Khartoum
 

Hi pruners

Any gen on things to do in Khartoum, we have picked up some flying for Sudan Airways Cargo and spending a bit of time in Khartoum as "home" base.

Thanks in advance.
yambat

Tennis Club
 

This is going back a long time, but try the tennis club. We used to play squash there on open-air courts. The object of the game was not so much winning, rather surviving in the 40+ deg. heat! They also tend to be a bit sandy. The British Embassy is also good for some expat company as the previous poster mentioned. Good luck!:ok:

I play both bridge and Mah Jongg to varying degrees of excellence but both with a casual attitude. Mah Jongg is of course a singles game whereas bridge is usually a partner game. It is not difficult learning how to play although it's hard to master. Usually any group that needs a fourth at bridge to make up the table will put up with a learner player quite cheerfully in order to make the game in the first place. The normal British bridge system is Acol and you can Google that up if you feel so inclined. It is been proved that old people are less likely to acquire Alzheimer's if they are bridge players. Just ask around for the local bridge club organizer.
You might also take with you a copy of 'The Siege of Khartoum' by John Wilcox.
People like it if you know a little of the history of where you are based. It gets you invited to dinner parties as a witty and erudite conversationalist. I don't suppose though that you would need to pack the white tie and tails.

If you like sailing, try the Blue Nile sailing club and you can sail in one of Kitchener's original steel dinghies. The British Embassy pub is open on THURSDAY nights (by invitation only) - Friday is "Saturday"! The Khartoum museum is interesting. If you can get a 4 X 4 you can go up to Merowe -the city of the kings with its mini-pyramids all with the tops blown off. Making bread can be fun, too, since in the 40° temperatures there, the bread proves in a flash. Nile perch is good baked in the oven covered in onions and tomatoes. The airport is like a museum too, in fact Bin Laden's leer-type jet was parked there for ages - the only N registered A/C in Sudan! Watch out for the haboob!! In all of Africa I felt the safest in Khartoum. Have fun!

Khartoum
 

Spent 3 years in Khartoum, though left there nearly 3 years ago !.

Pros : Probably the safest capitol city in the World.
Some reasonable restaurants, Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, Fast Food, Pizza etc etc as well as some good local restaurants - Amwag will fill you up !
Bribary really has not reached this part of Africa yet !
There are some decent hotels with pools etc the best being Rotana

Cons : Difficult to find booze and "extras", but not impossible.
Social life tends to be all behind closed doors.
Hot ! 40 degrees + during the day, 38 from 18:00, 34 from 02:00
Dusty - unbelievably dusty, and as dry as any place on earth.
Spitting !
ATC ! - make sure you have enough fuel for your hold !!

I guess it depends where you are located, but feel free to take a Tuk-Tuk (3 wheel Motorbike taxi) or Amjat (very small bus) and get out and about. As long as your company is looking after you, you will have no problems at all.

Forget the British Embassy, there are much better ways to pass the time !

Good Luck !

http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/graphics/wantsyou.jpg


Not a good idea to have a picture of this chap above your bed. He did unpleasant things to graves not all that long ago which might not have been forgotten.

Khartoum
 

Yambat !

Forgot to ask, what equipment are u using and on what routes ?

Sudan Airways looks to be on the up these days, I believe they have an expat CEO who seems to be getting things moving, though obviously only on behalf of the money men !

A visit to the Commonweath War Cemetary is well worth a visit, its not far from the airport along Africa Road, towards the railway line. A very tranquil place in the middle of all that heat & dust !

And much more to the point (just what is your point?) did some pretty important and historic things for his country, for which he should be suitablly respected.

Do us a favour, cheater, keep your cheap sniping to yourself and stay in exile will you? Silently, if possible?

Agaricus bisporus. No cheap shot was intended, just an historical pointer and a piece of topical advice all rolled in to one. Kitchener had the grave of the Mahdi, the Sudanese leader, dug up. He burnt the body and quite possibly had the bones thrown in to the Nile while sending the skull to London. Some say that Queen Victoria was mightily upset at this and that she had the skull buried. He had two of the Mahdi's sons and his son in law arrested and summarily shot on charges of trying to reinstate the Mahdia. History would have them as having been innocent. This all happened in 1898, not so long ago for long memories. Kitchener may be a hero to some but Khartoum is none the less possibly not the place for a picture of him over one's bed. Of course the man went on to play a significant role in WWI as the officer in charge of recruitment for the trenches. It rather seems as though he caught unnecessary flak for the Gallipoli fiasco for reluctantly supporting Churchill and he drowned in 1916, sunk with a warship, presumably before his true potential could be evidenced.

Are you guys still stuck in COO???

Not trying to hi-jack this thread, but are there anyone here with knowledge of Khartoum Airport streching back some years? There used to be a derelict DC-7 sitting on the airport, last seen photos of in the mid- 80s. Has this been scrapped or can it be stored in a hangar or at another airport? It had white top and natural metal bottom.

T J

Khartoum DC7
 

TJ

I was tripping through KRT '01 - '04, remember an old DC at West end of field it disappeared towards the end of '03 along with another few smaller wrecks

In same period the DC7C/F at the OLD PZU was still there, though I understand that is also gone

see

Oldprops DC7 Census

UN Co ordinated
We were at the Rotana, very pleasant, now moved to UAE. Most freight from there to KRT. Bit from CAI too.
We flick around in a DC8-62, good old ship generally.

Maurice
Home for a weeks break before back to the desert. COO has turned out to be a good place to get spares to and from. Access to the aeroplane is good for the spanner chaps too. In KRT we are not allowed to the aeroplane unless we are to fly. In FJR its possible, but a headache.
yambat