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Sand and silence

The pyramids of Meroe are some 150 miles (240 kilometres) northeast of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. A mile from the Nile River, the pyramids from the third century BCE contained the tombs of more than 40 kings, queens and other VIPs from the ancient country of Cush. While these royal tombs were all plundered in ancient times, frescoes preserved within the tombs show the rulers were either cremated or mummified and then covered with jewelry and laid in wooden cases.

The days I spent at Meroe, wandering amid the ruins of its towering pyramids, were times of silence, with the whistling wind my only companion. Sand swirled swiftly around me, later turned crimson by the setting sun. Then the moon slowly rose, pouring its silver light upon the quiet dunes while hawks soared lazily through the night sky. There are no hotels near Meroe so one must return to Khartoum, stand by the road to catch a bus heading north or sleep, as I did, upon the splendid sands.

Martin Gray is an anthropologist who has photographed nearly a thousand sacred sites and pilgrimage places. Find out more: www.sacredsites.com.