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You are here: Home / Archives for sudan

Photo: A Small Whirling Dirvish

January 6, 2012 By Danny

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ve likely seen photos of the Whirling Dirvishes before.  These Sufi dancers get together every Friday night to pray together and work each other into trances.  We were among a handful of foreigners on hand to witness the event and it will always live in my mind as one of the most unique experiences of my life.

As the circle of men formed around the center area this small boy felt the spirit and joined in the whirling for a moment.  He was certainly the only boy doing it and I imagine it is not something that happens all the time.  He’s probably spinning just as fast as he can.

IF YOU GO:  Sudan is difficult to enter and to travel.  We managed to get Sudanese transit visas, a one day process, as opposed to the months long process of getting a traditional tourist visa.  As we passed through we glimpsed a way of life we never could have imagined in this day and age…this tradition of dancing is one of those things.  You are best advised to travel through Sudan with your own transportation as bus routes are not plentiful and the smaller, more common form of transport is sit in the back of a pick-up truck…in the middle of the Sahara Desert, with scorching heat like you’ve never imagined.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: Dirvishes, Khartoum, sudan, sufi_dancing

Photo:The Cousins of Giza

November 4, 2011 By Danny

About 1500 kilometers south of Giza are the Pyramids of Meroe in The Sudan.  This small site was one of the reasons we wanted to go to Sudan (or at least it was something that made it all seem like a good idea) and we were not disappointed.  We pulled up to these guys just before dark and pitched our tents just outside the “park” and in the morning we had the place all to ourselves.

In the 1800’s grave robbers came through and looted these pyramids which is why they are all missing their tops.  Two of them in this picture actually look much better than most of the lot.  My treasure of the day was having the place to ourselves so I could take these photos with no one in them with the all the colors of a beautiful sunrise at my disposal.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

IF YOU GO:  The chance of you being here without much of plan is slim to none.  You can reach the pyramids after a few hours drive from Khartoum and can even book day tours from the city.  You are welcome to camp anywhere in the desert you like and the groundskeepers showed us around back where we wouldn’t be visible from the road.  Luckily no scorpions found us!

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: Meroe, Nubia, Pyramids, Sahara Desert, sudan

Good, Bad, Ugly: Camping

June 16, 2011 By Danny

Guess what…it’s SUMMER. For us in Florida that means sweltering heat but for most everyone else in the northern hemisphere it means it’s time to head out and enjoy the best that nature has to offer. Everyone has a different style when it comes to the great outdoors but it is hard to find a person who doesn’t love a good camping trip. We did a fair bit of camping in our travels, mostly in Africa where we carried our own camping equipment, and those nights have made for some of our fondest memories.

overlanding in sudanThe Good – We were scared to enter Sudan but once we were about to depart we were sad to see it go. It was here that we made a true “bush camp” for the first time, literally pulling over off the side of the road and pitching our tents wherever we wanted. We sat out each night, sitting in the middle of the Saharan Desert with no one else around, enjoying a nice South African Potjie (Poi-kee) and starring at the most amazing stars we’re likely to ever see in our lives. We were constantly on watch for scorpions (didn’t see a single one) and the four of us went through a full 25 liters of water a day. The first night we slept in the shadow of pyramids and on the final night we readied for our ferry to Egypt. When we we boarded our version of a luxurious Nile Cruise (yup slept out on deck) we hadn’t showered in 4 days…it didn’t matter, we were happy!

The Bad – Just a few weeks before our arrival to Sudan we found ourselves in Ethiopia and unable to find a place to stay. We pulled over at a local hotel and squeezed into the parking lot filled with USAID and UNICEF land rovers and were met by the attendant who told us the hotel was full. Naturally it was the only one for miles. With no other option, he charged us 50% of the standard price and allowed us to ‘camp’ in the conference room. I probably don’t need to point out that the only reason a hotel in the middle of nowhere in Ethiopia needs a conference room is so the aid workers can come together and spend a long day talking about Ethiopians…I digress. We had no option but to camp inside this conference room (a couple of other similar hotels had let us use the parking lot) and made it through a very uncomfortable night on a hard tile floor.

Camping tentThe Ugly – We spent only a few days in Lesotho and they were all wonderful. Upon our arrival at the campsite I asked the attendant if it would rain. In climates such as that the answer is only ever yes or no…and this man told me no. He was wrong. Our final night there the rains started to come. They did not stop. We’d pitched our tent on the high ground but there was so much water that it didn’t matter. Water was coming in from both the ceiling of the tent and the floor and we quickly decided to grab all of our things, ditch the tent, and run for cover. There were rondavels (little round cabins) and we managed to break into one. While we were drying out our things and our bodies and trying to get settled in we saw our tent FLOATING away. That’s how much water there was….so much for no rain!

This column of ishouldlogoff.com aims to answer those questions that we always get asked. What was your favorite this, or your worst that. We aim to highlight a new topic and will do so until we run out of ideas. If you have an idea for a Good-Bad-Ugly post, feel free to tell us in the comment section below or send us an email. To read all of them, click here.

Filed Under: Good, Bad & Ugly, Headline, Journey Tagged With: africa, camping, ethiopia, gbu, good-bad-ugly, lesotho, sudan

Photo Tuesday: Nubian Tombs

September 28, 2010 By Jillian

Driving through the Sahara Desert in Sudan was exactly what you imagine it to be like- hot, windy and deserted.  Fortunately that means the ancient Nubian and Egyptian ruins are in excellent condition.  Although we were alone at every single site we visited (to be fair it is Sudan and some were nearly 20km into the desert!) this was one of the most impressionable experiences of the entire country. Stashed in the middle of a village, archaeologists have uncovered ancient noble tombs.  As you can see, they are beautifully decorated inside and haven’t been retouched at all, unlike some in Egypt.  Hardly viewed by tourists, we loved climbing down into the tomb with the local guardian, who explained in broken english and charades the different symbols and depictions.  We were never able to get so close to tomb heiroglyphs again. It was an amazing experience for us and one we’ll never forget.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: egyptian, nubian, paintings, ruins, sudan, tombs

Photo Tuesday: Whirling Dervishes

September 7, 2010 By Jillian

We were shown around Khartoum by a wonderful group of couchsurfers who showed us incredible hospitality and amazing friendship.  On Friday evening we went to the Sufi Dance (whirling dervishes) in nearby Omdurman.  It was an incredibly intense experience, not only for the believers themselves, but also for us from a cultural point of view.

As the chanting grew louder and louder believers began to move almost as though they were possessed.  Completely withdrawn in deep meditation and prayer from the continuous chanting and drumming, a few took to spinning in circles while others began to repeat physical motions, like bobbing their head or throwing up their hands.  The man in the picture whirled around the inner circle for several minutes before the prayers and chanting came to an end.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: africa, dancing, photos, religion, sudan

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