Meroë

The drive to Meroë takes about two and a half hours from Khartoum, even though its only 100km. The road is only two lanes, and is in mild disrepair.

Wikipedia has more actual information, and might be a good start for anyone who's interested in learning more.



We actually started out at a nearby archaeological site, the Royal City, where a team led by a ROM archaeologist is excavating. We got a tour of the site and saw lots of rocks (which was actually pretty cool, although my pictures are not that exciting.) They haven't done any reconstruction, so it really is a ruin, and you have to imagine what it once was like.

There was lots of wildlife around, stone





and otherwise. Besides the floppy-eared goats, there were a variety of amazingly coloured birds that I didn't manage to photograph, donkeys, and even a camel! (The 'foreigners' had come, so by the time we were getting ready to leave, there were several people selling stuff and a man offering camel rides right beside our vehicles.)



After the Royal City, we drove across the desert to the pyramids. Although they're smaller than the pyramids at Giza (the other pyramids I've seen), they're also older (erected between 300BC and 300AD) and there are more of them, organised on three hills.



(We weren't supposed to be climbing on them... whoops!)



And the view from the top of the hill (not the top of the pyramid).