Kingdom of the Black Pharaohs

Day 1 Fly from your chosen airport via Istanbul to Khartoum. Day 2 Early morning transfer to the centrally located 4-star Grand Holiday Villa for one night. Visit the Archaeological Museum housing two entire temples rescued by UNESCO from Lake Nasser. Visit the Khalfa's House Museum and view Mahadi's Tomb from the outside. Later, visit the colourful Omdurman souk. Whirling Dervish performance (B, L) Day 3 Head northwards across the Western Desert to Old Dongola (5 hrs). Visit the archaeological site of Old Dongola and a Nubian village. Continue to the 3-star Nubian Rest House in Karima for a three-night stay at the foot of Jebel Barkal. (B, L, D) Day 4 Visit Jebel Barkal and the temple built by the Pharaohs of the New Reign and dedicated to their patron Amon. Visit Karima market and El Kurru, where the Royal Necropolis of the ancient city of Napata had a large number of pyramids. Visit an excavated tomb carved from the rock below the pyramid. Later, visit the Pyramids of Nuri. (B, L, D) Day 5 Drive across the Nubian Desert (3 hrs) to the village of Tombos and visit the stelae on the shore of the Nile. Continue to the town of Kerma and visit the 'Western Defuffa' monument of this ancient civilisation and the Kerma Museum. Evening of local music and traditional dancing. (B, L, D) Day 6 Enter the Bayuda Desert, an area bounded by the 4th and 6th Cataract of the Nile. Isolated camel and donkey caravans roam the area. Cross the Nile at Atbara, visit the Railway Museum and then travel south to Meroe. The 40 pyramids of the Royal Necropolis can be seen from the 3-star tented camp of Meroe. Stay two nights. (B, L, D) Day 7 Visit the Royal Necropolis of Meroe before continuing to the ruins of the royal city, most of which has still to be excavated. (B, L, D) Day 8 Visit the 1st-century Apedemak temple at Naga with its bas-relief images, the "kiosk" containing Egyptian, Roman and Greek styles of art and a temple to Amon. Picnic in the Musawwarat area and return to Khartoum (3 hrs) where day rooms will be available until the late evening transfer to the airport. (B, L) Day 9 Early morning flight via Istanbul arriving later the same day.