Khartoum streets

English Teacher in Khartoum 

Sudan 

April to August 2008

Background

During 2008, I spent nearly 6 months in Khartoum, Sudan, as an English teacher.

Sudan is not your typical tourist destination. Most in the expat community either work for NGO's or for oil companies. There are rarely tourists who visit Sudan, due to safety considerations. 

This does not detach from the unique experience it offers. It is not a place where one can freely walk and happily snap away pictures. 

I was arrested twice for what they thought 'spying' activities. They were paranoid in Khartoum and feared that any photo could end up in the hands of rebels to gain strategic access to the city. 

In this particular post, I will focus on the street scenes I encountered when exploring Khartoum, either by foot or via other modes of transportation.

Sidewalk tea 'shop' - Downtown Khartoum. It costs 1 SDG for a tot shot of black tea extremely high in sugar.

About Sudan

Sudan (Arabic: السودان Al-Sudan) is the third largest country in Africa and sixteenth largest in the world, bordering Egypt, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Libya, and South Sudan.  

Sudan is afflicted by civil wars which have been raging, on and off, for more than 40 years. 

When the colonial map-makers divided up Africa, they included in Sudan the predominantly Muslim people of the north (including Nubians), who share much of their history and culture with Egyptians and Arabs, and the largely Christian and Animist Nilotic and Bantu people of the south, who have more in common with the rest of sub-Saharan Africa than with their northern neighbours (Wikitravel).

Yellow taxi in downtown Khartoum during a haboob (sandstorm)

About Khartoum

Khartoum (Arabic: Al-Khartum) is the capital of Sudan and is located where the Blue Nile and White Nile Rivers merge. 

The huge, spread-out city is actually made out of three distinct cities (Khartoum, Khartoum North or Bahri, and Omdurman) which are divided by the Nile and its two arms (Wikipedia). 

The Three Towns—Khartoum, Omdurman, and Khartoum North—together comprise the political, commercial, and administrative center for Sudan. 

Located where the Blue Nile and White Nile join to flow north toward Egypt, the capital city is the largest urban complex in the country. 

Khartoum, the political capital, means "elephant trunk" in Arabic (encyclopedia.com).

Delivery truck, Khartoum

Street scenery in Buri, the neighborhood where I lived

Bicycle repair 'shop' on the sidewalk, Khartoum

A vendor selling sweets and nuts in a very poor part of Khartoum

Fruit & veg stall

Sudanese boys near my house playing with car tires, a very African child play activity

South Sudanese boy, probably a refugee, near my villa

Bookshop, downtown Khartoum

Tea lady on the sidewalk serving very sweet tea....more sugar than tea

Sidewalk tea shop - Downtown Khartoum

Small neighborhood supermarket in Khartoum

Water stop for the traveler. Have not seen anything like it anywhere else

Approaching sandstorm

Teenagers out on a joyride, Buri, Khartoum

street vendor

Sidewalk shops

Donkey car - Buri

Chicken shwarma stand on the sidewalk - was my staple food

The Syrian restaurant had the best shwarmas

The fruit and veg shop I frequented in Buri

Outdoor restaurant - Khartoum

Sudanese women

Khartoum roads

Take away restaurant

Home accessories shop......everything plastic!

A scene in a supermarket

Colorful street scene

Furniture shop display on the sidewalk

Hanging out to dry....neighborhood scenery

View of a neighborhood from the house of a Sudanese man
who gave me a lift and invited me to his house

Livestock for sale at the side of one of the main roads in Khartoum

Sudanese boy in one of the poorer areas near Buri posing for me

Sami, my driver - Downtown Khartoum

Sandra exiting a shop in Buri

Donkey car transport

Posing with locals on one of my walks - Bahri, Khartoum