The Meroe pyramids are fascinating, these magnificent structures are well off the beaten track and not easy to visit. It is also the main reason why people want to visit Sudan. But is it worth the effort to visit?
*Much of this article was written before the 15th of April 2023. Please keep this in mind and read until the end!
When people hear about Sudan their thoughts almost immediately go to “an extremely dangerous warzone” and “why the fuck would you visit that country?!”
After putting up our first post on social media whilst we were in Sudan, our inbox got flooded with messages from people warning us about our safety and to get out there as fast as possible!
Yet the reality was far from the concerns many friends and family had. Of course, there is a dangerous part in Sudan, that area of the country is The Darfur Region in the southwestern part of Sudan.
Bordering South Sudan, The Central African Republic, and Chad, there are no tourists allowed to visit this region.
As for the rest of the country, not once did we ever feel unsafe. The majority of Sudanese people were nothing but friendly, curious, and very helpful towards us.
Never will we put ourselves at any sort of risk on our travels around the world and we were completely aware of what we signed up for when traveling through this massive country. Which is in fact Africa’s third biggest country.
What is Africa’s largest country then you may ask?! The answer may surprise you, to find out go to the end of this article.
What is Our Reason For Visiting Sudan?
So why did we visit this unknown and off-the-beaten-track destination? For two reasons mainly, firstly because of our Cairo to Cape Town overland trip.
You must cross through Sudan to get to Ethiopia, unless you fly of course, but where is the adventure in that?
Secondly, Sudanese Pyramids, in particular the Meroe Pyramids. A complex of nearly 200 pyramids was built between 2,700 and 2,300 years ago.
Once upon a time, this area was the capital of The Kingdom of Kush in the ancient lands of Nubia in what is today northern Sudan and the southern part of Egypt.
The region of Nubia hosted one of the earliest civilizations known to mankind, building large cities and trading in luxury items such as gold, gemstones, and ivory. Sounds like a worthwhile visit in our opinion!
Getting to Sudan
Getting into Sudan unfortunately is not that straightforward, many hoops must be jumped through to get into the country.
The majority of people travel to Sudan through border crossings, either from Egypt or Ethiopia. However, it is possible to fly into the capital Khartoum as well, most tourists who have tours booked use this option.
We crossed the Egyptian border. Take a look at our experience of this in the video below and check out the description for all the extra costs involved.
What is The Best Time to Visit?
There is only one temperature in Sudan and that is Stinking Hot!
A nice-to-know fact for a pub quiz is that Khartoum is the hottest capital in the world with an average of 29.9 degrees Celsius. Not surprising seeing the country is located in a semi-desert climate.
We visited in April to see the Sudan pyramids and had days where the thermometer went into the mid-40-degree mark.
Considering all these facts we recommend a visit in the “colder” months of November to February if possible. Temperatures will still be in the 30s during the day but a lot cooler at night time.
Itinerary for Sudan
We crossed the border from Egypt and had planned to make our way to Ethiopia from Sudan. However whilst we were in Sudan trouble broke out in the Amhara Region in Ethiopia.
Sadly, this forced us to change our original plan and postpone our visit to the “Land of 13 Sunshines”
The following Itinerary is a combination of what we had planned and what we actually did.
Once we arrived we quickly discovered that it takes lots and lots of effort to get to destinations in Sudan! Combined with another factor, transport in Sudan was a lot more expensive than we had anticipated.
We asked ourselves the question, is it worth going to certain attractions? Unfortunately for some of those attractions, we thought it was not worth the time or money.
Let’s have a look at the planned itinerary and the actual sights we ended up visiting.
Day 1 – Wadi Halfa
Arrive in Wadi Halfa from a long trip from Luxor -Egypt. You finally made it, welcome to Sudan.
Unfortunately, Wadi Halfa has sweet feck all to see and will be used as a base for admin.
Here you will get set up for your duration in Sudan. You will need to exchange money, purchase a SIM card, and depending on what time you arrive, register your visa (This must be done within 3 days of arrival)
The police station/passport register office opens at 8 am and closes at 3 pm. It is a blue building on the main street. Make sure to be there on time the next day if you are too late on arrival day so you can get an early bus and avoid being in Wadi Halfa another night.
We stayed at The Arrazi Hotel which charged us 10.000 SDG (17 USD) per night, a basic room with shower and aircon. After checking out some of the available cheap accommodation we were very happy with our room!
We don’t understand why some travel blogs tell you about the cheap accommodation that is available here. Honestly, they were the worst rooms we had ever seen.
