Travel Guide Dongola دنقلا

Dongola is the very quiet head of the vast northern province. The history of the city and its name are prestigious and Dongola has a special aura in the country. Indeed, it was the town of origin of the Mahdi, a messianic hero who pushed the English people of Sudan back to the th century, after the region had suffered particularly from the Egyptian occupation. Jaafar Nimeiry, President of Sudan from 1969 to 1984, was also a Dongolawi. On the other hand, Dongola refers, albeit somewhat ill-abusivement today, to the eponymous Christian Kingdom (or Makourie) which dominated this part of Nubia of Life in the th century. The capital of this kingdom was actually about miles south, on the other shore, at the current location of the Old Dongola site. It was only in the th century that the new city was founded, in an area where the Nile crosses a plain, allowing the cultivation of larger land surfaces. Today, Dongola offers shady streets and a fourni, where it is nice to walk after staying in the desert.The geographic position of Dongola allows you to reach the sites of the region. Karima and Wadi Halfa are no longer so far away, thanks to the recent arrival of asphalt which covered the old tracks and considerably reduced the length of journeys. Also, last development date: the bridge, which now connects Dongola on the west bank, in the village of As-Selim, across the Nile, the only bridge from the Egyptian border to Karima. Dongola has thus forgotten its bountoun (the ferry that serves as a shuttle between the banks), which is expected to change the economy quickly in the city.