AFRICA.Sudan: Sudan, which for over a long period, has been framed as a conflict-related nation, will get rid of the belief by exploiting its existing unique tourist attractions from the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers, to ancient temples and pyramids.
According to the country’s Minister of Tourism, Dr Babiker Mohammed, the country has long-lasting unique plans for about five years to build the country’s tourism attractions to a top-level equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.
Sudan has a record of a rich history of civilizations and it remains; three times the number of pyramids in Egypt.
“We have a strategic plan for 5 years in which we try to develop all our tourist destinations to a high standard with really excellent facilities.”
“But Sudan has suffered from the problem of being viewed by other nations as a conflict-related area which many people have been avoiding in terms of investment,” Mohammed noted.
Mohammed further stated that the country is working round the clock to ensure that it is recognized at international fairs.
It is no longer news that many people know Sudan as a place of conflict, especially with the Darfur issue. But if we look carefully at Sudan, it is over one million square miles and the tourist destinations are thousands of kilometres away from the place of conflict, Mohammed said.
Other tourist attractions in the country include the site of Meroë, the ancient capital of the Kushite Kingdom housing hundreds of Nubian pyramids, and quite a remarkable number of visitors visit the site and are very glad about what they see in place.
A teacher at Khartoum American School, Charlotte Nugent quotes explaining to the local press what Sudan and its tourism attractions mean to her.
“I think it’s nice to come to visit these more remote, I guess, tourist locations, it’s a unique experience from being in the Western world where you’d have crowds of tourists,” she said.
The first of the huge pyramids in Meroë was built by King Arkamani over 2,200 years ago. At its peak, the rulers of Meroë controlled the Nile Valley north to south, over a distance of more than 1,000km.
In June 2011, the Archeological Sites of Meroë were listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.
Also Read: Sudan To Return To Civilian Rule Soon
