First published: 08/01/20.

Michael Novins

Gebel Barkal

Gebel Barkal (Inscribed)

Gebel Barkal by Michael Novins

I organized my December 2019 trip to Sudan with ITC Sudan and stayed at their Nubian Rest Camp near the foot of Jebel Barkal and Meroe Camp overlooking the pyramid field.  I stayed at Acropole Hotel in Khartoum at the beginning and end of my trip, and in between visited Jebel Barkal, a holy mountain surrounded by the ruins of two thirteenth century BCE temples and some of the most intact, yet lightly visited, pyramids in Sudan, erected between the third and first centuries BCE; Nuri in northern Sudan, a component of the Jebel Barkal WHS, where more than twenty ancient pyramids that served as a necropolis for Nubian kings and queens still stand near the Nile, and where visitors should be mindful of the presence of deadly, deathstalker scorpions (their real common name); Meroë, an ancient city along the eastern bank of the Nile and home to hundreds of Nubian pyramids; the Temple of Apedemak at Naqa, dating from the first century CE and one of the largest ruined sites in Sudan; and Musawarat es-Sufra, a large temple complex dating back to the third century BCE.  My visit to Sudan was much easier than I expected, from procuring a visa (which only took a few days, far shorter than I had been led to believe), to travel (with empty roads and even emptier sites), to safety (I wandered by myself around Khartoum, the first African capital where no one offered to be my guide, told me they were from my hotel, or asked me to enter their shop "just to look").  If pressed to mention some areas for improvement I would include the roadside cafes (where I had to race against swarms of flies to finish my lunch) and weak WiFi outside the capital (it's blazingly fast at the Acropole in Khartoum, which often serves as the home base for international new organizations, but was weak in the desert lodges (although that hardly matters)).  Also, not many sights to see in Khartoum, although most itineraries require a day in the capital -- the city’s highlights are the National Museum and biweekly Nubian wrestling (and supposedly the weekly Whirling Dervish performance, but that's only on Fridays, so I wasn't able to attend).

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