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In
Sudan there are four of the five Cataracts, which exist today.
There used to be six of them, but the 2nd Cataract was flooded
by the water of Nasser lake when it was created.
The
6th Cataract is about 70 km to the north of Khartoum.
Here the Nile goes through an area with beautiful rocky granite and round
formations, that gradually goes into the desert, forming kilometres long gorges
called "Sabaloka gorges". The 4th Cataract is located more
to the north along the Nile when the river flows southwards near the town of
Karima.
Rocky granite formations follow one another and among them the Nile flows
forming several rapids that make navigation impossible.
The rocks form several islands and the river is divided in different
branches.
On the banks among the rocks there are small villages whose inhabitants
till small fields pulled away from the desert sand. The 3rd Cataract,
the northern most one, presents also interesting rocky formations. In ancient
times was the border between Egyptian and Nubian kingdoms.
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