Camel Market
Any trip research for Khartoum will mention the camel market, which is out of Khartoum, but not too far. Perfect for a half day trip. I almost skipped it. I thought, “I’ve seen camels.” And had Khartoum had a bunch of other things to do I probably would have skipped it. I am so glad I didn’t.
You need a taxi to get you to the camel market. At the time I went, there were no buses going there. I got a taxi through my hotel and the driver took me up there. It is a good drive. You see the city fall away and become rural, poorer, dustier.
And then you get to the market. It’s just an expanse of desert with some big trucks, men, and hundreds of camels. It happens daily but is busiest on Saturdays. I went on a Wednesday (‘hump day’, appropriately, as a family member pointed out).
The driver stopped and I hopped out. I felt a little bit weird at first, just walking around and inadvertently attracting attention, but that quickly changed. So many people approached me and said hello and welcome. Dozens of young men asked me for selfies. Most people didn’t speak English, so we did not communicate much beyond greetings of “As-Salaam-Alaikum” and smiles, but I felt welcome.
There are SO MANY CAMELS. It’s crazy. And all around them men in white robes, communicating and, as I understand it, making deals. Despite the fact that this is just an open area full of camels and looks very simple, this is huge business. Sudan has the second most camels in the world (after Somalia) and is the biggest supplier of racing camels to the Arabian Peninsula, where racing camels are prized. They are also sold for meat. The camels are mostly bred and brought in from south east Sudan. You can track camel market prices online. There is a really good article about the camel market in Sudan here. (I kind of want to see a camel race now.)
There were also cows, but they were less impressive.
Hospitality
When I was finished my wander, I was ready for a coffee, so the taxi driver, who had been waiting for me, went to a nearby spot. One of those places that, had I been on my own, I would not have known I could go there for coffee. Just a one-room structure made of mud bricks with open doors on the front and back. No signage.
Inside, I asked for a coffee (one of those excellent Sudanese ginger spicy ones). There were two men inside sitting on low cots eating lunch; sharing a big bowl of foul (spicy fava beans) and fresh flatbread. They waved over for us to join them and would not take no for an answer, so my driver and I sat, and we ate with our hands from the communal bowl. They left before I finished my coffee and when I went to pay, I found out they had paid for that too.
Omdurman Market
From the camel market we drove back towards the city. I had asked the driver not to take me back to Khartoum, but to drop me off at the big market in Omdurman and leave me there. Omdurman is technically a different city from Khartoum, just north of the Nile, but it really feels like part of the same city.
The Omdurman market is a ‘must-see’; an excellent, sprawling market where all the usual things are sold: fresh food, textiles, housewares, etc. It was great for a wander and a lot more Sudanese coffee. To my delight, I even saw a few camels walking through the market, transporting goods. I know it is just daily life for the people that live there, but it did feel like a bit like a movie set. Sort of Indiana Jones-esque.
Walking Back to Khartoum
From the market I had originally planned to take a shared taxi back to central Khartoum, but I decided to walk. It took a couple of hours and wasn’t the most exciting walk, but I didn’t mind. It was still interesting.
It also gave me the opportunity to walk across a particular bridge across the Nile where the blue and white Niles meet. The Nile splits into two halves in Khartoum and it flows North and makes the one, connected river that flows up into Egypt. I walked across the White Nile Bridge and watched the two parts of the river flowing together. (One part is a little muddier, but they are not really different colors.) It was cool to see from a geography nerd perspective. I did not, however, take photos, because photos from bridges is not allowed, and from this bridge in particular is specifically outlawed. If you are going to get nabbed for photography in Khartoum, this is one of the spots where it will happen. When I was there, there were two men on the bridge with a motorcycle; I was later told that they were un-uniformed soldiers. Anyway, there are tons of photos online if you are curious.
Back in Khartoum, sweaty, red-faced and tired from hours of walking in the heat, I stopped at the fancy Corinthian hotel for a bit of AC and a cold drink.
I arrived back at the Acropole Hotel and relaxed on the patio with a cigar before heading out in the evening for dinner with some newly met friends.
It was another excellent day in Khartoum. The next day I would go back out of the city again to visit the ruins of Musawwarat es-Sufra and Naqa.