A day in Omderman

My final full week in Khartoum has been a chance to unwind after a busy term and visit some more places of interest in the city. On Saturday, I got the chance to see some historic sights in Omderman, with a friend who has access to a car. Omderman was previously the capital of Sudan, but is now just a district of Khartoum on the other side of the Nile – albeit the oldest and most interesting district.

The first sight I saw was the old gate to the capital city, called the ‘Abdul Kayoum Gate’ which is now in the centre of a roundabout. Apparently it was built in 1890 and named after a famous guard in the time of the Mahdi, who led the men who tried to repel Kitchener’s forces in 1898.

After this, we drove on to the Khalifa’s house, which was an old mud building and actually not particularly impressive from the outside. The Khalifa was the Mahdi’s second in command and eventual successor, and the house is supposed to have several interesting artefacts inside. Unfortunately, the inside of the house is only open in the mornings and I was there in the afternoon, in an attempt to avoid the heat of the day. However, I will perhaps visit again next year.

Opposite the Khalifa’s house is the tomb of the Mahdi, with a very impressive silver dome for a roof. Unfortunately, this was also closed so I could not actually see the burial chamber which is supposed to contain the remains of the Mahdi. A bit further along the road (and quite difficult to spot) is the house of Governor Bramel, who was the British governor of Omderman in the 1920’s. The house is located behind a large wall and if it wasn’t for the blue tourist sign, which explains the significance of the building in both Arabic and English, I would not have stopped to look.

We then drove on to see some of the original fortifications built by the Mahdi in the 1890’s made of dried mud and mixed with straw, with gaps which were presumably for lookout and throwing spears etc. The fortifications are dwarfed by the nearby enormous metal shell of one of Kitchener’s steamboats, which was only put on display for tourists last year.

Finally, on the way back, we stopped on the side of the road to see the last traditional boat builder in Khartoum. There was no work actually being done at the time, and the people who were there did not want to be photographed. However, I think this is a good picture of the workshop and the boat currently under construction.

This time next week I will be back home in England, so this will be the last blog entry for a while. However, I do expect to be back in Khartoum at the end of the July, when I will continue to write about my experiences in Sudan.