Jebel Uweinat Expedition, Sudan
November, 2017



Participants: 6 confirmed
  2 tentative 
Trip Status: Confirmed


The expedition will visit the Jebel Uweinat making the approach from Sudan, accross the Southern portion of the Libyan Desert. The exact itinerary will be finalised as the date of the expedition nears, but it will be following substantially the same route as our March 2013 and November 2015 trips. With the logistics already proven, this route provides the only feasible approach to Jebel Uweinat and its assortment of wonderful rock art sites at present.

The exact dates and itinerary will be finalised after consulting with participants. The plan is to spend 10 days at Jebel Uweinat, partially visiting known areas, and partially exploring some remaining "blank spots". Depending on the composition of the group, some one or two day treks may be made to the upper parts of the mountain. We will also have the opportunity to visit some of the principal Nile Valley monuments. Khartum will be the point of departure. The following is a tentative itinerary, to be finalised as we get closer to departure time, considering also inputs from partcipants:

Day 1. - Khartum

Most international flights arrive into Khartoum in the small hours of the morning. Following arrival, we will need a day to sort out the police registration, travel and photo permits mandatory for all tourists. The process is pretty straight forward and predictable, but only possible on working days, exact departure dates will be fixed with this in mind.

I will also need the day to purchase and pack supplies while the permits are being prepared, and load the vehicles. The rest of you may use the opportunity to see the Museum, the only thing of interest in town with numerous Egyptian and Meroitic oblects, and a number of reconstructed Egyptian temples in the garden moved from Nubia.

Accomodation will be in the classic Grand Hotel in Khartoum.

Day 2. – Khartum - Soleb

In the morning we will start out along the recently built tarmac road direct from Omdurman to Dongola, and continue to Soleb on the west bank about 150 kms North of Dongola. We will visit the temple (the finest ancient Egyptian monument in Sudan) in the afternoon (or the next morning), spending the night at the lovely former excavation house not far from the temple.

Day 3. - Soleb – Camp on Selima Sand Sheet

In the morning we will pick up some fuel and water, then start our desert trip proper, cutting accross the Selima Sand Sheet towards Uweinat along the quickest and easiest route along a generally flat sand sheet. All things going well we should cover about a third of the roughly 600 kilometre distance, in a best case scenario camping among a belt of dunes about 100 kilometres West of Selima Oasis.

Day 4-5. – Camp – Jebel Uweinat

All things going well, after a day and a half we should be at our base camp in Karkur Talh by lunchtime on the second day.

Days 6-12. Karkur Talh

There are many options in Karkur Talh:

Day 13-15. – South Uweinat

With a base camp in the Wadi Wahesh along the southern part of the mountain.

The exact daily itineraries will be fine tuned as we progress, depending on the wishes and abilities of our party.

Day 16-17. – Uweinat – Soleb

Two full day's drive back to Soleb along the easiest route towards the Nile.

Day 18. – Return to Khartum

A full day's drive along the tarmac road to Khartoum.

Day 19-20. – Optional visit to Meroe, Musawaret es Sufra and Naqa

An optonal two day visit to the principal Meroitic sites in the Bayuda desert, the Pyramids and city of Meroe, the palace complex of Musawwaret es Sufra, and the temples of Naqa, returning to Khartoum by the evening of the second day.

 


 

For information on expected costs, planned dates and any further questions, please send me an email.

 

Back to planned expeditions...