Award-winning tour operator Andante Travels (www.andantetravels.co.uk, 01722 713800) has launched a brand new 14-day tour for 2022 that explores Sudan and its archaeology. It will depart on the 24th February and again on the 17th November, and prices start from £5,995pp. If guests book before 30th June 2021 and pay in full at the time of booking, they will save £250pp on the total price with Andante's limited-time special offer.

Beginning and ending in the capital Khartoum, this itinerary explores northwards along the Nile valley, visiting an incredible range of sites and successive civilisations of great continuity over some five millennia. Desert roads, ferryboats and granite mountains make up a fantastic odyssey through one of Africa's most striking places, and this tour offers a rare chance to see great sites of the Nile as the first Egyptologists once did. 

Highlights include the pyramids of Meroë – a series of great cemeteries of the ruling families – where guests will discover over 40 hilltop pyramids, some of which are almost perfectly preserved and date between 270 BC and 320 AD. There will also be visits to Wadi Sabu with its extensive array of prehistoric petroglyphs and the beautiful temple in Soleb, which was built by Pharaoh Amenhotep III.

Other notable experienced on this tour include the ruined ancient city of Naga, where a temple dedicated to the lion-headed god Apedemak awaits – a wonderful building with bas-relief decorations and several ritual images; a boat ride on the Nile to see the confluence of the White and Blue Nile rivers that makes Khartoum so unique; a chance to witness a Dervish Ceremony, which sees dancers in multicoloured jalabiya robes break into a spinning dance-like trance as a way of getting closer to god; and a visit to the island of Sai, where guests find ancient remains from the Kerma, Egyptian, Meroitic and Christian civilisations.

Andante Travels' Head of New Product Development Kate Winter, formerly of Newmarket Holidays and Solos Holidays, says: “Putting this unique tour together with Guide Lecturer Dr Jacke Phillips and the ground supplier was an exciting challenge. I am delighted to finally be able to present this tour to our archaeological travellers and Jacke can't wait to take groups to these incredible ancient sites in and around Sudan.”

Richard Tarrant, New Product Development and Marketing Director for Andante, adds: “Here at Andante Travels we're delighted to introduce a brand new tour to Sudan, one of the world's great archaeological destinations, in the company of an expert Guide Lecturer. We've taken our time to perfect an itinerary that is more comprehensive, more comfortable and more rewarding than any other available – it really is a once-in-lifetime journey through millennia of enthralling history and travels around spectacular sites that are still romantically sand-swept and free of visitors.” 

The tour will be accompanied by expert Guide Lecturer Dr Jacke Phillips as well as a professional Tour Manager and a local English-speaking guide. Included in the price are 12 breakfasts, 12 lunches, 12 dinners, along with return flights from London, accommodation throughout, transport throughout the tour either by coach or 4WD where appropriate, field notes that will be mailed out to guests ahead of departure, entry to all sites mentioned in the itinerary, and all taxes and gratuities.

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For further media information, please contact Martha Whatley: martha@specialistjourneys.com

For product information, please contact Kate Winter: kate@specialistjourneys.com

Andante Travels – Notes to Editors: Founded in 1985, Andante Travels – part of the Specialist Journeys group – has grown to become one of the UK's leading specialist tour operators. The company has won a number of British Travel Awards over the years, including Best Small Holiday Company for Customer Service, Best Special Interest Holiday Company and Best Holiday Company to the Italian Peninsula & Malta, and it was recently shortlisted for the Best Cultural Tour Operator at the Silver Travel Awards. In 2019, one of its expert Guide Lecturers won Wanderlust magazine's World Guide Awards Top History & Culture Guide prize and Andante's tours have been named 'Trips of a Lifetime' by the National Geographic Traveler on five occasions. In 2018, it appointed Jackie Willis as its new CEO, who brought with her over 35 years of touring and travel experience. Over the years, the company has introduced thousands of people to the wonders of the ancient world on tours that are both designed and led by renowned experts.