Day 8. Saturday, November 19 Free day in Merowe.

Our lodgings were at the Nubian Rest House in Karima.  The complex is a lovely "oasis" of tranquility and simple beauty.  I highly recommend it if you come to Merowe.  It does not have a lot of luxury frills, (wi-fi only in the lounge/diningroom and often sketchy), but it is very restful and is walking distance from Jebel Barkal - a holy Unesco site.  It is an amazing mountain and has quite a history.  The rooms are airy, spacious, clean, African "minimalist" decor with smooth, cool clay floors.  A long dark wood bench spans the width of the room against one wall.  A beautifully balanced brick dome is the centerpiece of the ceiling.  Each room has its own porch with a view of the oasis of palms around a large green lawn framed by flower beds filled with colorful shrubs.  Our room had two double beds with a top sheet and thin woven cotton coverlet for cover which is so nice in this dry, hot heat of Sudan.  A rotary fan and air conditioner kept the room in a temperature of our choosing. Our bathroom had a large walk-in shower with a wooden bench to sit on if one wanted to sit for a while under a spray of water that smelled slightly of sage.  Don't know why, but it did.

We visited Sudan's black pyramids some of which in a region we didn't get to are older than the pyramids at Giza, Egypt.  They are not as big, but impressive nonetheless.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, but spoke in a very soft, accented voice and after 10 years working in a noisy Saab 340 I don't hear "soft" very well.  So, missed about half of what he had to say.  I hope to read up more on this area as there is more significant history here than most people realize.  When people think African antiquities, most of the glory goes to Egypt.  The ancient art work and wall paintings with hieroglyphics in this part of Sudan are very similar to what one sees in Egypt with subtle differences. Some of it is older and so it is known that a significant cultural influence moved north as well as  south.

We also visited the temple to Amun (Amon, Amen) Re (Ra) near Gebel Barkal.  Amun Re was an Egyptian god from the Old Kingdom who was also shared by the Kush of northern Sudan. They believed he originated at this holy site.  The temple is in part of the mountain and winds back into corridors and chambers with low ceilings and brilliant art work on the walls.  The ancient Kush of the Nubian empire were masters of story telling and the artwork reveals their take on the activities of the gods, and the tributes paid to them most notably Amun Re.  Walking distance from this temple was an active archeological dig site supervised by one of the team members who back in the 1960s worked on the engineering scheme to save Abu Simbel from "drowning" as a result of the Aswan Dam which created what is today Lake Nasser on the Upper Nile in Egypt.  We got to visit with him and meet some  of his team of young archeologists busy at uncovering more ruins near Gebel Barkal.
 
An unfortunate reality that takes over much of this part of the world is plastic pollution.  Throughout Cairo and its surroundings and here in Sudan near villages and towns there are literally countless mounds of plastic trash wherever there are walking paths, fences where the wind blows plastic bags and foam take-out food containers onto the chainlink for permanent display, and shallow puddles where wrappers, yogurt containers and pop bottles get stuck in the mud.  It's demoralizing that in an area with strong links to a past that paid homage to ancestors, communal responsibility, and rituals of artistic adornment and religion, that ubiquitous plastic trash is now part of the Sudanese landscape and taken for granted.

 
From the patio of the dining hall.  The large lawn area is at the center of the Nubian Rest House rooms, each with a domed ceiling and private porch.  The entire complex is walled and surrounded by desert.

  This is the large deck/patio in front of the main lounge/dining room.  It was a beautiful place to hang out in after dinner, looking up at the stars, and having coffee with our rally mates.  The staff was wonderful. The women wore beautiful robes and head scarves.  The men wore bright white tunic-type shirts and dark trousers.  A laundry service was provided but we were told that for cultural sensitivity reasons to not include socks and undergarment items in our laundry bags.

 Inside the compound with a partial view of Gebel Barkal beyond the wall.

Gebel Barkal stands about 98 meters high and is near a bend in the Nile River.  The ruins of the ancient city of Napata lies all around its base.  In 2003 UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site.  There are three palace ruins and several temple ruins that surround the mountain, some which are under current excavation.

Not everything is sand colored here.  Passed this house which had to belong to a wealthy man in Karima.  That it is gated means there is a level of status associated with this home.

These small pyramids are known as the Black Pyramids.  These ones are not as old as the ones located at the site of the Kushites first capital of Kerma.  These pyramids are associated with the site Napata and share some characteristics with ones in Egypt.  Both had burial chambers for pharaohs and smaller adjacent pyramids for queens and children.

A couple of 'ancients' in front of a ruin.

Life in rural Sudan still centers around donkey-driven delivery systems.  It's a slower pace to be sure, but this man must have lots of time to think about life without the annoyance of traffic jams.

A history of a different kind in the making.

After dinner, we were entertained by local musicians out on the large patio under a star-lit sky that seemed to go on forever.

A view of our lodgings after taking off the next morning.  The consensus among us weary-at-day's-end aviators:  A very pleasant and tranquil oasis.

  



Gebel Barkal.  Colin and others in the group climbed to the top of it before dinner the night before.  I would have, but I didn't want to embarrass all the young set by beating them to the top.


On to Khartoum...