The sole caretaker of the pyramids at Meroë, a former capital of the ancient Kingdom of Kush, is the only person standing between some of Sudan’s greatest art treasures and rampaging armies accused of looting priceless antiquities from museums across the country. In times of peace, Meroë, 200km north of Khartoum along the Nile, drew intrepid tourists to see the carvings and hieroglyphs housed in some of the 200 pyramids — more than in the whole of Egypt — which were constructed nearly 2,500 years ago. Nomads played zumbara flutes to visitors, who crossed the sand dunes of the Nubian Desert in camel caravans en route to nearby temples.
