fall break

well i have a few more days of school and then fall break. (and i also got sick yesterday...hoping ill be better in time for my break...i always get sick when im on break!)
i am not going to Ethiopia as planned (my travel visa is not ready yet).
but i will be traveling inside of sudan.

i will be going to the pyramids of meroe. i am very excited about that. meroe was the capital of the southern kushite kingdom and apart of nubia. an ancient city no doubt and not far from us here in khartoum.
below in green is the info regarding our trip.


Karima - visit the Jebel Barkal and the necropolis of El Kurru and Royal necropolis of Meroe Landmark in the Nubian desert, Jebel Barkal ("Jebel" means mountain in Arabic) can be seen from a few dozens of kilometres whilst still in the open desert. At the foot of this wonderful isolated red sandstone mountain with cliffs and considered holy since the ancient times there is the big temple, dedicated to the Pharaohs of the New Reign and to their patron Amon. The Amon's ancient "Pure Mountain", the Olympus of the Nubians, was the religious Nubian heart for more than 1000 years. Besides the ruins of the big temple there are still several sculptured granite rams that were supposed to border a long avenue that probably led to the pier on the Nile. In the mountain wall there is a big room decorated with bas-relief. The Royal necropolis of he ancient city of Napata, the Nubian capital (from 800 to 400 b.C.) before the Meroitic period, had a large number of pyramids in three different places: a few hundreds of metres northwards from Jebel Barkal, at El Kurru, a dozen of kilometres southwards from the mountain and at Nuri, which is located on the other bank of the Nile. We then go southwards to the village of El Kurru where there is one of the necropolis of the ancient capital Napata. Here we can visit two tombs which are excavated in the rock under pyramids - partially collapsed - and are totally decorated with images of the Pharaoh, of the gods and multicolour hieroglyphic inscriptions. The trip goes on with the visit to a site, rich in fossil trunks in the desert. In the evening return to Karima, accommodation at the Rest-House, dinner and overnight stay. The Royal necropolis of Meroe is located at about 3 km far from the Nile on some hills covered with yellow sand dunes. More than 40 pyramids stand out with their sharp shapes against the clear sky. Most of them are in perfect preservation conditions. Just in front there are some small funerary temples with the walls fully decorated with bas-reliefs that shows the King’s life and the gods. Then we move along the Nile to visit the ruins of the royal city. The excavations confirm that it used to be on a large area with a central one surrounded by suburbs and a boundary wall. Most of the area where the city is located, that is formed by many small hills covered by red clay fragments, has still to be excavated by the archaeologists. Dinner and overnight stay at the tented Camp.