Nile Lands - 3
Sunday 26 September 2004 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
3. Sudan
Zeinab Badawi continues her cultural journey through the countries connected by the Nile, exploring how the river has shaped their identities and helped to form perceptions of Africa in the Western imagination.
This week Zeinab's journey along the Nile reaches the land of her birth, Sudan, where the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet and flow north together to the Mediterranean.
It's been called the 'corridor to Africa ', and over the centuries the Nile has brought many visitors into Sudan - the Emperor Nero sent two centurions south along it to discover the riches of Central Africa. They failed - and for the best part of 2000 years the great swamp barrier of the Sudd has separated the southern reaches of Sudan from the north. This programme explores the currents of culture and identity that flow through the vast land of swamps and deserts.
