Africa - Travel To Sudan

 

Flights to Sudan

The largest country in Africa, and tenth largest in the world, Sudan, is located in the north east of the continent where it has a coast on the Red Sea and borders with ten other countries. Its size, its people, and its range of attractions are enough to attract tourists to the country, however, due to continued civil war, un-essential travel is not advised.

Sudan is served by one international airport in the capital and largest city, Khartoum (airport code: KRT). The Khartoum Airport is located in Al-Amarat, close to Khartoum, and just a taxi ride away. Flights to Sudan from South Africa are indirect with one or two stops. Airlines such as Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, Etihad, and Emirates offer one or two stop flights to Sudan from South Africa.

Considering how hostile Sudan might appear to foreign visitors, the nation is surprisingly well served by international carriers, and Khartoum International Airport, the main port of entry, is an unexpectedly sophisticated, efficient and reasonably well ordered airport.

Only KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa operate regular connections from Europe, while the bulk of traffic in an out of Khartoum tends to originate form and be directed to other Arab and Middle Eastern destinations. Khartoum is also very much on the flight plan of several regional carriers, and is well connected to surrounding capitals such as Addis Ababa, Nairobi, N’djamena, Tripoli, Entebbe and Kano.

There are quite a number of smaller local and domestic airports, runways and landing-strips, although one ought not to rely to heavily on the availability of any scheduled domestic flights. Despite outward appearances, canceled flights and long delays at customs can be a regular hazard.

The Tourist Attractions of Sudan:

Although there are some relatively safe parts of Sudan, taking the risk of kidnapping or even murder to venture here for a holiday is highly inadvisable. Most governments advise that non-essential travel to Sudan should not happen.

Hopefully there will come a time when the civil war, which has been happening on and off for over forty years, will end, and Sudan will see peace. When that time comes, here are some of the attractions which visitors to Sudan may like to see.

Khartoum

The capital of Sudan, though not the largest city, is Khartoum. Located inland, Khartoum was established at the point where the Blue and White Nile Rivers meet to form the River Nile. With the two rivers crossing the city, Khartoum is in many ways an attractive city.

Nile Street is one such attractive part of Khartoum. Running along the edge of the Blue Nile, the other side of the street is lined with colonial buildings. Along this street are actually several of the city’s major attractions – the Presidential Palace is here, though don’t expect to get a tour, or even to walk in front of it as you will be directed behind it to get past this point on the street! There is however the Palace Museum next door which you can visit for a better insight to the palace. Nile Street is also home to the largest museum in the whole of Sudan, the National Museum of Sudan. This is an impressive museum and well worth the visit.

Other attractions in Khartoum include the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile, further up Nile Street; Khartoum old Mosque; and Souq Arabi marketplace.

Port Sudan

The main port on the Red Sea is called Port Sudan. Obviously this is a busy port city with lots of ships and people coming and going, but from a tourist’s point of view this is a good location from which to go diving. A number of live-aboard boats sail from Port Sudan and take divers and snorkellers to some great diving locations.

Other Cities in Sudan

Amongst the other cities in Sudan, Kassala stands out for tourists because of its number of attractions. There are a variety of souqs here for example where you can buy all manner of products. There is the old part of the city to see, plus great views over the city from Totil Mountain.