This November a team from Secret Compass, the global expeditionary service, will seek to complete an epic 280km crossing of the Sudanese Bayuda Desert. The expedition will be led by the renowned explorer and Sudanese expert, Michael Asher. Michael is a former SAS man and the author of over twenty books including Khartoum: The Ultimate Imperial Adventure. A fluent speaker of both Arabic and Swahili he made the first recorded crossing, along with his wife Mariantonietta Peru, of the Sahara desert from west to east by camel - a journey of 4500 miles. 

'The Bayuda trek is the only camel-trek I know of that is the 'real thing', says Michael, 'We carry everything by camel with no back-up, no prearranged camp-sites, no going round in circles. It's a real expedition in an area where tourists are almost unknown, and where you never see a motor-car.' This complete sense of wilderness may cause concern for some but Michael argues that although, 'Many people start with the idea that the desert is hostile and are afraid of it: in fact, although one doesn't take anything for granted there, it's home. After about 4 days most people feel as if they've been there all their lives.' 

On this two week expedition the team will cross the Bayuda Desert between Metemma and Korti, travelling just as the Sudanese nomads have done for centuries, following in reverse the route used by the British Camel Corps during the Gordon Relief Expedition in 1885. It is a unique opportunity to cross a spectacular desert as nomads would, in a region that is steeped in history, enriched by culture and is now mired by controversial politics. Indeed the Sudan is one of the most fascinating countries in the world, not only the meeting place of the Blue and White Niles, it is also the place where the Arab world meets Africa, with the variation of tribes, languages and cultures that this encounter has made possible. All this contributes to the sense that this is not an expedition to be missed.