Unless you are the most hardcore traveler ever or Scrooge himself, you should not be staying in rooms like these!
Day 2 – Destination Unknown
Next on our planned itinerary was the town of Dongola which will take over 6 hours of driving from Wadi Halfa.
Then we figured out the attraction to see is actually in Old Dongola, which is a further 125 kilometers away. Along the way, tourists also stop off at Kerma, an archaeological site from ancient ancient Nubia.
By now we had also realized the cost of transportation was rather expensive and that the majority of accommodation resembled an H-Block prison cell. Both sights would be nice to visit if it was easy to reach but in our opinion not worth the effort or costs.
Unlike some itineraries on travel blogs that say they are a “must-visit”….you won’t lose much sleep by missing out on these attractions.
For Us, it Wasn’t Worth The Effort.
Instead, we chose to head straight to Karima which is another 2 hours from Dongola for our first taste of some Sudan pyramids – The Barkal Pyramids, Temple, and Jebel Barkal Mountain.
All attractions are within proximity of each other. A bus ticket from Wadi Halfa to Karima cost us 25.000 SDG (42 USD) altogether after getting it down from 30.000 SDG.
Getting to Karima was great “fun”, especially as the bus we were on stopped unexpectedly in Dongola for the night forcing us to find accommodation at 10 pm.
Hence the importance of getting an early bus in Wadi Halfa!
Day 3 + 4 – Sudan Pyramids in Karima
Once we did arrive in Karima we had a great time and chilled out for 2 days. We stayed in Ahmed Mousa Guesthouse which has basic rooms for 5000 SDG (8 USD) per person, which was quite a good standard for Sudan.
Nearby you also have a resort called Nubian House. However, rooms here go for 100 USD per night.
The great thing about staying in Ahmed Mousa was that it was very affordable, and that the famous Sudan Pyramids – Barkal Pyramids, Temple, and Jebal Barkal, are pretty much in your backyard.
Because the attractions were that close (and free) we visited them on numerous occasions – sunset, sunrise and luckily we also had a full moon!
All are amazing to view from the short but steep hike up Jebel Barkal.
Day 5 + 6 – Khartoum
Next up on our itinerary was the capital – Khartoum.
Bus tickets from Karima cost us 10.000 SDG (17 USD) per person and the journey will take around 4 hours. Accommodation is again hard to find as it is impossible to use hotel booking websites.
But this time you will have the option of using Airbnb which has some cheap options available for good quality apartments. Many hotels in the capital city will charge 100 – 200 USD per night.
In Khartoum, there are a few attractions to visit. The Sudan National Museum apparently has some cool exhibitions on display, unlucky for us it was closed for renovations.
Another attraction is the famous Corinthia Hotel aka “Gadaffi’s Egg”. Built by the Libyan government it looks remarkably a lot like a Star Wars character!
In Khartoum, you can also witness where the Blue Nile River and the White Nile River come together and for the next 3000 kilometers become The Nile. A
The Most fun was wandering the streets and markets to experience the local life.
To get around this huge city use the app – Tirhal. It is like Uber with the only difference being you pay in cash.
Day 7 + 8 – Shendi Meroe Pyramids
Finally, the main attraction – the Meroe Pyramids.
Getting there is again not that straightforward. Unless you are on a private tour there is no direct way of getting to this magnificent sight.
There are many stories online about other travelers getting to the pyramids and all had different versions of how they got there.
We got a bus to Shendi from Khartoum for 4000 SDG (7 USD) per person and stayed there for 24 hours.
Arriving the first day using Shendi as a base and exploring the pyramids the next morning. Once we had explored the pyramids we then got a bus back to Khartoum after lunch.
There is a lot more to explain about getting to the pyramids so for more in-depth information please read the following link.
Plans Can Change
And this is where our trip got a bit complicated…..
All of a sudden things got pretty tense in Ethiopia (which was next on our Cairo – Cape Town Itinerary) and we felt it would be unwise and unsafe to continue our travels through that country.
See, we do know when not to go to places if it is unsafe!
Our next and final stop in Sudan was going to be Kassala.
A town on the border with Eritrea that offers some spectacular mountains that can be explored.
From there the Ethiopian border crossing is nearby. However, to get to Kassala it takes over 10 hours of driving, maybe even broken up into 2 days of travel given our Karima trip experience.
This was not an option for us as we would have to retrace all of that journey back to Khartoum to catch a flight to Oman, which was now all of a sudden on our itinerary!
How Lucky Were We!!!
Because of the situation in Ethiopia, we ended up leaving Sudan earlier than we had planned.
