Sudan Traveltips

Visa must be obtained at the Sudanese embassy, consular section in your country, prior to arrival and must be applied for four weeks before beginning of the tour. Some Sudanese embassies insist on an invitation from the Sudanese agency; if you send us your passport details, we can provide this invitation. Sometimes visa may be obtained upon arrival at the airport, but this is by no means guaranteed and in any case expensive.

Please note that we provide this information for your convenience. It is still your responsibility to check with the Sudanese embassy in your country to make sure that you meet all requirements to ensure entry to Sudan!

There is a passport registration which is done by the hotel after check in for a fee of 45 US$, and a departure tax of app. 20 US$; both are not included in our rates.

Our tourleaders meet you at all airports, like Khartoum or Port Sudan, as well as at the border station at Wadi Halfa if you come from Egypt. They wait for you at (air)ports bearing a sign with your name, and assist you with customs and immigration proceedings. They accompany you to your hotel, help you check in and explain everything about your stay and accompany you through your whole trip.

The rates for our programs start from 2 persons. Our rates include all transportation and visits, entrance fees and guiding, and hotel accommodation in Khartoum, as well as tent accommodation with full board safari-style outside of Khartoum.

Send us your request per e-mail to get our quotation. After you have accepted this we will confirm you the reservation with the name of the hotel in Khartoum and the name of the guide. You can also establish dates for your sales and inform us about them as well as the group size you usually deal with, and we will confirm this. Deadline for final number is one month before arrival of the group.

Full payment is to be per bank transfer to our account six weeks before arrival.

In Khartoum you can choose hotel accommodation from all categories. There are luxurious 5*Deluxe Hotels, then 4*hotels, and also reasonably priced good 3*accommodation, which we use for our regular programs. Upon request we can upgrade to higher categories as well.

Outside of Khartoum accommodation is either in camps or tents, or possibly in local houses! During adventure trips accommodation are tents (for 2 persons) with bottom covering and mattresses. Our team set up camp and prepares three meals a day.

In Khartoum we eat either in hotels or in good clean local restaurants. We are making sure to supply you with the safest, most variable and typically oriental outdoor food (safari food) while travelling outside Khartoum.

Breakfast: Coffee, tea or hot chocolate, 2 kinds of cheese, boiled eggs, 2 kinds of jam, honey, bread or special Bedouin pancakes.

Lunch: Usually lunch is the lightest meal of the day and consists of different kind of cheese and vegetables, or scrambled eggs with bread and salad, noodle- or rice-salad, tuna fish or the like, with tea or coffee afterwards.

Dinner: This is the main meal of the day and leisurely prepared: soup of the day, rice or pasta and vegetables with meat or chicken, and coffee or tea. There are always fruit besides.

Everyone gets up at about seven a.m. The drivers have already been up to prepare breakfast. Afterwards the guide takes the clients for a short stroll. Meanwhile, the drivers dismantle and stow the tents and equipment, then the tour commences. The routing is designed to show a change of scenery every day and passes the archaeological sites of the Meroitic and Christian Kingdoms of North Sudan. Lunch break is at a well-suited, beautiful spot After lunch the tour continues to the landscapes and points of interest of the day’s program until finally, app. one hour before sunset, the site of the nightly camp is reached. Tents and bags are unloaded, and everybody prepares his or her sleeping place in the tent by daylight. Beneath the sparkling stars a hot soup and a hearty meal is dished out. The starlight and the fire’s warmth make an unforgettable setting for a gregarious evening.

Loose comfortable clothes, preferrably cotton, no shorts or beach dress outside of hotel compounds! It is recommended to bring several pieces of light clothing to wear one above the other instead of one thick item.

Also you should bring copies of your travel documents (passport, flight ticket, visa, insurance policy, travellers cheques etc.),

For photographers we recommend to bring sufficient film and also adapters for re-charging cameras on the cigarette lighter in the jeeps. Please bring 6 passport photos so we can have photo permits issued after your arrival. These will cover photo cameras only - for film and video cameras you would need a special permit at special fees.

Usually you will not need it, if you follow your guide’s instruction about food, clothing and heat & sun protection. We have our own first aid kit, and we are well trained to handle difficult situations.

If you are dependent on special medications make sure that you take a sufficient quantity.

