The pictures below were taken in the middle of nowhere in the Bayuda Desert in Sudan. And I really mean the middle of nowhere… We drove for hours cross-country to reach this point where we set up camp for the night.

While we were setting up our camp, I noticed this hill (below) in the distance.

I was not able to ignore its siren song for long and soon set off for it with a backpack full of water and the Italian in tow:

You can see how desolate this part of the world is from these pictures I took on our march to the summit:

The summit at last… And I believe a first ascent – if not by a human, than definitely by a Westerner.

Those trails in the background are animal trails linking waterholes in the area and are not evidence of humanity in the area. We were only out here because we had a 4WD vehicle and, therefore, did not need to follow roads to get to our next destination. Thus, we simply took the most direct route – as the crow flies.

We drove all day to get to the point featured in these pictures and the only sign of civilization we saw the entire time were a few emaciated nomads off in the distance:

Back at the bottom with darkness approaching:

It’s a wonderful feeling for me to be reminded that there are still places like this in our world.