Kassala

Overview

Kassala is located in the East of Sudan, some 600 km from Khartoum practically on the border with Eritrea . It used to be one of the touristic highlights of Sudan, and is still quite popular with Sudanese newlyweds who come here to honeymoon.

The cool climate and the stunning scenery are the main attractions.

The city of Kassala itself is made up of low houses organized by a rectangular street map. Spread around the whole city of some 150,000 people, are tens of thousands of trees. The market of Kassala is great. The products sold here are primarily fruits, the juiciest and most tasteful of Sudan. And the local handicrafts have a most distinct style, and are generally of good quality.

On the outskirts of the city live the Rashaida tribe, mostly inhabiting goatskin tents. They are a nomadic people who breed camels and goats, and are closely related to the Saudi Arabian Bedouin, having migrated from the Arabian Peninsula about 150 years ago. It is the mysteriously-veiled Rashaida women who make a great deal of the silver jewellery sold in the Kassala souq.

Several kilometres outside Kassala are the curiously-shaped 'sugar-loaf' hills, known as the jebels. They can be seen on the horizon from the city and are the habitat of a tribe of baboons, which come down from the hills at sunset to drink at a nearby village well.

Kassala is a pretty easygoing place, and for Sudanese standards it has excellent tourist facilities.

History