Photo of the Day 265

Man and Hieroglyphs, Al Kurru, Sudan, 2003

Photograph by Randy Olson

A Sudanese man illuminates hieroglyphs in an ancient tomb in Al Kurru. Sudan is strewn with the ruins of Nubian kings, who once ruled all of Egypt. Today, Sudan's government struggles to control its own country, paralyzed by decades of civil, ethnic, and religious conflict.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Shattered Sudan: Drilling for Oil, Hoping for Peace," February 2003, National Geographic magazine)