By Alison Bate The capital of Sudan feels a little lost and empty these days. The distinctive Dinkas – the impossibly tall, thin Southerners – and their fellow compatriots have mostly left Khartoum for their new homeland and the deadline for the rest to leave is just months away. After April 9, 2012, any southerners remaining...

1. Take lots of US dollars in cash, in fact everything you’ll need, as none of your western ATMs or credit cards will be accepted. 2. Change money on the black market, not in banks or official exchanges. As of Dec.1, 2011 you’ll get about 4.2 Sudanese pounds to $1 US on the black market, compared with only about 2.75 SP to the...

I’m in a hot little internet café up some very narrow stairs, so narrow I had to squeeze sideways to get up here, helped marginally by a wobbly rail. The internet in Sudan is sometimes very good and sometimes very bad and slow. The connection keeps dropping, and I’ve just managed to switch out of Arabic and change the direction...

I ‘ve just arrived in Khartoum after a four-year gap, and this morning between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., it was pretty magical. After a sleepless, jetlagged night, I went up to the rooftop of the Bougainvilla Guest House, where I’m staying. It was still dark, the moon and stars were out, and a cool breeze swept across the patio. Four or five...

I can pack a backpack or suitcase for a trip in under an hour, but deciding what tech toys to take is another ballgame altogether. I spent a ridiculous amount of time researching cellphones and agonizing about whether to take my beloved Macbook with me. I’m meeting various friends in Khartoum, and everyone uses cellphones there. But of...