Jebel Uweinat Expedition, Sudan March, 2015 Participants:  - confirmed    4 tentative  Trip Status:  Tentative

The exact dates and itinerary will be finalised after consulting with participants. The plan is to spend at least 8 days at Jebel Uweinat, partially visiting known areas, and partially exploring some remaining "blank spots". Depending on the composition of the group, some one or two day treks may be made to the upper parts of the mountain. Coming back from Uweinat, if possible we will try to do so via Merga Oasis and the Wadi Howar. We will also have the opportunity to visit some of the principal Nile Valley monuments. Khartum will be the point of departure. The following is a tentative itinerary, to be finalised as we get closer to departure time, considering also inputs from partcipants:

Day 1. - Khartum

Most international flights arrive into Khartoum in the small hours of the morning. Following arrival, we will need a day to sort out the police registration, travel and photo permits mandatory for all tourists. The process is pretty straight forward and predictable, but only possible on working days, exact departure dates will be fixed with this in mind.

I will also need the day to purchase and pack supplies while the permits are being prepared, and load the vehicles. The rest of you may use the opportunity to see the Museum, the only thing of interest in town with numerous Egyptian and Meroitic oblects, and a number of reconstructed Egyptian temples in the garden moved from Nubia.

Accomodation will be in the classic Grand Hotel in Khartoum.

Day 2. – Khartum-Merowe/Karima

In the morning we will drive along the recently built tarmac road direct from Omdurman to Karima / Merowe. It is a little over three hundred kilometers, with a good start we should be there by midday, leaving the afternoon to see the pyramids of Nuri and the temples of Gebel Barkal, and watch sunset from the top of the mountain.

We will sleep in a local house in Merowe near Gebel Barkal.

Day 3. – Merowe - Dongola – Soleb - Camp 1.

From Merowe we’ll take the tarmac road cutting across the bend of the nile to Dongola (~150km) , cross the bridge and continue to Soleb on the west bank about 150 kms North of Dongola. We will visit the temple (the finest ancient Egyptian monument in Sudan) in the afternoon, and continue out to the desert for our first camp. I hope to make it out at last 40-50km along our intended route towards Selima oasis.

Day 4. - Camp 1. – Selima Oasis – Camp 2.

We will continue the remaining ~100km in the morning from our Camp to Selima oasis (there is a small Sudanese military post there). After having a look around, we will continue on a direct course towards Uweinat along a generally flat sand sheet. The distance is around 450 kilometres, all things going well we should be able to cover half of that in the afternoon.

Day 5. – Camp 2. – Jebel Uweinat

All things going well, we should be within sight of Uweinat by noon, and comfortably at our base camp in the south branch of Karkur Talh (our usual caming spot) by mid-afternoon.

Days 6-11. Karkur Talh

There are many options in Karkur Talh:

• Spend three days visiting the innumerable known rock art sites in the main valley, one of the richest rock art areas of the Sahara, including the magnificent group of shelters discovered by the 1968 Belgian expedition.
• One full day from our campsite to the rock art sites in the western branch discovered in February 2003, a good 4 kilometre walk in each direction on generally flat good terrain.
• Visit the "Winkler" sites in Karkur Murr, possibly continue to the upper springs and return to camp along the direct route (a long day's walk)
• Make a two-day trek to the upper areas of the mountain (starting from the western branch), seeing some very remote but spectacular sites, and exploring some unvisited areas.

Day 12-14. – South Uweinat

With a base camp among some low sandstone hills along the southern part of the mountain.

• Two days in the southern area visiting the some of the oldest and most interesting sites at Uweinat near the Libyan border. We will also be able to explore some remaining blank spots.
• A day trip to Jebel Kissu, a granite mountain some 30 kilometres to the south with several interesting rock art sites and a very different landscape.

The exact daily itineraries will be fine tuned as we progress, depending on the wishes and abilities of our party.

Day 14. – Uweinat – Burg el Tuyur- Wadi Shaw

Starting from Uweinat back towards the Nile, we will first visit Burg el Tuyur, a solitary rock in the middle of the sand sheet with a single engraving, a standard navigation point for the expeditions of the thirties. From there we will continue to Wadi Shaw, a shallow wadi very rich in archaeological remains, but also containing a few engravings. We will camp there (all things going well).

Day 15. – Wadi Shaw

We will spend the morning visiting the sites in Wadi Shaw. The return journey will depend on whether the auhorities will permit a visit to Merga Oasis, and a return via Jebel Rahib and the wadi Howar. If so, that will be the preferred route, possibly at the expense of a day at Uweinat

Day 16-17. – Return to the Nile valley.

Depending on the possibility of visiting the Wadi Howar, we will either take that southern route, or if not then via Burg el Tuyur we will make a direct route back to the Tarmac near Soleb, possibly having time for the longer return journey to Khartum via Meroe.

Day 18. – Return to Khartum

Subject to return route taken.