Travel Blog » Africa » Sudan

Sudan Travel Blogs

Background: Military regimes favoring Islamic-oriented governments have dominated national politics since independence from the UK in 1956. Sudan was embroiled in two prolonged civil wars during most of the remainder of the 20th century. These conflicts were rooted in northern economic, political, and social domination of non-Muslim, non-Arab southern Sudanese. The first civil war ended in 1972, but broke out again in 1983. The second war and famine-related effects resulted in more than 2 million deaths and over 4 million people displaced over a period of two decades. Peace talks gained momentum in 2002-04 with the signing of several accords; a final Naivasha peace treaty of January 2005 granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years, after which a referendum for independence is scheduled to be held. A separate conflict that broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003 resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and over 1 million displaced, but by early 2005, peackeeping troops had stabilized the situation.

Sudan

Map of Sudan

Sudan's Flag

Hostels in Sudan
Latest Sudan Blog Entries
Sudan Photos

By alexcottin
October 21st 2009

Speaking of "universal health care" Africa » Sudan » South » Juba

"If our feet leave the Earth, we no longer live in Peace" - Sudanese proverb

With barely a day to catch my breath, debrief, and plan the next leg of my trip, I was right back at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, checking in on East African Airways, en route to Juba, the capital of South Sudan. "Safari njema" ("Have a good journey"), Samuel, the gregarious Merlin driver with a smile as big as all outdoors exclaimed as I made my way through the customs line... Once inside the main cabin, it struck me -- I was the only Caucasian on the flight. It didn't make a difference to me (and I'd like to think that [View Full Entry]

By Warthog
October 9th 2009

South Sudan, the second month Africa » Sudan » South » Juba

HIgh Tech Juba!
Juba international Airport, the only arrivals board, simple and effective (when updated... the flight I arrived on is not there!)

So am at the end of the second month and it has been an adventure, it has been incredibly busy. OK, so a bit later than 2 months, but has been stupid busy again... After the trip to Malakal in the north it was time to start on the 2 machines in the south, so a quick day drive down the road to a town called Yei, south west of Juba, 160 kms, only takes 6 hours, the road isn't great, it was apparently better than last year when it took even longer. So myself and one of the mechanics from [View Full Entry]

By Warthog
September 29th 2009

Demining, something a little different! Africa » Sudan » South » Juba

Tent City, Gumbo camp Juba
The camp, the dog kennels for the sniffer dogs in the foreground and the tents behind is our quarters... very basic but it works, just very warm when the genset goes off and the fan stops!!

Well it sounded like fun and the toys are big So i have changed career yet again (well more gone back to something I have done before) from the offshore world of submarines to the world of machines that are designed to run over, chew up and blow up landmines, of both the Anti-Personnel and the Anti-Tank varieties, as well as allsorts of other goodies that they come across when doing something called BAC work (stands for Battle Area Clearance... the demining world suffers horribly from far too many acronyms, AP, AT, DA's, BAC, LOD, blah, blah sometimes it takes longer [View Full Entry]

By Otto Masher
September 11th 2009

I like (The) Sudan Africa » Sudan

Why doesn't the spell check work? This is embarrising. Back by popular demand (one person said it was nice, thank you) and to you other 2 or 3 that read this crap, I cant be bothered to edit! Skipping out of Ethiopia, I was hassled to the last. Boarder towns in the 3rd world aren't often nice. Normal people only want to get past them. I wonder at those who want to set up shop or work the streets. Malaba is a town of vice next to religiously puritanical Sudan. A long strip of bars, hotel that functioned as brothels and [View Full Entry]

By Birdy85
July 14th 2009

Sudan Africa » Sudan » North » Wadi Halfa

Ferry arrival

I've been in Arab countries long enough to know that their time is not always quite the same as Western time. Egyptian time can be even less reliable than general Arab time. An Egyptian ten minutes may not be 600 seconds, it is only a vague indication that something may be happening at some point in the future (an sha allah caveated) can last a very long while. So I'm really not too surprised that the ten minutes that we had to wait to pick our bikes up from the ferry has now bled into a four hour sit down. At [View Full Entry]

By Alex and Sarah
March 27th 2009

Our Brief Stay in Sudan Africa » Sudan

Of all the countries that our route would potentially take in, none raised as many quizzical eyebrows as Sudan. Although we always dreamed of being able to complete our journey to Hong Kong without flying, Sudan was always the country most likely to put pay to our quest. In fact, when we describing our route, we often caveated it with, “…..but we’ll probably have to fly over Sudan.” Not surprisingly, despite being the largest country in Africa, Sudan is one of the least visited. Many years of well publicised, bloody civil war mean that it’s not exactly up [View Full Entry]

By Jabe
March 14th 2009

The comfort of strangers Africa » Sudan » East » Kassala

Khatmiyah mosque and Taka mountains

5:45AM finds me at the Khartoum "land port", seeking out a bus company called Afras that I have been recommended. The price seems steep but I assume this is because it is better quality than anything I've taken so far. My permit for Kassala is supposed to be stamped by some official here, but they have clearly not yet come to work, and after a few discussions my permit remains unstamped but I am allowed onto the bus. It is immediately clear that this is not that great a vehicle, with legroom that means I can only sit with my legs [View Full Entry]

By Jabe
March 11th 2009

Boredom of Khartoum Africa » Sudan » North » Khartoum

Gridlock

My bus company for the leg to Khartoum has the threatening name of Kabosh, but their service levels give a good first impression when a car is sent to transport me the 300m from the lokonda to their departure point. This is the first bus of the day but it doesn't leave on time, and I am able to watch Karima gradually wake up. A donkey cart bearing a surreal load of severed donkey heads passes by in the dawn light. The journey to Khartoum is unremarkable, with desert once more dominating the scenery. The capital is truly enormous by the [View Full Entry]

By Ziggybalooba
March 10th 2009

Getting plastered Africa » Sudan » South

The plasterers
These men are putting the final touches on the classroom

10 Mar 09 My time is quickly coming to a close here and thankfully our project is also nearing completion. I visited the school today and they are finally plastering the inside and outside walls (you can see the bags of concrete you purchased in the background). Last week the door was also installed. When I visited yesterday the temperature in Dilling was 47 degrees Celcius! Thankfully, in the shelter of the classroom it was a lot cooler given the side ventalation of the building and the high ceilings. This classroom will provide excellent cover for the kids from the h [View Full Entry]

By Jabe
March 4th 2009

Pyramid scheme Africa » Sudan » North » Karima

High and dry

I reach Karima from Dongola on an entirely paved road but then spend half an hour tramping around trying to find a lokonda. My first option is, unbelievably, full but they direct me towards a second. It doesn't look great - the dorm is cramped, I only need to touch the mattress for dust to rise from it, the look and smell of the loos make me want to close my eyes AND nose when using them, and two backpacks indicate the presence of other foreigners - but I'm assuming it's the second best in town so I take it. I [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Africa » Sudan