Dongola Island Travel Forum

Hello,

I would like to get some advices for a place to stay in Dongola, and how easy is to move from Khartoum to Dongola, I will go soon to do a scouting, for a tv documentary. Thanks in advance

Maria Lagarde

Sorry for taking a while to reply, but I don't check the forums very often :)

Dongola has quite a few small hotels and lacondas on the main street (there is really only one street in the town), all of them basic. I've stayed in two of them, and the better of the two was the Qasr ash-Sharg Hotel. This place actually had lockable doors, and had no problems with female guests. The toilets were also fairly clean...well, cleaner than many in Sudan! It cost SD500 a night to stay there in 2002, so the price might be a bit higher nowadays, but probably not much.

As for getting to Dongola from Khartoum, there are two bus routes. Both make uncomfortable trips across desert tracks (there is no road!). One cuts across a small part of desert, then follows the Nile, passing through many small villages and towns on the way...the buses that follow this route are generally the cheapest, as they take longer. The quicker route is operated by a company called SafSaf Express, which send strange converted trucks (more comfortable than the buses) bumping across a piste over the desert directly from Khartoum to Dongola.

While the cheaper buses take longer and are less comfortable, you have to remember that bus drivers don't like to make stops in the desert in case they can't get the bus started again. This can make for a very uncomfortable trip, especially when Sudanese hospitality forces you to drink anything you are offered!! If you take this route, do what the Sudanese do, and don't drink anything before or during the trip...hard to do in the heat though!

When booking your ticket (SafSaf and the better buses should be booked a couple of days before travelling at their offices in the bus stations), make sure you ask for a seat near the front of the vehicle. The further back you go, the less legroom there is, and the higher you are thrown out of your seat whenever the bus hits a bump. All buses leave early morning, usually between 6 and 8am, and make sure you are at the right bus station...there are three in Khartoum, and i think the one for Dongola is in Omdurman...

Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions about Sudan :@P

Maykal