Showak (also Ash Showak or el Showak) ( ar, االشواك, A'shou-wāk), is the capital of the Al Fushqa District located on the Atbarah River in eastern Gedarif State,

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

, at an altitude of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. It lies at a distance of to the northeast of

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

. Showak is a major transport hub between

Gedaref El-Gadarif ( ar, القضارف '), also spelt ''Gedaref'' or ''Gedarif'', is the capital of the state of Al Qadarif (state), Al Qadarif in Sudan. It lies on the road that connects Khartoum with Gallabat on the Ethiopia–Sudan border, Ethiopian bo ...

, the state capital and Kassala city. The national highway linking Khartoum and the rest of the country with

Port Sudan Port Sudan ( ar, بور سودان, Būr Sūdān) is a port city in eastern Sudan, and the capital of the state of Red Sea. , it has 489,725 residents. Located on the Red Sea, Port Sudan is recognized as Sudan's main seaport and the source of 90% ...

, as well as the railway line parallel to it, passes through Showak. Showak has the largest cattle market in the state and contains a special clinic, affiliated with Khartoum University, which treats camels. It also hosts a large UN Refugees camp in its vicinity known as the Shagarab Refugees camp and is home to the Sudanese headquarters of the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

. There is one hospital in the town, Ash Showak Rural Hospital, and a branch of the Agricultural Bank of Sudan, located in the town's main market.

Climate

Showak has a

hot semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''BSh'') with two distinct seasons: a short, sweltering and extremely oppressive

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

from mid-June to mid-September and a sweltering, desiccating

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

covering the rest of the year.

References

{{reflist Populated places in Al Qadarif (state)