Sudan

🇸🇩 Sudan

Khartoum

Khartoum is the capital of Sudan — situated at the confluence of the Blue Nile (القيل الأزرق — al-Nīl al-Azraq, flowing from Lake Tana in Ethiopia) and the White Nile (النيل الأبيض — al-Nīl al-Abyad, flowing from Lake Victoria in Uganda) to form the main Nile River (النيل — al-Nīl, which flows north to Egypt and the Mediterranean). The confluence (the Two Niles — مقرن النيلين) is the defining geographic feature of Khartoum: the two rivers, carrying different quantities of sediment and organic matter, are visually distinct for several kilometres below the confluence (the Blue Nile is darker and slightly turbid; the White Nile is lighter and clearer). Khartoum was founded by Egyptian-Ottoman governor forces in 1821 as a military camp and became the administrative capital of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan from 1899 to Sudanese independence in 1956. The National Museum of Sudan (the most important collection of Nubian and ancient Sudanese art and archaeology in the world — including reconstructed Nubian temples relocated from the flood zone before the Aswan Dam was completed in 1970) and the confluence are the primary heritage sites. NOTE: Sudan has been in civil war since April 2023 (fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)), with Khartoum as a principal battleground. As of 2026, much of Khartoum has been seized by the RSF. This guide documents Khartoum's heritage for future visitors once peace is restored. Best months for future visits: November–February.

🇸🇩 Sudan

Port Sudan

Port Sudan is Sudan's main port city (population 500,000), the capital of the Red Sea State and the country's only major maritime gateway — all of Sudan's seaborne exports (cotton, sesame, peanuts, livestock and gold) and imports pass through this city on the western shore of the Red Sea, 850 km northeast of the capital Khartoum. The city was founded by the British in 1905 to replace Suakin (the historic Ottoman port city 60 km south, whose remarkable 19th-century coral-built buildings are among the most unusual architectural ruins in the world) and was designed as a modern deep-water port able to handle steamships that the shallow Suakin harbour could not. The Red Sea coast of Sudan is one of the world's most extraordinary and least-visited diving destinations — the waters from Dungunab Bay (north) to Shaab Rumi (the 'Roman Reef', where Jacques Cousteau conducted his 1963 'Continental Shelf Station' experiment, the world's first underwater living habitat) to the Sanganeb Atoll (an offshore reef rising from 800 m depth to the surface, one of the most biodiverse reef systems in the world) have exceptional visibility (40+ m), large pelagic fish (hammerhead sharks in schools, grey reef sharks, whale sharks, manta rays, Napoleon wrasse over 2 m) and pristine coral due to the extreme isolation that has kept human fishing pressure minimal. The city itself has the Othman Digna Museum, the old Ottoman-era coral buildings, the fish market and the lively Red Sea souk — but Port Sudan is primarily a gateway city for the extraordinary underwater world offshore. Note: As of 2026, Sudan has been in a devastating civil war since April 2023; travel to Sudan including Port Sudan requires urgent assessment of current conditions before any visit.