Umm Badr

Federal State

Umm Badr (Arabic: أم بادر ) is a city in Schamal Kordofan. in Sudan, the (198 miles) west lies at an altitude of 691 meters above sea level ( 2270 feet), at a distance of about 319 km from the capital, Khartoum.

Umm Badr is located on the shores of Umm Badr Lake, which is located half way from Khartoum to al - Fasher, the capital of Schamal Darfur. The city is an important center for the Kewahla tribe, one of the largest tribes in the Sudan, and is rich in mineral and other natural resources, such as gold.

Umm Badr is equipped with a rural hospital.

The nearest international airport is in al - Ubayyid, about 237 kilometers away. There are no rail links into the city, but a few roads that lead to some major surrounding cities such as on - Nahud, Hamrat el Sheikh, Bara, and al - Ubayyid.

Kurt Beck, a German anthropologist and professor at the Bayreuth International School of African Studies, University of Bayreuth, has spent a long time in Umm Badr. The British researcher and writer Michael Asher, author of "A Desert Dies", has also lived for several years with the Kewahla in the desert and the savannah of this region.

The topography of the area is by wadis and a pair of high rocky mountains, hills and dunes of red sand and seasonal vegetation which grows around the wadis during the rainy season, dominated. Recently, a dam was built to hold back rainwater for drinking water and irrigation.