Here are 25 of the most amazing
places to see when you travel to Africa:
With
its expansive landscapes and formidable animal life, the world's second-biggest
continent is arguably the best for photographers.
1. The great
migration,
Tanzania 🇹🇿
A photo won't capture the thunder of
hooves on dirt as more than a million wildebeest and several hundred thousand
zebra make their annual migration, but still, this is one for the top of the
pile.
The migration is actually a
year-round event as the animals move from Tanzania's Ngorongoro Reserve in
January, up through the Serengeti around June and hit Kenya's Masai Mara around
September, before journeying south again.
2.
Table Mountain,
South
Africa 🇿🇦
We've got the table and the wine,
all we need is the company.
Table
Mountain makes Cape Town, one of the world's best beach cities, also
one of the world's most photogenic.
Cable car rides are available to the
top of the mesa, giving great views, fantastic sunrises/sunsets and a great
photo. Challenge: Try to limit yourself to 50 pics.
3.
Djemaa el Fna,
Morocco 🇲🇦
The world's most exciting town
square, Djemaa el Fna reminds you you're in Africa. In the heart of the old
city of Marrakech, snake-charmers, henna-painters, storytellers, date-sellers
and orange juice vendors set up their stalls in the sleepy heat of the
afternoon.
As night falls, the vendors are
joined by tribal drummers, ladyboy dancers and mobile restaurateurs selling
delicious grilled meats, bread and salad as the smoke rises above their stalls
'til past midnight.
4.
Sossusvlei Dunes,
Namibia 🇳🇦
Namibia 🇳🇦
Sossusvlei means "the gathering place of
water" but you'll need to bring your own if you don't want to dehydrate at
this, Namibia's most outstanding attraction.
The dunes have developed over
millions of years, the result of material flowing from the Orange River into
the Atlantic, carried north and returned again to land by the surf.
Climbing the dunes yields
breathtaking views, including the Deadvlei, a ghostly expanse of dried, white
clay punctuated by skeletons of ancient camelthorn trees.
5.
Mountain gorillas,
Rwanda 🇷🇼
A close encounter with the mountain
gorillas of the Rwandan rainforest will stay with you for a lifetime. Various
operators run tours tracking silverbacks and their troupes in the dense forest.
At an elevation of more than 6,000
feet, the Nyungwe National Park is an isolated region, covering more than 386
square miles across southwest Rwanda. Tourists can meet a vast range of
primates and also traverse East Africa's highest canopy.
6.
Victoria Falls,
Zambia 🇿🇲 and Zimbabwe 🇿🇼
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Take a 60 second vacation to
Victoria Falls - the world's largest waterfalls and one of the seven natural
wonders of the world, located in Southern Africa.
One of the world's most majestic
water spectacles, Victoria Falls (also called Mosi-oa-Tunya, or "The Cloud
That Thunders) -- were reportedly first seen by a European when Scotsman David
Livingstone journeyed here in 1855.
Since then thousands have enjoyed
the spray from the 108-meter high cascade, which was once recorded flowing at
12,800 cubic meters per second -- double that of Niagara's highest flow.
7.
Spitzkoppe,
Namibia 🇳🇦
Namibia's deserts are so fascinating
that another attraction deserves mention in this list.
The Spitzkoppe is a grouping of
granite peaks in Namibia's Namib Desert, with the highest peak hitting nearly
1,800 meters (about 5,900 feet). This place is heaven for climbers, geologists,
stargazers and watchers of weaver birds.
8.
Sahara Dunes,
Morocco 🇲🇦
The most user-friendly part of the
Sahara is accessible from the northern edge of Morocco. You can trek with
Berbers from the town of Zagoura, or camp out in Tazzarine, where runners from
all over the world complete the weeklong Marathon des Sables every spring.
The foot of the Merzouga Dunes is
the ultimate location for gazing at stars, totally free of light pollution.
9.
Pyramids of Giza,
Egypt 🇪🇬
And you thought building your garden
wall was hard work.
The most famous of the structures at
Giza, near Cairo, the Pyramid of King Cheops was built around 2650 BC from 2.5
million blocks of limestone. Its sides are oriented exactly to the north,
south, east and west.
The Chephren pyramid, built by
Cheops' son, is similar in size and incorporates the entrances to a burial
chamber that still contains the large granite sarcophagus of King Chephren.
The pyramid of Mycerinus is smaller
than both and all three are surrounded by other smaller pyramids and dozens of
tombs.
10.
Nyika Plateau National Park,
Malawi 🇲🇼
Nyika, the largest national park in Malawi, is one of the most unusual in Africa,
with a plateau cut by numerous rivers that reach Lake Malawi by way of
waterfalls off the eastern edge of the mountains.
The eastern border of the plateau
forms the wall of the Great Rift Valley. The great domes of hills have gentle
slopes, making Nyika perfect for both trekking and mountain biking as well as
Jeep exploration.
Antelope and zebra abound, and the
park has one of the highest densities of leopard in Central Africa.
11.
Makgadikgadi Pans,
Botswana 🇧🇼
Saltier than a salt shaker.
It's said you can hear your own
blood flow in this vast area of dried-up salt pans in the Kalahari Desert, a
forbidding landscape formed by a huge lake that dried up millennia ago.
