Wow Charles!! Forgot those! THAT firmly places this in Sudan along with those great examples, thank you so much,

and its great hearing from you.
Richard, Teodor and Ed, thank you guys.
Great input and great to have all these insights.
It seems the Sudanese had a far greater scope of variations on the kaskara than I had realized.
Richard,
I dont have access to this sword right now, but would hesitate to dismantle the hilt. What would be possibly inside?