Capital: Khartoum | Language: Arabic, English | Currency: Sudanese Pound | Religion: Islam | Population: 37 million

Sudan is truly off-the-beaten track, with the redtape and bureauacracy to prove it. Cross a dusty, remote border in the desert. Poke around pyramids hidden in the sand dunes -there are ancient ruins here you’ve never heard of. Watch whirling dervishes dance at sunset against a backdrop of tombstones. So much tea. And the Sudanese are some of the friendliest, most hospitable people we’ve ever met.