Bucket List Trip(s) I probably will never take

There are areas in the world where I don't fully comfortable. It's not because I am gay, because Ed and I are usually "rich" tourists in poorer ares and they are happy to overlook the gay angle. No, these places are either too violent or ungoverned for me to be comfortable.

Here you can see the smaller Pyramids and the much larger partially destroyed Pyramids

A perfect example of this dichotomy is the Nile River Valley. I would love to see the Egyptian pyramids and ancient monuments. And I would be perfectly comfortable in Egypt, despite the government. Then just a bit farther down the Nile are the Pyramids of Kush / Nubia.

You can see people in the upper right here to help define scale.

This UNESCO Heritage site is now in Sudan. and I am not sure I would venture into Sudan, a Muslim militarily ruled country. They have had 4 coups since 2019 with a lot of dead people. The latest was in March of 2022 (a few months ago) and put the military back in control after a very short civilian-ish rule.

Statuary in the area.

So, what am I missing here? The Pyramids of Meroe. The Pyramids were built by the Meroitic Empire, known in the Bible as "Kush" and in Egypt as "Nubia". The Kingdom lasted a little over 1,000 years from the 5th Century BC to the 5th Century AD.

It was rich in Iron, important in the ancient world, as well as Gold, Pottery and Textiles. Their trade areas reached to India and China.

And they built a lot of pyramids. They aren't as tall and impressive as those in Egypt, but they are much more common and human sized. They look impressive and beautiful. I hope I can visit them once, but I doubt it.

Meroe Empire in 1st Century

The Meroitic Empire was attacked by the Egyptians (Ptolemic Empire above) multiple times (hence the story of "Aida"), but they could not conquer the area, just raid it. Ultimately the Meroitic Empire fell to the Romans that ran Egypt in the 5th Century.

Since then, the desert has claimed most of the area and the pyramids were not "rediscovered" until the late 1800s.