When you think pyramids do you flash to Egypt? Or Mexico and Guatemala?
Maybe even China and Peru?
But how about Sudan?
CONTENTS
Pyramids of Sudan
Yeah, they’re here as well, clustered at Karima and Meroe.
And if that doesn’t get your heart racing: Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt!
AND they are older.*
* Well, not if you count the one at Saqqara, which is about 4,700 years old. That step – yeah step, not triangular – pyramid, was the first one the Egyptians ever built (I visited Saqqara Pyramid in 1995).
The pyramids at Meroe are 4,600 years old.
Many of Sudan’s pyramids are located near the Nile River, but I’ll focus on the most famous and most breathtaking pyramids – those at Meroe, also known as Begrawiya, about 250 km north of Khartoum.
Alone at Sudan’s pyramids – lost amid the Nubian desert sand.
Knowledge of the Meroe pyramids was first brought to the European world by Frederic Cailliaud in 1821.
Ancient Meroe Empire
During its peak, the Meroe Empire stretched over 1,000 km of the Nile valley, and it’s wealth came from iron-smelting and gold deposits, with international trade reaching India and China.
*Karima also has some awesome pyramids, and I went there afterwards.
The iron industry of Meroe made the city as famous as its wealth and, of course, contributed greatly to that wealth as the iron workers of Meroe were considered the best, and iron tools and weapons were much sought after.
SOURCE: https://www.ancient.eu/Meroe/
Research says they built the pyramids over burial chambers and bodies were burned or buried – but not mummified.
Inside the (now) empty chambers, carved reliefs depict the names and representations of royalty and chapters from the Book of the Dead.
Destruction of the Meroe Pyramids
Despite passaging time and ancient looters, the pyramids of Meroe have stayed mostly intact.
BUT.
With one frightful exception.
Giuseppe Ferlini severely damaged many pyramids in 1834 – by blowing off the tops and/or leveling up to 40 different pyramids with dynamite!
WTF!
Why?
Well, as a treasure hunter, he’d heard about silver and gold rumored to be hidden within the pyramids (but there wasn’t the wealth he expected).
In recent years, the Sudanese government has rebuilt some pyramids.
Memories
Brilliant!
The pyramids – for sure, are wondrous and lost amid the dunes.
But also picturesque were the timeless adobe villages along the desert road.
Then, there was the eccentric taxi driver bursting into a sudden song – between picking his nose or cleaning his ears with his car-keys, which he pulled from the ignition as he drove!
*
That evening back in Shendi, I encountered three medical students at a cafe. Over chocolate ice-cream, fruit-juice, and cheese-sausage pastries, we chatted, and they insisted on paying for everything (in typical Sudanese / Islamic hospitality).
But the day ended on an uncomfortable rope-bed and attempted sleep.
The room was too hot!
Its shabby earthen walls exhaled hot air like a heater.
So, I camped out amid Sudanese men on rope beds in an open-air courtyard of a crumbling colonial inn during this searing – and starry – mid-summer night.
Visiting the Pyramids at Meroe
Getting There + Where to Stay
I stayed in Shendi. Sadly, only two dire accommodation options there for backpackers: expensive and rundown OR super basic and cheap (I opted for the latter.)
From Shendi, I hired a taxi to Meroe (47 km each way) for the total cost of 100 SDP, including waiting time.
If it’s not mid-day in summer, it would be better to take a bus from Atbara to Shendi or Khartoum and get off, as it’s only about a half kilometer from the highway.
From the road, the pyramids are visible – you can’t miss them.
And returning, just hitchhike or flag down a southbound bus.
Travel Tips
- Admission price: 50 SDP at the site.
- Late afternoon brings awesome light.
- You will probably have the entire site to yourself (as I did).
- Camping is possible, away from the site.
- Summer heat is unbearable, except dawn + dusk hours.
- No facilities at site except a security hut.
- Take water.
- Some villages and a gas station, with new a guesthouse, are a few km away.
Travels in Sudan – 2013
