As long as there are new fishing frontiers to explore — and those seem to get fewer every year — there will be anglers who’ll heed the call.
Knowing that, Tourette Fishing— an African-based anglers’ outfitter — has for the past couple of years been offering adventures to explore what it calls the Nubian Flats — vast, uninhabited, untouched coastal shallows of the Red Sea in the northern Sudan.
Rob Scott, with Tourette, says: “Until recently, North Africa, and especially the coast of Sudan has never been considered a viable fishing destination.
"Political unrest in neighboring Southern Sudan has cast an image that has been badly portrayed and dampened the potential for Sudanese tourism. Along the Red Sea coast of Sudan there are countless islands and wide expanses of shallow-water flats. These offer the adventurous fly angler a treasure chest of fly-fishing opportunities. In 2013, Tourette Fishing began the long process of exploring as much of the coast as possible in order to evaluate the fly-fishing potential.
"It didn’t take long to see the massive potential, as the flats were home to incredible numbers of triggerfish, bluefin, GTs, bohar as well as shots at bonefish and permit. Despite the bad reputation of the country, Sudan is a very inviting, friendly, and safe place to travel, and for years has been the center for an exploding diving industry. In the future there is no doubt that the Nubian flats of the Red Sea will become a well-recognized flats destination as fly fisherman experience the magic of the Sudan coast.”
The U.S. State Department does have a Sudan travel warning in effect since June 2015, though it does agree that the greatest risk is in the south Sudan (these flats are in the north). Certainly, any American traveler will want to review this information, though Scott insists, "There's always a travel warning [for Sudan]. Unfortunately, the whole country gets lumped together, but northern Sudan — where we visit — is a completely different country. It's probably one of the safest places I've visited (and I visit a lot of places)."
Whether one decides that visiting the Sudan is currently a viable option or not, it’s interesting to see the potential of this untouched and fascinating area in these excellent photos, all taken by Mark Murray and provided courtesy Tourette Fishing.