Getting Around Sudan

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I arrived around midnight on an Air Arbia flight from Sharjah. Customs was easy..they bus you from the plane to the arrivals hall. Considering the plane was a small A320 they had several immigration lines open so I got through in 20 min or so....much faster than Dubai or Lima for example.
Keep in mind you will need to pay a departure tax prior to checking in for your flight and they probably will not allow you to check in till 3 hours prior to your flight. You pay the tax at a desk/stand to the left as you enter the main entrance. The departure hall is small with no window but a small snack bar, gift shop, duty free and 4? free internet computers for emailing prior to your flight (I did not get to send anything as AOL was blocked).
The airport is small and the UN has the most flights (along with their own terminal). They are supposed to be building a new airport N. in Omdurman but that is at best another year off. Arriving two and a half hours prior to your flight should be plenty of time to catch your flight.

In the western province of Kordofan in the villages, the only way to move around easily apart from walking is on donkey or camel back.
These were the normal means of transport in many parts of the Sudan especially in rural areas. The nomadic tribes would pile all their possessions on the camels and move in search of grazing with their herds of animals. the women would sit in a covered tent on the camel's back.
Camels can still be seen in all parts of Sudan.

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Sudan Airways, as I havew alareday noted, scares me. The airline has had the following three fatal crashes of which we know:

1) December 6, 1971 - Fokker F27 ST-AAY - Tikaka - forced landing after hijack - 10 deaths
2) August 16, 1986 - Fokker F27 ST-ADY - Malakal - shot down by SPLA rebels - 60 deaths
3) July 8, 2003 - Boeing 737-200 ST-AFK - Port Sudan - 116 deaths

Also, it has an old fleet and, becasue of the civil war and embargoes, cannot get new planes or equipment. I also am concerned about the quality of mechanical servicing of this fleet:

3 Airbus A300
2 Airbus A310
Airbus A320
Boeing 737
5 Fokker 50 -- (40 years old)
3 Boeing 707-300C -- (Hey, at least these planes are only 35 years old!)
Beechcraft King Air 90

Sudan's major highway is the sealed road linking Khartoum with Port Sudan via Gedaref and Kassala. The routes from Khartoum to Atbara, Ed-Debbah and El-Obeid are also mostly sealed. Luxury buses run between Khartoum, Kassala and Port Sudan, and less comfortable buses run on the other sealed roads. In the rest of the country, 'roads' are mostly desert tracks and the only public transport is very hardy 'buses' adapted from trucks. In some instances your only choice is a truck; all the passengers sit on top of the cargo and pay a fairly standard fare for the journey. For shorter distances, and around towns, the transport of choice is Toyota pick-ups known as boksi.

Sudan Airways flies to all of Sudan's major cities (Ed-Debba, Dongola, El-Fasher, Al-Geneina, Juba, Khartoum, Malakal, Merowe, Nyala, El-Obeid, Port Sudan, Wadi Halfa and Wau) but be prepared for last-minute schedule changes and overbooked flights! So, not only are the planes frightening, but you also face the stress of being stuck in an equally frightening local airport.

Sudan shares borders with many countries, but not all are open. Overland travel to the Central African Republic, Congo (Zaïre), Uganda and Kenya is very dangerous as it involves passing through the war zones of southern Sudan. The frontier with Eritrea is closed to travellers.

The roads between Sudan and Egypt seem to be open, but there is no bus or any public transport across the border. It's easier to go by the weekly ferry that leaves Sudan's inland port of Wadi Halfa and sails along Lake Nasser to the port near the Aswan Dam about 20km south of Aswan in Egypt. Saudia Arabia is also an option by water, with regular ferry services running between Suakin and Jeddah.

The national airline was (and probably still is) a frightening and uncomfortable experience.

No service, no rules, taking off with people standing and in the bathroom, crowds in the aisles throughout the flight, cooking in the back -- you name it and the FAA will have banned it.
Although guaranteed to add a few 'good' stories to your vacation journals, buses might be better avoided for the reasons highlighted in 'Travel Warnings.'