Let’s first address the elephant in the room: Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal civil war since April 2023, primarily between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. Although the fighting has been concentrated in Darfur and the Gezira region, the parts of the country where we’ll be spending most of our time have remained largely outside the conflict zone and has been recovering and rebuilding for the past year. By the time we go, we’ll be monitoring the situation closely and working only with trusted local contacts on the ground. If conditions aren’t right, we don’t go. Simple as that. But the trajectory is pointing toward this being doable, and the areas on our itinerary have a very different reality than what you see on the news. This is what monsooning is — not recklessness, but calculated engagement with places the rest of the world has written off.

We’ll start in Khartoum, where the Blue and White Nile converge as two rivers become one. From there, we head north to camp overnight by the Pyramids of Meroë — older than their Egyptian counterparts, virtually tourist-free, and arguably more photogenic without a Starbucks in the background. This is the Nubian Kingdom of Kush, a civilization that most people have never heard of and even fewer have visited.

Then we continue north along the Nile to Old Dongola, the capital of the medieval Christian kingdom of Makuria. For nearly a thousand years, this Nubian kingdom held its own against Arab expansion  and has been one of the great untold stories of African history. What remains are the ruins of churches, a throne hall, and a landscape that feels like you’ve stepped into a forgotten chapter of civilization. Polish archaeologists have been excavating here for decades, and what they’ve uncovered is extraordinary. This is the kind of place that would be a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a visitor center and gift shop if it were anywhere in Europe. Instead, it’s you and the ruins and the Nile.

The final frontier. Sudan has been the white whale for years — a country that’s been perpetually “next” on the list, perpetually complicated, and perpetually worth the wait. In January 2027, we’re finally making it happen.

This is country 193 of 193. This is not a beach vacation. This is Sudan.