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I bet you didn’t know that there are pyramids in Sudan. Don’t worry, we didn’t either. But there are, and while they are smaller than the ones in Egypt, they are still impressive in their own right.

The Pyramids of Meroë are located almost in the center of Sudan and in the middle of a vast desert. This is the largest concentration of pyramids in the world, and the most visited in Sudan. Sadly, they are surrounded by blowing sand and are at threat of someday getting blown away themselves.

Pyramids in Sudan

You see, when the sand blows, these pyramids are getting scratched and gouged. Over time, they will be scratched away into nothingness.

Not that it truly matters. These pyramids have long ago been ransacked and pillaged, though they once housed the remnants of kings and queens – rulers of vast empires and even kingdoms.

The Kingdom of Kush to be exact.

Pyramids in Sudan

This kingdom once spread all the way up to include Egypt and was ruled this way for nearly a century. Though there are many pyramids in Egypt, there is twice the number in Sudan.

Arriving at the Pyramids of Meroë, one is greeted by a nice sized visitor center. Taking a walk through here will give you the history of the pyramids. The most distressing piece of information was learning that an Italian explorer was the one responsible for blowing the tops off of all of these pyramids.

Apparently he even secured a contract with officials and passed himself off as an archeologist coming to study them. They didn’t realize that he was going to plunder the tombs. Sadly, the pyramids have continued to be damaged and hundreds, if not thousands of people have carved into the soft sandstone.

Pyramids in Sudan

Thankfully, though, these days you are required to be chaperoned by an on-site guide. I’m hoping this means less damage for these amazing artifacts in the future.

While we were there, it was nice to see that the government is making moves to restore some of the original structures. However, Sudan is not a stable place to visit these days as they have had civil unrest since 2021. We were lucky to have gone there when we did, when the country was very peaceful and they were working towards democracy.

We hope that the people of Sudan can somehow enjoy a happy and more prosperous future and sights like these can be enjoyed and visited by many tourists.