But it can transform in an instant
during winter, if rains have been good enough to make lush grass sprout,
bringing a stampede of wildlife to break the silence, including zebra,
wildebeest and flamingos.
12.
Draa Valley,
Morocco 🇲🇦
Between the Atlas Mountains and the
dunes of the Sahara lies one of Morocco's most splendid and rewarding
landscapes: the Draa, a mass of date plantations punctuated by kasbahs made of
rammed red earth rising against the sky.
Zagora, at the southern end, makes a
good base with decent hotels and restaurants. Allow five hours to reach the
Draa from Marrakech via a spectacular route across the Atlas Mountains -- it's
best not to self-drive.
13.
Sphinx,
Egypt 🇪🇬
This colossal temple is on the way
down to Egypt's Valley Temple of King Chefren. The body of a lion with a human
head is 70 meters long and 20 meters high -- as tall as a six-story apartment
block.
Although the Sphinx has been thought
of as female, many scholars believe the face is that of King Chefren.
14.
Mount Mulanje,
Malawi 🇲🇼
At around 3,000 meters (about 9,850
feet), the Mulanje Massif dwarfs the lush land that surrounds it. It's split in
two by the Fort Lister Gap, a broad pass eroded by the Phalombe and Sombani
rivers.
The mountain is distinguished by
giant basins of rock and narrow gullies cut by fast-flowing streams. A
strenuous trek leads to magnificent viewpoints.
En route, expect to encounter
monkeys, hares, voles and a carpet of enchanting wildflowers after the rain.
Large numbers of butterflies are another feature.
15.
Riding safari,
Kenya 🇰🇪
The best way to experience Kenya's
zebras? From the back of a horse. Travelers can gallop alongside the stripey
beasts in the Masai Mara, covering up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) in a week.
16.
Wonders of the Nile,
Egypt 🇪🇬
A cruise down the Egyptian Nile,
ideally on a romantic felucca rather than a crowded tourist boat, reveals
relics of one of the world's most ancient civilizations.
The high point is the Valley of the
Kings, with its monumental statues, and the magnificent Kom Ombo Temple, north
of Aswan on the east bank.
17.
Flamingos,
Kenya 🇰🇪
Lake Nakuru National Park is home to
1 million resident flamingos, providing one of Kenya's most unforgettable
sights. This lake has become famous for the greatest bird spectacle in the
world, with swathes of vibrant pink filling the alkaline lake and the huge sky.
18.
Lower Zambezi,
Zambia 🇿🇲
Ernest Hemingway would have loved
this.
Canoeing safaris in the Lower
Zambezi offer sightings of hippos, elephants and other animals drinking from
the rivers and tributaries around camp.
People who love to fish can also be
accommodated at various of the camps and lodges on the banks of the river.
19.
Bazaruto Archipelago,
Mozambique 🇲🇿
The 10-minute helicopter ride across
the Bazaruto Archipelago to the Azura Retreats lodge on Benguerra Island is worth
it in its own right. The destination is the icing on the cake.
This award-winning boutique hotel
set on a remote desert island is set within a Marine National Park, giving the
chance to see whales, dolphins and dugong.
20.
Nxia Pan National Park,
Botswana 🇧🇼
The Baines baobabs that sit close to
the entrance of Botswana's Nxai Pan National Park take their name from a series
of watercolors by Victorian explorer and artist Thomas Baines. Their fruit
apparently tastes a little like sherbet.
The Nxai Pan park is great for
viewing the vast, salt-rich pans that characterize the Kalahari and is also
known for lion, leopard and cheetah and unusually large herds of giraffe.
21.
Fish River Canyon,
Namibia 🇳🇦
Namibia is the travel gift that
keeps on giving. Some 500 meters (1,640 feet) deep and more than 160 kilometers
(100 miles) long, this great rift is second only to the United States' Grand
Canyon in size, and during the dry season is characterized by beautiful
turquoise pools of seasonally flowing water stretching into the distance.
22.
Rhinos at Solio Reserve,
Kenya 🇰🇪
Located in the valley between the
dramatic slopes of Mount Kenya and the rolling peaks of the Aberdare Mountains,
Solio Reserve is home to around 250 black and white rhino and considered the
best place to see these increasingly rare species.
23.
Nyiragongo Volcano, Virunga National Park,
Democratic
Republic of Congo 🇨🇩
A whopping 2 kilometers (1.2 miles)
wide and usually containing a lava lake, Nyiragongo Volcano is one of Africa's
most active volcanoes, with an eruption in 2002 displacing half a million
people.
24.
Kilimanjaro,
Tanzania 🇹🇿
Breath taking views and altitudes.
Mount Kilimanjaro, at 5,895 meters
(19,341 feet), is Africa's highest peak -- and an item on thousands of bucket
lists. It is a "Sky island," creating a varied and dramatic natural
habitat.
Rising through lush rainforests and
alpine meadows, climbers finally cross a barren lunar landscape to reach the
twin summit, often above the clouds.
25.
Lake Malawi,
Malawi 🇲🇼
Lake
Malawi, one of the largest lakes in the world, was dubbed "Lake of
Stars" by Dr. David Livingstone, who trekked here a century and a half
ago.
The lake has more tropical fish than
any lake in the world -- 1,300 species -- and the freshwater diving is great.
The biodiversity has been recognized
by UNESCO, which has made Lake Malawi National Park, the world's first
freshwater park, a World Heritage Site.
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