Wadi Halfa to Khartoum - Best Route?

[kuntushi]

I'm unsure of the best route to take from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum. I was thinking direct SE to Abu Hamed then following the Nile south to Khartoum. But it seems a lot of people follow the Nile from Wadi Halfa then cut through the desert to Khartoum on the new highway from Abu Dawm or from Dongola.

Would you recommend going via Dongola or keeping with my route through the desert? Is that desert route very hard?

[ursula]

hi Kuntushi

since the end of the year the road from Wadi Halfa - Dongola - Khartoum ist tarred. The piste following the train ist still very hard and sandy - see link

all the best
Ursula

here are some pixs Wüstenschiff :: Thema anzeigen - Sudan - von Wadi Halfa nach Khartum

[kuntushi]

That's great Ursula, thanks heaps for that. Seeing the photos really puts it into perspective. Plus I know a little German, so I'll try read the comments too.

With that, I'd still like to take in Meroe. Does anybody know what the route from Dongola - Marawi - Atbara is like? Or just any route that goes from Dongola to Atbara?

[ursula]

you can take the tarred road from Dongola to Merowe (Marawi, the modern town near Karima) the new bridge there and cross the Bayuda Desert on a tarred road to Atbara - Ed Damer. No problem at all

If you talk about Meroe, the ruins, they are more south, you can see them from the main route between Atbara to Khartoum

Sudan is great - I visited the north several times, but mostly off road
Sudan - Nil
Sudan - Desert

[kuntushi]

Sudan does indeed look like a beautiful place, great photos you have there. Thanks for the info about Meroe. I did already know it was south of Atbara, but it seems the only ways to that road from the NW are via Atbara and Khartoum

The desert route would be a lot more fun and adventurous, but I think we'll try save our vehicle the troubles, it'll have plenty of them on the long road ahead.

It's really quite amazing you can drive a tarred road the whole way now, especially considering so much is desert. Kudos to Sudan. But yeah, I think we'll take that route: Wadi Halfa - Dongola - Mawari - Atbara - Khartoum. Thanks heaps for the info Ursula, you've saved many a night stuck in the desert

[PeterClark]

sorry to hijack the thread, but ursula, where abouts did you take those photos? we are heading to Sudan in 2011 in a pair of old discoverys and would be especially interested in visiting the area with the ruins.

Thanks

[PeterClark]

sorry i realise you mentioned a place! ill rephrase the question, where did you venture into the desert!

we are planning to come down the soon to be opened border crossing between egypt and sudan on the red sea and then down towards ethiopia, dodging the portion of sudan which is adjacent to eritrea

[steve.lorimer]

There is brand new tar all the way from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum, and new bridges over the Nile. The tar road through the desert can be a bit boring, but perhaps is better than this:

Some Canadian friends of mine did the train-track route through the desert and here is an excerpt of their blog:

10:00 : More and more sand. Sun is get higher. Outside temperature is over 40C. We have covered about 100 km so far.
10:30 : Sand is getting deeper and deeper. Engine temperature is also getting higher and higher. Not good.
11:00 : It is getting hot. Too hot. We have to slow down. We need to find another solution. We decide to follow other tracks and drive on the railroad. We will have to suffer the vibration for 200 km. Eventually Marc decides to walk…
14:00 : We get stuck a couple times but we finally reach Wadi Halfa.
We drive straight to the port to start the ferry arrangement.
Some local guy take us to the Mr. Fixit (Mr. Magdir) to get the paperwork sorted. He also tells us that there is a new paved road that goes all the way to Wadi Halfa. We have missed the junction last night - it wasn’t on our GPS. Great.

I've attached our tracks from the tar road - open in MapSource

Hope this helps
Cheers
Steve
OverAfrica - overland, over Africa
Overland camper for sale

[Dale]

Originally Posted by PeterClark

we are planning to come down the soon to be opened border crossing between egypt and sudan on the red sea and then down towards ethiopia, dodging the portion of sudan which is adjacent to eritrea

Hi Peter,

Can you tell me more about this border post? Where is it? when will it be open? We will be going through there in August and would like to give the ferry a miss if possible.

Regards,
Dale

[*Touring Ted*]

Can anyone tell me how many kms between fuel stops on the desert road along the railway tracks !! ??

THANKS

[PaulD]

Ted,
We did the Wadi Halfa - Khartoum road about 3 weeks ago. I did not find it long and boring (but I am from OZ) we stopped at the villages along the Nile and it was great we even camped in a village on the nile. It was the best night I have had so far. I would avoid the old rail track to bloody hot, to bloody sandy, to many horror stories ! But it's your adventure !
Sudan is absolutely beautifull, make sure you see the Wurling Durbishers in Khartoum, you will love it. We are now in Ethiopia about to start a 10 day Jaunt into the Omo Valley. Also on fuel we have had no drama with any so far !
Cheers
Paul

[uktosa]

[QUOTE=steve.lorimer;280599]There is brand new tar all the way from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum, and new bridges over the Nile. The tar road through the desert can be a bit boring, but perhaps is better than this:
I've attached our tracks from the tar road - open in MapSource

That is seriously helpful. What a bad bad time to start our journey - Arab Spring, Syria route cancelled and new protests in Egypt holding us up, not to mention the public holidays and elections. We now have less than two weeks to get to Nairobi from Wadi halfa - and only a few days if we (and we probably will) miss yet another aswan ferry. Oh the joys. A real shame, I'm keen to see as much as possible on route and not be rushed!