Visiting Meroe - Pyramids and the 6th cataract

The 10 day holiday for Eid has flown by, and I spent most of time planning for the term ahead, as well as the odd game of Scrabble and Risk – none of which I won!

However, the highlight of the holiday was a two day expedition to Meroe in the North of Sudan, to visit the Pyramids, the Royal City and the 6^th Cataract. There were 6 others in the group and so we decided to hire a small minibus & driver for the two day trip, at a cost of about 2000 SDG, which may not have been a bargain, but isn’t too bad when divided by 7.

We left at about 9am on Wednesday morning, and arrived at Meroe about 5 hours later, travelling at a much more sensible speed than I experienced on the public coach last term, when travelling to Port Sudan. The pyramids here in Sudan aren’t as large as the famous pyramids in Egypt, but they still look very impressive as they stand alone in the desert. Unlike tourist attractions in other parts of the world, the area has not been spoilt by developments, gifts shops and car parks. All that greeted us was a small entrance hut, where a lady initially asked for 20SDG per person (although we negotiated that down to 10SDG), and a group of local men standing on their camels trying desperately to get our attention. A camel ride around the pyramids may have been fun, but it would also have been expensive, so we were all decided to ignore the men and just explore on foot.

Incredibly, we were the only people on the entire site (no other tourists, no guides and no guards or policeman) and we could walk anywhere around or even in pyramids – although obviously climbing them is forbidden. Those pyramids which were open contained some amazing ancient carvings of the Pharaohs and, unlike the exterior of the pyramids, were in surprisingly good condition. If wondering why few of the Pyramids have their tops intact, it is not due to erosion or earthquake. Instead, a greedy Italian visited the site in the 19^th century and thought the Pyramids contained treasure, so he thought he’d take a closer look – with a sledge hammer! Although, perhaps more surprising is to see that some of the damaged pyramids have since been restored using 20^th century concrete! After battling the wind and sand in this exposed area of the desert for about an hour, we bought a few little souvenirs from some local traders who had set themselves up at the entrance, and then moved on to the Royal City of Meroe.

The Royal City is an archaeological site just across the road from the Pyramids, and whilst it may not be as impressive to look at, the site is perhaps more interesting, especially if you are lucky enough to find an English-speaking guide. Our guide explained that Meroe was the capital city of the Kush in the first millennium BC which, at the height of Kushite power, controlled a large part of what is now Sudan. In total, there is a lot to see on the site, including the foundations of the Royal City, a temple to Emperor Augustus, and a stone table used by the Kush to sacrifice young women. The Roman connection was slightly confusing, but I think there must have been Roman activity in the area (perhaps to suppress the aggressive Kush) despite this never being part of the Roman Empire. Please do comment if you know more about this. However, Meroe is still an active archaeological site and experts still visit every year to continue their excavations – so I am sure more discoveries will be made in the future!

After exploring the Royal City in the heat for a few hours, we decided to call it a day and spent the night in some decent accommodation at a roadside service area. The following morning, we set off early and drove south for a couple of hours in search of the Sixth Cataract. It was clear that our driver did not know exactly where it was, but after speaking to a local, we turned off the main highway and drove off-road for about an hour, through some very rural settlements, before eventually arriving at some sort of holiday resort, which seemed to double as a zoo. The land around this camp was all flooded, due to the rain and the height of the Nile. However, we still managed to get to the waters edge and organised a boat trip around the Sixth Cataract. In theory, the Cataracts are wide and shallow areas of the Nile, which often resemble fast-flowing rapids. However, at the moment, the Nile is so high it was difficult to distinguish this area from any other section of the Nile. This was a shame, but it was still possible to see some rocks protruding from the river, where the cataracts would normally be visible.

After an hour in the river, we returnedto the bus and drove back to Khartoum. Term re-starts on Monday, so the last few days of Eid have been spent preparing myslef for the eight consecutive weeks of teaching which now follow.