On the 15th of April 2023, our flight finally left Khartoum around 3 AM after being delayed for nearly 2 hours.
It was only a few hours after we had flown out from Khartoum Airport we realized how lucky we had been.
That same morning around 9 AM, the airport along with many key sites in Khartoum were attacked by a Sudanese paramilitary force called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The Sudanese Army responded and all of a sudden Khartoum had turned into a warzone.
*Travel tip – Invest in a St. Christopher amulet!
At the time of writing this article, 7 days have passed since the war broke out.
The immediate events that followed in Sudan have left hundreds of innocent civilians dead, thousands wounded, and a capital city with 6 million residents without electricity, food, and water.
Despite Sudan having safety concerns in the past this was a totally unpredictable event that had happened, in particular the fighting in Khartoum which had never experienced that kind of bloodshed before.
This was Khartoum Airport hours after we had flown out from there.
Is Sudan Worth Visiting?
At the very start of this article, we mentioned that when people hear about Sudan they think of a war-torn country – Regrettably, at the time of writing this post, it is now the case.
Obviously, no one should travel to Sudan with the current situation. The following opinion has turned a blind eye to the ongoing conflict.
Many travel itineraries will tell you only the good reasons to visit Sudan. A mysterious off-the-beaten-path gem in Eastern Africa that is full of rich history and amazing hospitality.
Of course, this is true and many people will travel to seek adventure, however, you should know what the reality on the ground is before you consider a visit.
Accommodation
Just because Sudan is a poor country do not expect the place to be cheap. In fact, we found a lot of items to be quite expensive for what you get.
Sudan is not a country that caters to tourism and if you are looking for a decent hotel room then be prepared to fork out 50 to 200 USD per night.
There are decent budget options available in Khartoum through Airbnb (Booking.com does not work in Sudan) but the majority of towns we visited had a very limited choice of hotels and could not be booked in advance.
Many of these hotels are not of good standard, with broken toilets or showers, dirty rooms, and no sheets provided on an already dirty mattress.
Food
Thank fxxk we like noodles and bananas because that was our main diet in Sudan.
Unless you are staying in a resort or expensive hotel then food isn’t easy to purchase. Many restaurants don’t look the most appealing to buy food from and the choices aren’t great either.
We were lucky to have cooking facilities in most places we stayed but had to drop our hygiene standards. Sure it’s only a dead cockroach in a pot, you can wash that!
Having said that, at Ahmed Moussa Guesthouse in Karima, we were invited for dinner both nights and given a delicious mixture of Sudanese food and desserts. If only it was that easy to purchase in restaurants!
In Khartoum it is a lot easier, there is a lot of choice of restaurants that look relatively clean but prices are not that cheap compared to other African countries (8000 SDG for a pizza, 13 USD).
Visa
Getting into Sudan is EXPENSIVE! A single entry visa will set you back a whopping 150 USD.
On top of that, you must pay an additional 5000 SDG (8.50 USD) stamp fee and an 11.000 SDG (18.50 USD) registration fee.
That’s a total of 177 USD per person to get in!
Our Honest Opinion
Travel in Sudan is hardcore, even for experienced backpackers.
It lacks a tourism industry, there are no signs, no information and there are barely any hotels. Transport was also more expensive than we had anticipated and hard to understand when or where the buses left. However, the locals are extremely kind and very helpful.
If you do still wish to visit there is an easier option than backpacking. There are tour groups where you can discover Sudan but a heavy price tag comes attached with it.
We’ve been, ticked off the box, will we ever go back? Probably not.
We have no regrets about visiting and certainly had a very interesting time, but it sure was tough going some days!
Would we recommend other travelers to visit? Only if you are traveling from Cairo to Cape Town or vice versa and must pass through the country. Otherwise, save your money until tourism has improved drastically.
Currently, all we can hope for is that the lovely people of Sudan get to live in peace.
By the way, Africa’s largest country is Algeria! Go on, check it out on Google MAPS. Before 2011 Sudan was the largest until the country split into two – Sudan & South Sudan
Have you seen the Sudan pyramids, or planning to go? Please tell us your thoughts, experiences, or any other advice you may have for future travelers in the comment section below.
Slán go fóil
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Great read lads. Honesty is great
My bedtime reading
Thank you Valerie!!
No point saying what everyone says when we don’t believe it ourselves!
That was so beautiful, video of the airport hours after ye left was so scary and the tiktok at the end of all the Sudanese people ye met actually made me well up
Thank you Maura!
we are still talking about how lucky we were! Unbelievable what happened…