Friday 18th November – Khartoum

• Own arrival into Khartoum to be met at the airport by our local guide and transferred to our hotel.
• Meet at 8pm for a pre-tour group dinner and meet your fellow travelers.
• Overnight in Khartoum.

Saturday 19th November – Khartoum & Omdurman 

• Up early for breakfast at hotel before we start the day with a city tour of the Sudanese capital city.
• We’ll visit the national museum, which contains various objects dedicated to Nubian history. This Nubian area of the southern Nile was home of Africa’s earliest ancient civilization.
• We’ll also take in the beautiful temples saved by UNESCO from lake Nassir and rebuilt entirely inside the museum.
• Visit the Ethnographic museum. Sudan has 597 different ethnic groups that speak over 400 different languages and dialects, we’ll get a taste for the incredible diversity here.
• Cross the White Nile for a trip to technically Sudan’s second largest city – Omdurman. We’ll have a short stop at the Mahdi tomb and tour around the Khalifa house museum. The house served as the HQ of the Mahdist state. This was a short-lived religious and political movement that ruled Sudan until the British reconquered in 1898.
• Lunch stop in Omdurman.
• Visit Omdurman’s beautifully colourful market before making our way back to Khartoum.
• Dinner and overnight in Khartoum.

Sunday 20th November –  Khartoum/Old Dongola/Kerma

• Very early morning breakfast before beginning our journey to Northern Sudan.
• We travel 500km north of Khartoum. On the way we’ll stop at Old Dongola, the capital of the Christian kingdom of Makuria. Today it’s a deserted city with the population having moved downstream in the 19th century.
• We move onto the cemetery of the Sofi holy men (lunch on the way).
• Take the ferry across the Nile and drive for a further 40km arriving at Kerma, a 3800 B.C archeological site.
• Overnight in a traditional Nubian house with a wonderful local feast.

Monday 21st November – Tombus/Soleb 

• Another early rise to visit the site of Tombus. Here there are many Egyptian inscriptions and a huge granite statue dedicated the famous black Pharaoh – Taharqa.
• We continue 50km to the north where we stop to take in the amazing panoramic view of the rock art from the prehistoric period at Wadi Sebu.
• Lunch stop at a local tea house.
• Cross the Nile to its west bank and drive two hours up to Soleb; an ancient Nubian town home to a vast necropolis of which we can visit the tombs which haven’t been destroyed by colonial “archaeologists”
• Dinner and overnight at a traditional Nubian house.

Tuesday 22nd November  Soleb – Karima

• Today we head back south driving for 320km before reaching the city of Karima, the location of ancient Napata.
• We visit the holy mountain of Jebel Barkal (Together with Napata, a UNESCO heritage site)  and the numerous temples at the foot of Jebel Barkal.
• We then visit the impressive Kurru, the royal necropolis of Napata. Here we go deep underneath the pyramid to see the amazing painted tomb of the black Pharaoh Tanutamani. You won’t find such vivid painting anywhere else!
• Dinner in a local restaurant.
• Overnight at Merowe Tourist Village hotel.

Wednesday 23rd November –  Nuri/Meroe 

• Early morning visit to the nearby Nuri pyramids. There are over 60 burial places here.
• We continue crossing though the Bayuda desert up to Meroe. We’ll pass through and stop at desert settlements such as Ad-Damer before reaching the famous Meroe pyramids. A perfect setting to witness the sun go down.
• TRIP HIGHLIGHT: Overnight camping in tents near the Pyramids!

Thursday 24th November – Meroe/Khartoum

• Rise and shine for an early morning visit to the royal city of Meroe.
• Set off on an off-road/on-road adventure to visit Mussawart. This is a complex of temples dedicated the local god Apedamak – the lion god. This was the biggest construction in the history of Nubia.
• After a local lunch we continue up to Naqa 20km from Mussawart. This was once a vital trading post between the Mediterranean world and Africa. It houses a wonderful collection of buildings dated to the first century AD.
• Visit the Roman kiosk, which represents the intersection of various cultures both European and African.
• Visit the Among temple.
• We hit the road back to Khartoum 150km from Naqa.
• Dinner in Khartoum in none other than the Corinthian Hotel also known as the Gaddafi Egg. This hotel was financed by Libya and is one of the fanciest hotel of the city. They have a mean buffet!
• Overnight in Khartoum

Friday 25th November

• End of trip, with YPT able to arrange everything in the region from flights, transportation and tours in Africa and beyond.

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