Places to Visit in Heglig (Heglieg), Kordofan, South Africa, Africa

Places to Visit in Heglig (Heglieg), Kordofan, South Africa, Africa

Heglig, also written Heglieg, is a town in the state of South Kordofan in the African country Sudan. It is situated between 9°59′58″ N latitude and 29°23′55″ E longitude, around 820 km southwest of the national capital, Khartoum. Heglig is situated near the South Sudanese border, in the Muglad Basin, which accounts a greater percentage of oil reserves of Sudan.

The name Heglig is a translated Arabic term of the fruit of the Balanites aegyptiaca tree, ‘desert date’. Heglig is also called Panthou, which also refers desert date. Since its position on the borderline, Heglig had seen many conflicts during the liberation of South Sudan towards becoming an independent country by abstracting from the today’s Sudan.

How to reach Heglig?

There is an airport in Heglig but scheduled flights are not guaranteed. The nearest major airport to Heglig is El Obeid Airport. This airport is situated around 410 km northeast of Heglig and receives flights from the national capital Khartoum.

Heglig is connected to El Obeid, El Fasher, En Nahud and Nyala by direct road link. Bus services are available between these cities, but not regular, better if one choose rental car for intercity travel. Rental cars will also become helpful for local travel in Heglig.

Food and Shopping in Heglig:

Like country, Heglig is a Muslim dominated city and people in Heglig speak Sudanese Arabic as primary language. Modernized restaurants and shops are less in number in Heglig, but one can find many traditional shops and food corners in Heglig with a wide range of local specialties.

Things to do in Heglig:

Visiting oil field and airport
Touring surrounding villages
Traditional shopping

Places of interest in Heglig:

Heglig oil field:

The Heglig oil field is the centre of Heglig’s economy and is also visited by people ‘coming to the city. With permission, visitors can explore oil field and its surroundings. The Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company is in operation in Heglig.

Flughafen Heglig:

The Flughafen Heglig is an airport, situated 1 km away from the centre of Heglig city. It can be reached by walk or vehicle. There are no scheduled flights serving this airport, though the airport draws visitors coming to the city.

Kaduqli:

Kaduqli is the capital of South Kordofanstate, situated in the Nuba Mountains region, around 200 km northeast of Heglig. The main features of Kadugli include Hilal Stadium, textiles and soap factories.

List of other places of interest near Heglig include:

University of Kordofan
University of Khartoum
Jabal al-Awliya’ Dam
Temple of Amun
Pyramids of Gebel Barkal
Khartoum War Cemetery
Al Fashir University
Jebel Barkal
Tuti Island
Nile Street
Al Kabir Mosque
WWII Cemetery
Sudan Art Diwan
Sudan National Museum
Pyramids of Meroe

When to visit Heglig?

Heglig experiences relatively a dry and hot climate year round, in which the filtered best time to visit Heglig is from December to March.

Hotels in Heglig:

Like most Sudanese cities, Heglig also lacks well facilitated hotels, which has turned visitors to drive towards the national capital Khartoum to find upgraded hotels. Currently this is also a suggested option for visitors to have healthy hospitality services. Here is the list of the prominent hotels in Khartoum (around 820 km from Heglig):