When we hear the word ”Pyramid“, our minds automatically travel to Egypt. However, there is another country that has more pyramids in a tiny stretch of desert than Egypt.
While Egypt is home to the world's largest and most well-known pyramids, Sudan has the world's largest collection of these amazing ancient buildings. Despite the negative press that presents the country as a war-torn country plagued by civil war and disease, the North African country has a lot to offer cultural and history buffs, including a rich and long-ignored archaeological heritage in locations remote from conflict hotspots.
A day trip is approximately 240 kilometres north of the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum, and will take you into a stretch of the desert where rows of these striking ancient pyramids loom before you like a mirage. Over 200 pyramids, grouped across three sites, were erected long ago as royal tombs for some 40 kings and queens who ruled the Nubian Kingdom of Kush on the banks of the Nile for more than 1,000 years during the Meroitic Period, until its demise in 350 AD. Some of Meroe's and Napata's wealthiest nobles were also buried there.
Meroe's pyramids, which were designated as a Unesco WorldHeritage Site in 2011, are without a doubt the most remarkablefeature to behold . While they are neither as old or as massive asEgypt's pyramids, they are distinct in that they are steeper and thatthey were not only built for royals; nobility (at least those who couldafford it) were also buried in pyramids.
The Meroe Pyramids are built of granite and sandstone in the Nubian style, they are marked by small bases and steep slopes between six and 30 metres in height, in contrast with Egypt's colossal Pyramids of Giza, the greatest of which is up to 139 metres high.
Compared to some ten million tourists who visited the Egyptian pyramids in 2018, however, roughly 700,000 tourists made their way to Sudan's Nubian pyramids. No matter how many times you may visit, there is an awed sense of discovery. This destination should definitely be in your 2022 vacation list.
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