In preparation of your trip we recommend you get vaccination against Cholera, Typhoid and Yellow Fever as well as Malaria prophylaxis. Sometimes vaccinations against Hepatitis A and B, Meningitis A and C, Rage, Tetanus, and Polio are recommended as well. You should contact your local health authorities and ask about their guidelines.

Please note that for combination tours Sudan - Egypt you MUST have a vaccination against yellow fever, because Egyptian immigration insists on this. Else you will be vaccinated at the Sudanese - Egyptian border!

All personal belongings are customs free, with an allowance of 200 or Less cigarettes or 1/4 ounce of tobacco. The duty free shopping in Khartoum International Airport does not offer much choice.

For electrical or electronic equipment and firearms, dues are taken for these items but if they are re-exported within six months from the date of their entry, the duty, is refundable.

The currency is the Sudanese Dinar. One US$ = 230 Dinar. After 1.7.2007 the Dinar will be replaced by the new Sudanese pound with the same value as the dinar. There is no Limit to the amount of foreign currency that can be admitted in Sudan. Declaring amounts exceeding US$ 5000 to the authorities at the port of entry is a must to ensures the right of the visitor to take out any amount of foreign currency not exceeding the declared amount.

Credit cards or travellers' cheques might be accepted in some of the 5*hotels in Khartoum, but generally are not much use in Sudan. It is best to carry cash, either in US$ or in Euro.

Banks:
In Khartoum and Omdurman there are a lot of banks and currency exchanges. Most 5*hotels have banks in their lobby areas. Outside Khartoum many of the smaller towns have banks as well, so you can exchange money on the way. The guide will help if necessary in dealing with banks.

Telephone:
You can phone out from all hotels, and also small business centres even in small villages which offer international phones. Most mobile phone providers work nearly all over Sudan. Ask your local mobile phone provider about the possibility to use your handy in Sudan. Most hotels and cities now have internet cafes.

Electricity:
The electric current has 220 V/50Hz. You need to bring an adapter for your electrical appliances.

Between the end of September to the end of April the climate in North Sudan is very moderate ranging between 25°C and 40°C.

Resort hotels and international 5*hotels in Sudan usually do not object to revealing dress. Outside your hotel women (and to a certain degree men) should dress conventionally to avoid attracting unwanted attention. To visit churches and mosques you should wear long sleeved clothing and avoid shorts or short skirts. A head covering is usually not necessary.

Kissing either between spouses or as greeting between men and women is not practiced in public.

Tipping:
Since salaries are low, everyone expects a tip – drivers, guides, restaurant maitres….. Tips should be given as in Europe – 5%-10% on small amounts or bills, 10% on larger amounts.

Government-owned Sudan Airways in 1990 provided scheduled domestic air transport service to about twenty towns; international service by Sudan Airways and foreign airlines like Lufthansa, KLM, EgyptAir, Austrian Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Ethiopian Airlines etc.. Khartoum International principal airport; seven other airports had paved runways.

A ferry boat on Lake Nasser connects Aswan to Wadi Halfa on Egypt’s southern border, where one can pass into Sudan with one overnight on board, leaving Aswan on Monday and Wadi Halfa on Wednesday. The ferry has 24 double cabins, and provides deck chairs for sleeping besides. The standard is local, the distance is covered overnight. The cabins are simple and not state of the art, but there is aircondition; the common wash room and toilet are not in the best possible state, but acceptable. On the whole the ferry is alright for the experienced traveller. The view from the upper deck is beautiful. Coming from Wadi Halfa the ship passes the lighted temples of Abu Simbel at about 8 p.m. The food is o.k., and the passage provides ample opportunity to meet other passengers and make contacts.

In 1990 government-owned Sudan Railways about 4,800 kilometres of 1.067-meter-gauge from Port Sudan to most major interior production and consumption centers except in far south. Also 716 kilometres of 1.6096-meter-gauge plantation line. Substantial loss of rail traffic to road transport after mid-1970s attributable to inefficient operations, but railroad still important for low-cost volume movement of agricultural exports and for inland delivery of heavy capital equipment, construction materials, and other goods for economic development. They are not suitable for tourism as yet.

In 1990 road system of between 20,000 and 25,000 kilometres, of which more than 3,000 kilometres paved or asphalted and about 3,700 kilometres gravel. Remaining roads fair-weather earth and sand tracks.