Arrival at the Khartoum airport. Meet and Greet with the guide, and transfer to the hotel. Check in, dinner free and overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel and then visit the Archaeological Museum that, besides many beautiful objects, contains two full temples rescued by UNESCO and moved from the Lake Nasser area, when it was flooded by the water. The expedition departs late morning heading North. A flat desert will be the only landscapes for 200 km.

We reach wadi El Milk, where, among sand dunes, acacia trees show the presence of underground water. In this area it is possible to meet some settlements of Bisharin nomads. They are usually situated near wells that supply water for their large herds of camels and goats. Now we drive west in the Western desert one of the most unknown and unexplored area of the whole Sahara desert.

This area is huge: from the Nile to the Chad border to the West and from the Egyptian border in the North to the Sahel area toward South, it covers an area bigger than Germany. There are no roads here, we drive using GPS satellite navigator and we will also have on board a satellite telephone for security. It is a total desert with no animals, plants or any other form of life. The landscape offers the more spectacular shapes of the Sahara desert: sand dunes, flat sandy areas, rocky hills, remains of many Palaeolithic tools.

As day 03.

As day 03.

We reach a group of small oasis about 70 km. West of the Nile. Then we arrive in the town of Dongola where we supply of water, fuel and food. Following North we arrive to the temple of Soleb. This is the most beautiful Egyptian temple of all Sudan, testimony of the New Kingdom in Nubia, with full walls rich in hieroglyphic inscriptions, bas-relief figures and many columns. Not far the Jebel Dosha, an interesting stele on the rock, it is just on the shore of the Nile.

As day 06.

We arrive at the village of Delgo and we cross the Nile. These ferries, the only way of crossing the Nile in these remote regions, they are a hive of colourful activities. We find ourselves sharing space with people, donkeys, camels and goats.

Driving south we reach the rock formations of the Third Cataract, and close to the village of Tombos, among the rocks, we can find a statue of the black Pharaohs Taharqa, left in the old quarries since 2800 years. Not far, on the Nile banks, many rock engravings show the presence of the Egyptian civilization that used this natural obstacle as southern border of their empire. Then few kilometres south we reach the archaeological site of Kerma where we can visit the remains of a pre-dynastic civilization and the “Defuffa” a strange and mysterious building made by mud bricks.

We drive now southward following the Nile. This area is the central part of the Nubian region. Here the population speaks a different language from the Arabs, and also the Islamic religion is not as "strict" as in other regions. The women don't cover their faces and readily speak to foreigners. The Nubian villages are beautiful, between sand dunes and palm trees; some houses are painted and decorated with patterns and flowers. Enthusiastic hospitality abounds, people will often invite foreigners to visit their home to share a meal or a cup of spiced tea.

We reach the site of Old Dongola a Christian Coptic temple with marble columns as well as several churches situated on the banks of the Nile, remains of a small Christian Kingdom (Makuria Kingdom) that was in place until the X°-XI° century prior to the Islamic invasion. We enter now in the Nubian desert that is different again from the other areas of Northern Sudan: sand dunes, flat sandy plains and brown rocky hills eroded by the wind.

As day 09.

After the desert crossing we reach the site of El Kurru, where there is one of the necropolis of the ancient capital Napata. Here we can visit two tombs which are excavated in the rock under pyramids - partially collapsed - and are totally decorated with images of the Pharaoh, of the gods and multicolour hieroglyphic inscriptions. Not far from here there is an interesting site of petrified wood with hundreds of huge trunks. 

A short drive among nice villages and we arrive in the small town of Karima at the foot of the holy mountains Jebel Barkal. Landmark in the Nubian desert, Jebel Barkal can be seen from a few dozens of kilometres whilst still in the open desert. At the foot of this wonderful isolated red sandstone mountain with cliffs and considered holy since the ancient times there is the big temple, dedicated to the Pharaohs of the New Reign and to their patron Amon. The Amon's ancient "Pure Mountain", the Olympus of the Nubians, was the religious Nubian heart for more than 1000 years. Besides the ruins of the big temple there are still several sculptured granite rams that were supposed to border a long avenue that probably led to the pier on the Nile. In the mountain walls there is a big room decorated with bas-relief.

We cross the Nile and we enter in the Bayuda desert, area bounded by the loop formed by the Nile between the 4th and the 6th Cataract and characterised by sharp black basalt mountains, most of them volcanic and typically cone-shaped. They alternate with level pebble stretches and large valleys with dry wadis going through where there is little vegetation.

We might meet isolated groups, camel and donkey caravans of the Bisharin nomads, who live in familiar groups in small huts made of intertwined branches covered with large blankets made from camelwool, near the rare water wells in the area. We reach the Nile and we cross the river in the town of Atbara. After one hour driving south, the pyramids of the royal necropolis of Meroe become visible on top of a rise among yellow sand dunes. Here there are more than 100 pyramids, some very well preserved.

As day 12.

The Royal necropolis of Meroe is located at about 3 km far from the Nile on some hills covered with yellow sand dunes. Several pyramids stand out with their sharp shapes against the clear sky. Most of them are in perfect preservation conditions. Just in front of them there are some small funerary temples with the walls fully decorated with bas-reliefs that shows the King’s life and the gods. Then we move along the Nile to visit the ruins of the Royal city. The excavations confirm that it used to be on a large area with a central one surrounded by suburbs and a boundary wall. Most of the area where the city is located, that is formed by many small hills covered by red clay fragments, has still to be excavated by the archaeologists.

We drive south to visit two important archaeological sites. In Musawwarat, located about 30 km east of the Nile, it is one of the two centres that developed during the Meroitic period. The settlement was located in a beautiful valley crowned by hills, today the ruins of a very big temple are visible; it once played an exceptional important role. Its main characteristic, the Great Wall, is made by many constructions and boundary walls which surround a temple built in the 1st century a.D. The large number of elephants represented on these walls makes you think that this animal used to have an important role in this area.

The site of Naga is located in a typical Saharan environment with rocks and sand, there is the Apedemak temple (1st century a.D.): a wonderful building with bas-relief decorations with the image of the god with the lion head, of the Pharaoh and of the noblemen and several ritual images of the Apedemak God. A few dozens of metres away there is a small and interesting building with arches and columns, named the "kiosk", in which we can notice the Egyptian, the Roman and the Greek styles at the same time. Not far away another temple dedicated to Amon with many statues of rams and beautiful temple entrance decorated with bas-reliefs. Last overnight in the desert.

Today we reach Omdurman, the old capital of Sudan. After a visit to the big market, the tomb and the small museum of the Mahdi (the Islamic leader of the Sudan that fought in 1885 against General Gordon and the English colonisation). Then we reach our hotel in Khartoum where rooms are available until transfer to the airport.