The Sudan National Botanical Garden — sometimes called Mogran Garden — runs along the White Nile just south of where it meets the Blue. Founded in the colonial period and attached to the University of Khartoum, it is a modest plot of palms, neem trees, and labelled flowerbeds rather than a grand botanical display, but it is one of the few green spaces in the city centre and a welcome contrast to the surrounding traffic.
Families picnic here at weekends, and on the river side the garden ends in a quiet bench-lined embankment with views across to Omdurman. Entry is cheap, the gates close at sunset, and there is a small cafe near the entrance that sells karkadeh, the local hibiscus tea, served sweet and very cold.