About 120 km southeast of Shendi, Naqa is the more compact and more photogenic of the two desert sites. The ruins of a small Meroitic city stand in open sand: a pyramid, a temple to Amun with its avenue of stone rams, the Lion Temple of Apedemak with its reliefs of the king and queen smiting their enemies, and the curious "Roman kiosk" — a small chapel where Meroitic, Pharaonic and Greco-Roman elements all blend on a single building.
The Lion Temple is the highlight, with some of the finest preserved reliefs of any Kushite site, including a famous panel of the king Natakamani and queen Amanitore in matched profile. Naqa was a UNESCO World Heritage site as part of the Island of Meroë listing. Visited together with Musawwarat es-Sufra, it makes a long, hot, but extraordinary day from Shendi — bring water, lunch, and a hat.