in the rock under pyramids - partially collapsed - and are totally decorated with images of the Pharaoh, of the gods and multicolour hieroglyphic inscriptions. The trip goes on with the visit to a site, rich in fossil trunks in the desert. In the evening return to Karima, accommodation at the Rest-House, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 08 - Karima – Bayuda Desert - Meroe

Not far from the Rest-House we cross the Nile on the new bridge and we enter the Bayuda Desert, an area bounded by the loop that the Nile forms between the 4th and the 6th Cataract and characterised by sharp black basalt mountains, most of them volcanic and typically cone-shaped. They alternate with level pebble

stretches and large valleys crossed by dry wadis, where little vegetation can be seen. It is very likely to meet isolated groups of Bisharin nomads, who live in familiar groups in small huts made of intertwined branches close to the rare water wells, with their caravans and herds of camels and donkeys. After a picnic in the desert, we then reach the town of Atbara, located on the confluence between the Nile and the Atbara River. Here we cross the Nile for the last time.

We start driving south on a level ground area where there are many small camelthorn acacia trees as far as we can see. And then, all of a sudden, we can glance at more than 40 pyramids, located on top of a hill, some of them perfectly preserved, that belong to the Royal Necropolis of Meroe. Arrival at the permanent tented camp of Meroe with a beautiful view onto the pyramids. Accommodation in comfortable and fully furnished tents, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 09 - Meroe - the necropolis and the royal city of Meroe

The Royal necropolis of Meroe is located at about 3 km from the Nile on some hills covered by yellow sand dunes. Several pyramids stand out with their sharp shapes against the clear sky. Each one has its own funerary chapel with the walls fully decorated with bas-reliefs that show the King’s life and offers to the gods.

In the afternoon we move along the Nile to visit the ruins of the royal city. The excavations confirm that the town of Meroe used to cover a large area and the royal city was located in a central position, surrounded by suburbs and a boundary wall. Most of the area where the city is located, formed by many small hills covered by red clay fragments, has still to be excavated by the archaeologists.

Day 10 - Meroe - the temples of Naga and Mussawarat - Khartoum

After breakfast at the camp, we spend the morning visiting the two archaeological sites. The site of Naga is located about 30 km to the east of the Nile and it is one of the two centres that developed during the Meroitic period. In Naga, in a typical Saharan environment with rocks and sand, we find a

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temple dedicated to Apedemak (1st century a.D.): a wonderful building with bas-relief decorations depicting the god with a lion’s head, the Pharaoh, noblemen and several ritual images. A few metres away there is a small and odd construction with arches and columns, named "kiosk", in which we can notice Egyptian, Roman and Greek styles, all at the same time. Not far away we reach another temple dedicated to Amon with many statues of rams and beautiful gates decorated with bas-reliefs.

We then go to Mussawarat, not far away from Naga. This settlement is located in a beautiful valley crowned by hills. Here the ruins of a very big temple are visible; it once played an exceptional important role. Its main characteristic, the Great Enclosure, is made by many constructions and boundary walls which surround a temple built in the 1st century a.D. The large number of elephants represented on these walls makes you think that this animal used to have an important role in this area. Beyond the big wadi there is another temple - restored by a German archaeological mission - dedicated to the god Apedemak.

Picnic in the area and then we return towards Khartoum. Arrival in the afternoon. Check in at the hotel. Dinner free and overnight stay.

Day 11 - departure

Transfer to the airport and boarding your international flight.

INCLUDES

Accommodation Daily Breakfast & Dinner Sight seeing Transfer Limited entry tickets Air fare international + internal All applicable taxes on room and breakfast.

DOES NOT INCLUDES

Visa & Entry Tickets Fares are subject to change any time). Any increase in the airfare charged by the airlines on your air ticket. The airline ticket fare quoted is applicable as of date and will change for your date of travel. Cost of extension of the validity of your air ticket.

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