I spent 3 days in Khartoum, sleeping on the dusty roof of the Bahara G’zar lokanda with about 40 older Sudanese guys. They paid me little attention but I was told that I was the first khawaja to have ever stayed there. Truly an honor.

I managed to complete the registration process at the Aliens Registration Office. I had to fill out another form, pay a total of 87SD ($43), give 2 more passport photos and photocopies, and have the owner of the lokanda write a letter to “endorse” my visit. The amount of paperwork was staggering.

I also made a couple trips to the Ministry of Tourism - a hard to find building with no English signage - in order to obtain the requisite “Photography Permit” for my camera. Another form, two more passport photos. A note at the bottom of the permit explains the rules:

Military areas, bridges, train stations, broadcasting and public utilities such as water, gas, petrol and electricity works are not be filmed. Slum areas, beggars and other defaming subject are not to be photographed […] Applicant should inform governmental authorities i.e. local government inspector, town clerk, executive officer of general authority before actually start filming.

I made a visit to the fantastic Omdurman souq and explored Khartoum a bit before I headed off to Atbara.