NUBIA - THE CORRIDOR TO AFRICA

Once the ancient kingdom of Kush, Nubia is the stretch of land next to the Nile from Aswan down to Khartoum in Sudan, with a history going 5000 years back in time. Lower Nubia is the region between the first cataract near Aswan and the second cataract just after Ouadi Alpha in northern Sudan. Lake Nasser is located in Lower Nubia bordering Sudan in the south.

Nubians are depicted in many tomb paintings and reliefs, usually as mercenaries or traders. Nubians still have distinct traditions, architecture and their own language, even though many migrated either to Aswan and Kom Ombo or south to Sudan after Lake Nasser swamped much of their traditional homeland. Nubia contains dozens of sites of archaeological interest. Many temples as well as tombs, were menaced by the waters of the High Dam, including Dendour, Ellessiya, Amada

and Wadi es Seboua. Some have been moved; most notably Philae, Kalabsha and Abu Simbel, and other salvage and restoration operations have been undertaken. The Nubian Museum in Aswan was built to house over 5000 Nubian objects of great cultural value.

The name "Nubia" either comes from the Nubian word "nob", gold, or from "nugur" or "nub", meaning black. Nubia was in ancient times both a great producer of gold mainly for the Egyptian Pharaohs, and inhabited by very dark skinned people.

Our staff has Nubian origins and they are proud to make you discover their original homeland much of which lies today under the lake surface.