Holidays+in+Sudan+-+Karima+and+Old+Dongola

Type in the content of your new page here. In December 2007 we stayed only two nights. At that time we were two adults and one toddler of two years. In December 2008 we decided to stay 4 nights. We were two adults, one toddler of 3 years and one baby of nearly 6 months. Where did we stay: ** At the Nubian Guesthouse in Karima run by http://www.italtoursudan.com/. It is beautiful boutique hotel with only ten rooms located closely to Jebel Barkal. It is built in Nubian style. The grounds are lovely and the staff is fantastic. A stay is quite pricey at 250USD/night/room including breakfast and a several course dinner. Our children stayed for free. The food is fantastic and the staff even prepared children sized portions. For children who sleep on their own the hotel puts a camping bed in the room, for babies you will need to bring a travel cot. The Sudanese hotel staff is fantastic with kids. However, the Italian manager receives you with a long list of “do nots” for children that can spoil your stay as she manages to make you feel anxious. A feeling that was shared by other visiting families who actually complained with the travel operator. Luckily on our last visit she was out of the country and and we fully enjoyed the place. All in all I find it a wee bit overpriced. But then, what is not overpriced in Sudan??????? Another option is to pitch up your tent at Jebel Barkal or in Old Dongola (wonderful date palm groves at the river Nile). How to get there? ** To get there is pretty straight forward: leave Khartoum via Omdurman´s Souq Libyia and just drive straight. There is only one road leading North and you can´t miss it. After approximately 350 km you get to a roundabout where you have to turn right. From that roundabout it is another approx. 100 km until Merowe town. From there you have Karima signposted. Cross the new Chinese-built Friendship bridge, turn left after the bridge; follow the road as it winds out of town. You will see Jebel Barkal and the pyramids to your left. About 500 m after the pyramids there is signposted dirt road leading to the hotel. The road is very good and gets even better the further North you get. Something attributable to the new dam built at the 4th cataract. It is best to leave KRT with fully fuelled. There are gas stations after approx. 200 km and then another one at the roundabout. Merowe town has a couple of gas stations as well. It is best to travel either on a Friday or on a holiday (like Eid). On both occasion we went during the Eid holidays. The advantage is that on those dates the road is nearly empty (otherwise it is much frequented by buses and trucks making driving inconvenient). The disadvantage is that everything else like gas stations, for example, are closed, too, and you might end up (just like us) buying “bensin” by bottle from a roadside stall. The whole trip takes about 5 hours driving at a reasonable speed with two short rests included. It is not a very exciting drive until you get close to the Nile again in the North and the landscape changes. Things to do with kids: ** 1.   **__ Climbing Jebel Barkal __**** : ** it is a steep climb, but manageable. Not sure if kids < 5 years will manage it. Great views from the top, particularly shortly before sunset. There is a sandy slope on the Northern face of the mountain where you can skid down. 2.   **__ Visit of the ruins at Jebel Barkal __**. You can just walk there from the hotel. There is a police station that you will need to pass by. No permit from KRT required. Police will call the khaffir (the guy with the key) who takes some 30 minutes to come, registers your details in a big book, you pay him 20 SDG/adult (official fee for which you get a receipt). He takes out his key and opens the small museum for you. The museum shows pieces that have been found at excavations. Then you can walk over to the ruins and just climb about. Great fun for the kids. There is one tomb inside the mountains with preserved frescos. Another guy with another key will come to open it for you. It is a nice visit. You are requested to sign a guestbook, but no official payments required apart from a tip. 3.   **__ Visit to the pyramids at Jebel Barkal __**__ : __ they are on the Northern side of Jebel Barkal. You can walk there form the hotel, but it is a stretch for kids. Otherwise take your car. They are quite well preserved and nice to wander around. Same permit as for ruins apply to the pyramids. 4.   **__ Visit to Karima village __** : the village itself is nothing spectacular. But if you just walk over into the neighborhood close to the hotel you get a great glimpse of village life. People talk to you, they invite you in. 5.   **__ Visit to tombs at El Kurru village __** : For this you just drive back into direction of the Friendship Bridge, but don´t go over the bridge, instead go straight ahead. Soon the tarmac road will turn into a dirt road. You will pass by a number of Nubian villages, date palm groves. The dirt road follows the Nile. It is a nice scenic drive. Just ask for El Kurru and people will tell you. Once you get to El Kurru you will have to find your way to the khaffir who lives in one of the smaller roads turning left from the main road close to the mosque. The khaffir might or not request a permit form KRT. We were lucky and he let us see the tombs without, but he insisted that normally a permit was requested. Don´t tempt him with a “tip”. He is legal. In the end he took our 20 SDG/adult and gave us the corresponding receipts but kept on insisting he made an exception with us. The tombs are great. Well preserved wall and ceiling painting that have kept their stunning colors. The villages you come through on your way make for a nice stop and stroll. 6.   **__ Swim in the Nile __** : thanks to the Merowe dam there is now a great beach on the Merowe side of the river. Cross the Friendship Bridge. After the bridge turn the first roads right and follow the road as closely to the Nile as possible. After approx 7 km turn right, make your way through a gap between houses and rive a close towards the Nile as possible. From there you will need to walk through the palm groves. It is a bit of a walk (20 minutes). You will come across fields and then get to the former river banks. As the river is now so much lower now it is a steep climb. But local people will show you the easiest access. The beach is great, nearly deserted except for a few herds of goats. The water is shallow and the sand rivals that of any seaside beach. Great for kids. There is one person, Dafa Allah, who is working with the Polish mission and he can show you around. His phone is 0129 088 798. The villages along the Nile in this area are just beautiful.  ·   Copies of passports  ·   Permissions to visit archeological sites (Old Dongola, El Kurru)  ·   Baby items  ·   Some powerful torches to look inside tombs.
 * When and who : **
 * 7.   ** **__ Visit to the Merowe Dam: __** cross the Friendship bridge to Merowe, get to the main road and turn left. Keep on driving straight (nice scenic drive) until you get to Nuri. At the roundabout (where the other pyramids are) turn left and just follow the road about 30 minutes or so. Slowly you will see man-made changes in the landscape. At one moment the road is on a hill and you can see the dam. The dam is spectacular, big and just impressive. Keep on driving. There are a couple of checkpoints ahead. The might let you pass if you explain that you want to show this marvel to your kids. We managed to get very close to the dam and had a fantastic look at the dam and the whole infrastructure that was created around it. Truly impressive.
 * 8.   ** **__ Visit to the Nuri pyramids: __** those are nice pyramids. To get there see above. These pyramids are less well preserved than those at Jebel Barkal. But they have some real sand dunes which are fun to skid down. The location of these pyramids outside the village on open plain gives them some magic, particularly shortly before sunset.
 * 9.   ** **__ Visit to Old Dongola: __** It is a bit of a drive from Karima (2,5 hours) but it is definitely worth it. Another option is to pitch up a tent there and then to explore this region separately. There are loads of things to visit and to see that it might be worthwhile to make Old Dongola a separate trip. The sights are at quite a distance from each other, there are no roads but lots o sand. So seeing things is a bit time consuming. We actually did not manage to see many things as we were so busy finding our way around. For the famous monastery you absolutely need a permission from KRT to visit. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The whole area represents the old Christian kingdoms before the arrival of Islam to the region. The Polish Archeological mission has been active for decades in excavating at Old Dongola and the sites further north. We were so lucky to come by chance across them and they showed us a currently ongoing excavation and restoration of a church with wall frescos.
 * What you will need: **