The Manasir people constitute one of many Sunni Arab riverine tribes of Northern Sudan. They are not to be confused with the Manasir of the Persian Gulf region in the Arabian Peninsula-based mainly in the United Arab Emirates. They inhabit the region of the Fourth Cataract of the Nile and call their homeland Dar al-Manasir. Similar to their neighbouring tribes, the upstream Rubatab (الرباطاب) and the downstream Shaiqiyah (الشايقيّة), the Manasir are an indigenous Nile culture who adopted Islam and speak Arabic as their first language. Unlike other riverine tribes of Sudan, a considerable part of their population lives as Bedouins in the adjacent Bayuda Desert. The nomadic life of herding their stock of goats, sheep and camels in desert valleys is however limited for many to the rainy season, coinciding with the annual inundation of the Nile.
A Family from the Manasir tribe
Eisa Shikawi, the oldest Manasir
Vertical tribal marks in Suq Salamat
Manasir farmer with a turiah over his shoulder
Dar al-Manasir is the region of the Fourth Cataract, the most impassable of all rapids of the Nile. It is the homeland of the Arab tribe of the Manasir and from them gets its name. Still today the water rapids cannot be crossed by any large boats making the region accessible only via a sandy and rocky desert track.
Dar al-Manasir as seen from the top of Gebel Musa
View over Marha, Sur Island in Dar al-Manasir
Dar al-Manasir as seen from the top of Gebel Us
Sunset over Dar al-Manasir