Up in the far north between the Nile and the Red Sea - a seven-to -ten-hour drive from Khartoum and eight to ten from Port Sudan - stretches a vast landscape of desert plains, dunes, and volcanic hills, crossed for centuries by caravan routes linking the Nile Valley with the Red Sea ports. Before the current conflict, travelers came to explore the Nile corridor north of the city of Dongola, where Nubian villages with brightly painted houses line the riverbanks and date palms shade narrow strips of farmland.
One small riverside settlement along this stretch is Abri, which serves as a regional market center for surrounding Nubian villages. Its mud-brick homes, palm groves, and riverfront setting offer a glimpse of traditional life in a region where agriculture still depends on the annual rhythms of the Nile.
Nearby is another similar town, Kerma, whose main distinction is actually what lies just outside it: one of Sudan´s most important archaeological sites, that of ancient Kerma, the capital of a powerful kingdom that flourished from about 2500 to 1500 BCE, making it one of Africa’s earliest urban civilizations. The city was dominated by massive mud-brick temple structures known as deffufas, including the imposing Western Deffufa (above), which rises more than 60 feet above the surrounding plain. Today visitors can explore the ruins of this ancient capital and its nearby royal cemeteries, then continue to the 18-year-old Kerma Museum, displaying pottery, jewelry, statues, and other artifacts from the ancient kingdom. Together with the surrounding Nubian villages, this site provides a rare window into both Nubia’s deep past and the enduring traditions of the Nile Valley.
Read more in my post The Allures of Sudan, a Country of Extraordinary Heritage, Now Convulsed.
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