Ris­ing in sinewy ridges atop the dusty plains of Dar­fur in the west­ern reach­es of Sudan, the Jebel Mar­ra are per­haps the orig­i­nal African bad­lands.

They are carved and chipped mas­sifs of ancient vol­canic stone that have been forged from erup­tion after erup­tion over the mil­len­nia.

The most recent addi­tions to the land­scape are a colos­sal water-filled caldera known as the Deri­ba Crater, which is thought to have appeared fol­low­ing the pyro­clas­tic flows of an explo­sion in 1,500 BC (that’s like yes­ter­day to a vol­ca­nol­o­gist!). Jebel Mar­ra itself is the high­est peak in the coun­try, clock­ing up more than 3,088 meters, and boast­ing beau­ti­ful water­falls and canyons around its base.