Man goes on epic 'bucket list' journey, declares himself king of land between Egypt and Sudan

An explorer from India has declared himself king of a piece of unclaimed land between Egypt and Sudan after making a 'bucket list' trip to the dangerous area.

Suyash Dixit christened the Kingdom of Dixit on 5 November after an "epic journey" to the uninhabited and unclaimed 2,060 km² area of Bir Tawil in North Africa. He has now put out a call to anyone who wants to apply for citizenship to his new kingdom.

Dixit even designed a flag, which is red and yellow with a crest in the centre. He decided the capital city should be Suyashpur, named himself King Suyash I, and proclaimed the national animal to be a lizard, as it was the only species he saw on the land.

In a lengthy Facebook post two days later, Dixit told the tale of his unique journey, which involved serious planning to ensure it was a route that could be travelled by car. He began at Abu Simbel in Egypt and employed the help of a local driver who initially thought Dixit was "crazy", but agreed to make the trip.

Dixit said: "Just to tell how dangerous this plan was, the route that I took is under Egyptian military (it is an international border) and is an area of terrorists so military have 'shoot at sight' orders. But, if your bucket list ideas are not scary enough then they are not worth trying!"

Three conditions were placed on the group to allow them to travel through the area: they could not take photos of any military land, carry any valuables or stay longer than one day. Dixit told a local friend that if he had not returned by midnight, she should call the police.

After six hours of driving through desert, barren lands and one military base, often fearing that the car would go no further or they would run out of fuel, Dixit arrived and planted his flag in two locations – what he called the capital city, and the border. He also planted and watered seeds, as he says " if you want to claim a land then you need to grow crops on it".

Formally announcing his kingdom, Dixit said: "I, Suyash Dixit, first of my name and the protector of the realm, declare myself as the king of 'Kingdom of Dixit'. I call myself, King Suyash First from today. I declare this unclaimed land of Bir Tawil as my country from now to the eternity of time. I pledge to continue to work for the prosperity of my people of the country and this motherland."

After all that, Dixit said: "I learned something from this trip... never try anything like this ever again!"

"Life is either an incredible adventure or it is nothing at all. If you are not doing something epic, you're gonna end up in a yet another grave," he added. "This is no joke, I own a country now! Time to write an email to UN."

Back in 2014, Jeremiah Heaton travelled to Bir Tawil from Virginia and claimed it for his seven-year-old daughter Emily, planting his own flag. Dixit acknowledged that several people had already made the same journey but said: "This is my land now (as I have officially planted the seeds following the rules) and if they want it back, there will be a war (over a cup of coffee at the Starbucks probably)!"

Dixit has set up a website for the Kingdom of Dixit here and is awaiting foreign investment and nationality applications to the country.