Khartoum Things to Do

4 more images

The flower show has been held annually since 1968. It has been held at different venues over the decades : Gourashi Gardens, Friendship Hall and Khartoum International Fair Ground.
It is held either on the last Friday in February or the First Friday in March. Having said that, in 2007 it was opened on Saturday 2nd March!

There are prizes for the best exhibits in different categories. Exhibitors may be commercial horticulturalists, Government departments [Forest National Corporation], Universities, private nurseries and foreign growers.

One section offers plants for sale, and many of the exhibitors sell their produce after the prizes have been awarded.
It is a good opportunity to see what can be done locally, and the chance to buy plants or other things [crafts, pots, seeds].
It is usually open for a week.

3 more images

When I last visited the Museum, the temple on the east bank of the 'river' was called Semna east, but now the sign calls it Kumma Temple. It doesn't look much at first glance but inside is different. The main entrance leads to a long room,and there is a second entrance from the pillared side. A doorway leads to a smaller room and from there another one. Two tiny rooms lead off from it.
Much of it is decorated but the paint can only occasionally be found still visible.

4 more images

Buhen was a trading centre from 12th Dynasty, declined during the Hyksos period and was reopened in the 18th Dynasty. It lay 25 km south of Aksha west of the NileThe Temple is quite large and has about 40 pillars, and several rooms. Most walls and pillars are decorated and some retain traces of colour. At the back of the building the room there has brightly coloured though incomplete scenes.
It is in a covered building which could be open or closed, though I have never seen it opened.

4 more images

It must be 10 years since I went to the national Museum, and found that inside has had a complete face-lift. Better lighting, better arrangement and better labelling in most cases.
For visitors who don't have the chance to go up to the north this may be the only way to see the treasures of Sudan.
For those who may never visit Sudan, see the following tips too.
The museum is in three parts at present. Outside are the temples that were saved when the High Dam was constructed in the 1960s. They were removed and set up in the grounds. An artificial 'lake' represents the Nile and the temples are situated along it in their relative positions to each other.There is no water in at present, but the walls are blue. At either end is a statue of a frog.
The temples are protected by covers that should open and close, but I've never seen them open.
Inside the museum, the ancient artefacts are on the ground floor. On the upper floor are Christian relics. There is now a plan to have an Islamic section some time in the future.

The museum costs 1 Sudanese pound to enter [about half a US dollar]. It is open daily from about 9 or 9.30 am, except Monday and Friday.
Photography is allowed outside and inside except you must not photograph the exhibits in the glass cases. Mea culpa- I did before we were told not to.

2 more images

Nile Avenue is one of the oldest streets in Khartoum, and was the area where the colonial rulers had their houses; the Republican Palace, the University of Khartoum [the former Gordon College] and Ministries are found here. The avenue itself is shaded by the remains of an avenue of mahogany trees. The older hotels are situated at the Omdurman Bridge end of the Avenue [Hilton, Grand Hotel ] as is the National Museum.
View across to Tuti Island and Khartoum North [Bahri] .
Because of the shade and the river, the Nile Avenue has always been a popular place for people to walk or sit. Now it has been extended as the Corniche down as far as the new bridge across to Hag Yousif.

2 more images

Take a leisure cruise along the Nile to get another view of Khartoum, Tutti Island, Bahri & Omdurman from the river. The cruise will take you along the Blue Nile from Grand Holiday Villa, past the Presidential Palace, the Blue Nile Sailing Club, around Tuti Island to the confluence of the two Nile Rivers and back to the departure point.

The cruise is available only on Fridays & Sundays at 4.00pm and costs SDG15 or $7.50 and lasts for 2 hours. There are drinks & snacks included too

1 more image

The Kumma Temple, an ancient Nubian temple, was taken stone by stone, from its original location and transported and reconstructed at Khartoum National Museum. The entrance is a small opening that leads you through the temple like a maze until you come to the end where you will find two small rooms.

It's a shame for such an antiquity, there is no cordon to prevent people from touching the hieroglyphics or leaving graffiti behind.

3 more images

This contains antiquities and artifacts from several periods of Sudanese history and pre-history, including glassware, pottery, statuary and figurines from the ancient kingdom of Cush. Ancient Nubia's Christian period is well represented, with frescoes and murals from ruined churches, dating from the 8th to the 15th century.

The Museum's garden contains two reconstructed temples, which have been salvaged from the Nubian land flooded by Lake Nasser. These Egyptian temples of Buhen and Semna were originally built by Queen Hatshepsut and Pharaoh Tuthmosis III respectively.

The temples have corrugated iron covers built over them to protect them from humidity during the wet season. The original concept was to roll back these covers during the dry season, but whether this ever happened or not is unclear. The covers are rusted into place and are now permanent and immovable! It's pretty cheap to enter, only SD150 (less than US$1).