The last day in Sudan was a wind down but I still managed to visit the anthropological museum which had nice collections from the tribes from the west of Sudan and the south which is now a separate country. South Sudan seems like a fascinating country and just as I have checked off Sudan from my bucket list I think I have subconsciously added South Sudan to it.
A machine gun from the
battle of Omdurman
Sudan Twarisem (not tourism)
Infront of the Madhi's tomb
Inset: Cover page of my Bradt guidebook
It was Friday and the flight was not until later that night and it was perfect because as per my guidebook any visit to Khartoum could not be complete without having seen the whirling dervishes. A dervish is someone who follows a Sufi Muslim ascetic path and believes in a spiritual path to God akin to a sadhu in the Hindu religion.
Khalifa's handwritten Quran
Before I headed to the Hamed al Nil Tomb for the dervish event I had some time to visit the tomb of the Mahdi and the house of the Khalifa who both dueled with the imperial British forces in the 19th century with contrasting outcomes. The museum at the Khalifa’s house was particularly interesting with artifacts from the battle between the forces of the Khalifa with their medieval weaponry versus the well equipped British army of that time.
The event of the whirling dervishes was well worth the journey from Khartoum to Omdurman which is today a suburb of Khartoum. The setting was absolutely mesmerizing with dervishes in green swirling in the center while a big crowd of others in white jallabiya surrounding them in a circle chanting and clapping in rhythm with the sounds of the drum. Below is a video I captured of the magical event.
Recalling Sudan, this dry, dusty country with its mud brick houses and Muslim culture reminds me of another intriguing Sahelian nation that I visited a couple years ago. As I write here, Mali is going through a terrible crisis with Islamist Ansar Dine along with factions of rebellious Tuareg nomads having taking over northern Mali and the historical city of Timbuktu with it.
Child left to sleep in a box while
mother tends to work
Mother & Child
Dervish
Today, most of Mali is destabilized and it’s sad to see a country that I have fond memories of and one that was a democracy for two decades and seemingly a beacon of stability in a region rife with coups and political instability in such a state. The problems however were not completely unexpected because when I visited the country, some regions in the north were off-limits to travelers and were a haven for banditry and ransom kidnappings.
Start of the whirling dervish event
Hamed al-Nil
Whirling Dervish
Sudan also has regions that are currently off limits to travelers and volatile but unlike Mali the real reason is reported to be due to oppression and marginalization of the regional tribes. Now that South Sudan is a separate country I hope the government works towards an amicable solution in Darfur and the mountains of Nuba. The wonderful people of Sudan surely deserve better.
It’s commonly said that “the real charms of Sudan are not its monument but its people” and after having visited and interacted with them I firmly endorse that view. Through my journey in Sudan I interacted with people from five different tribes (Ja’alin, Rufa'a, Nuba, Nubian, and Beja) which is just a small proportion of Sudan’s diverse population but each one was fascinating in it own right. The kindness, generosity and hospitability of the Sudanese comes second to none and that in itself is the highlight of any trip to Sudan.
It’s also untrue that Sudan is devoid of archaeological structures but the problem lies in the fact that it unfortunately sits right beside Egypt and there are not many countries that can compete with that. What it does give is a wonderful feeling of exploration and discovery because the country and its wonders are so rarely visited. Perhaps it's better that some places like Sudan are “The Road Less Traveled”.
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