We left the camp at 8:30am to visit the El-Kurru Tombs which were in 10-15 minutes walking distance. Both tombs were similar to what we seen in Egypt but less well preserved. There was also lots of trash in the surrounding area of the tombs which showed again that tourism is currently not a priority for Sudan. Since it was already 35 degree Celsius in the morning we were pretty sweaty when we arrived back at the camp and took the opportunity for another swim in the Nile.

While we had a relaxing morning our Sudanese guide Nasser tried to obtain the permits for our travel to Port Sudan. Unfortunately he was not able to obtain them since it is weekend and the government officials issuing the permits were not around.

We started driving at 10:30am first to Karima where we stopped for one hour to shop for dinner. When arriving at Atbara at around 5pm Nasser proposed that we could try to pass the checkpoint towards Port Sudan. Nasser’s proposal was that he tries to explain to the police that our permits will for sure be issued on the next day and also the travel company he is working for will guarantee that everything is taken care of when we travel to Port Sudan. So we gave it a try and successfully passed the checkpoint.

Since it started to become dark we only drove a few kilometres past the Atbara checkpoint and bush camped in the desert right next to the highway. On the campfire we discussed several topics about Sudanese culture with Nasser. One of them was the fact that his mother will select his future wife for him. Nasser is now 30 and plans to get married not before he turns 35 to 40 also because he is expected to pay an amount of 40,000 USD for his future wife which he is currently saving up.