Sudan

The Saharan expanses of Sudan have germinated many a great civilization, from Kerma to Kush, and these oceanic sands and heart-of-the-desert mountain ranges still seem freighted with regal mystery. Travelers, though, aren’t exactly flocking to Sudan these days. Both the U.S. and U.K. governments warn against travel in this fractious country, where civilians and Westerners fall under the threat of terrorism; the government’s engaged in an ongoing conflict with rebel militias, resulting in thousands of everyday citizens becoming refugees.

There are obviously much greater losses associated with Sudan’s unrest than tourism, but it’s certainly true that foreign travelers are missing out on some of North Africa’s great sights. The Sudanese coastline, for one, offers diving and snorkeling amid Red Sea coral reefs that are deliciously uncrowded compared with Egypt’s. The capital of Khartoum, situated at the point where the Blue and White tributaries merge to form the Nile mainstem, has some first-class cultural institutions: The National Museum of Sudan amazes with its vast collection of antiquities from Ancient Egypt, the Kingdom of Kush, and other illustrious episodes of regional history, while the Ethnographic Museum gives a sweeping overview of Sudan’s ethnic and cultural heritage.

Treasures from Sudan’s past aren’t just to be found behind museum glass, though. The endless desert includes some magnificent archaeological sites, among them the pyramids and temples at the ancient Kushite capital of Meroe and the even older Nile Valley city of Kerma. Over in Omdurman—Sudan’s biggest city, just across the Nile from Khartoum—you’ll find a number of sprawling souks and a raucous camel market: snapshots of age-old Sudanese traditions, for sure, and also reminders that such traditions are very much alive in the brilliant brightness of the Sahara.

Sudan has seen some dramatic history across thousands of years, and its latest chapter isn’t its proudest one. Mark it as another of those incredible places that are, for now, too dangerous and unstable to appreciate in the flesh.