Dunqulah Things to Do Tips by maykal

Go for a walk...I know I say this for almost every place I visit, but really it is the best way to get to know a place. Dongola is a bit of a one-camel town, so it won't take long for you to get a feel for the place, then you can head out of town to one of the nearby villages via the palm groves. Most likely, you will be invited to someone's house for tea or to look at their fruit plantation...people here are extremely friendly. Often we found it difficult to walk here...as soon as anyone saw us walking, they would stop and say "why are you walking, we'll give you a lift", then ended up giving us a tour of the town in their car! You have to be persistant in your refusals if you really want to walk, although that might be seen as rude...better to accept and experience genuine Dongola hospitality.

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Once you've walked up and down the main drag of Dongola a few times, and wandered around the palm groves, there really is only one other thing to do...take the ferry over to the opposite bank of the Nile. The ferry is a rather rickety old beast which crawls its way through the currents, delivering donkeys and students to the university and transport station (you can decide which goes where!!!). No there is supposed to be an ancient temple a few minutes walk away, but when we asked for directions people told us it was too far to walk, and the taxis were charging khawaja prices....I wish we'd just gone exploriong on our own, as it is not far away, but we listened to the local advice and missed out on all ruins in the area! Other than ruin-hunting, all that remains is to sip tea in the bus station and wait for the ferry back. If you are trying to travel south to Karima or north to Kerma, then this is the place to catch your bus.

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