For many people Jordan begins and ends with the magical ancient Nabataean city of Petra. And it’s true, Petra is without doubt one of the Middle East’s most spectacular, unmissable sights, battling it out with Machu Picchu or Angkor Wat for the title of the world’s most dramatic ‘lost city’.
Yet there’s so much more to [...]
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Flick through the glossy tourist brochures and the clichés come thick and fast. Malawi is ‘the warm heart of Africa’, or ‘Africa for beginners’; and its lake ‘the lake of stars’. It all seems too good to be true, but, with stunning and varied scenery and supremely friendly locals, along with the relative ease of [...]
Travel Alert: Border areas with Sudan, Chad, Niger and Algeria are potentially dangerous. Check Safe Travel for current government warnings.
Libya is a crossroads of history, continents and ancient empires. Home to the Mediterranean’s richest store of Roman and Greek cities – Sabratha, Cyrene and, above all, Leptis Magna – each of which is overlaid by [...]
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Forget Hollywood fripperies, Madagascar is like no place else on earth. In fact, all things considered, it barely qualifies as part of Africa: the two are separated by hundreds of kilometres of sea and 165 million years of evolution – long enough for Madagascar’s plants and animals to evolve into some of the weirdest forms [...]
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Lesotho (le-soo-too) is called Southern Africa’s ‘kingdom in the sky’ for good reason. This stunningly beautiful, mountainous country is nestled island-like in the middle of South Africa and it is a fascinating travel detour from its larger neighbour. The country offers superb mountain scenery, a proud traditional people, endless hiking trails, and the chance to [...]
Travel Alert: Criminal activity is a problem in parts of Kenya, see the Dangers & Annoyances section for details.
For a country of its size, Kenya sure packs a lot in: mountains and deserts, colourful tribal culture, beaches and coral reefs, and some of Africa’s best wildlife attractions. In fact, to say Kenya is Africa in [...]
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Travel Alert: The security situation in Guinea is very volatile and the border areas with Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire should be avoided. Check Safe Travel for current government warnings.
Guinea’s landscape is spectacular. The country has some of the world’s few remaining tropical dry forests, and the rainforests that remain in the south are [...]
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In Ghana life is public. People evacuate their homes and apartments every day to escape the stifling heat. And much like the patterned cloth worn by market women, the disparate parts and peoples somehow mix and weave together into a cohesive whole. Ghana is home to a number of diverse peoples and cultures, all finding [...]
In Gabon, you might just find yourself landing on an airstrip full of goats, dodging forest elephants on the stroll home from the bar, or wandering into a celebration of starkly painted dancers that harkens back hundreds of years. Outside Westernised Libreville, just about everything in Gabon is so newly accessible that just by being [...]
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After scaling Monaco’s steep terraced steps, shiny escalators and gleaming marble corridors tunnelling through the rocks to a series of free public lifts running up and down the hillside (not to mention navigating the 3D road system encircling its towering high rises!), you could be forgiven for thinking you’re inside a life-size MC Escher illustration [...]
Continue reading about Monaco:it is the world’s second smallest country
Travel Alert: Travel to the Eritrean border area should be avoided. The border itself is permanently closed. The Somali, Kenyan and Sudanese borders are also very dangerous, and any travel by road across these frontiers should be reconsidered. Check Safe Travel for current government warnings.
Wade through incense into a medieval world hewn from stone in [...]
Continue reading about Ethiopia: Testing, awe-inspiring and heartbreaking
Caution is advised when travelling in Eritrea, particularly in the border areas with Sudan and Ethiopia; check Safe Travel for current government warnings.
Eritrea is a heartbreaker. It was once heralded as a good place for travelling and, with a bit of luck, it could soon be so again. But as long as the country is [...]
The land that gave birth to the first great civilisation needs little introduction. The pyramids, the minarets, the Nile – the scope of Egypt is magnificent.
Visitors are surprised to discover that those legendary pyramids are merely the tip of the archaeological iceberg. Pharaonic nations, ancient Greeks, Romans, Christians and Arab dynasties have all played their [...]
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Small in size, big in ambitions. Djibouti may be one of the tiniest, youngest and least-known nations in Africa, but it could also well be the most talented or, depending on your perspective, the most opportunistic. While its larger, more powerful neighbours are embroiled in a never-ending border dispute, Djibouti stands out as a haven [...]
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Travel Alert: The Democratic Republic of Congo remains a very risky travel proposition. Travellers should exercise extreme caution, check the BBC for news updates or Safe Travel for current government warnings.
More a geographical concept than a fully fledged nation, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, formerly Zaïre) is a bubbling cauldron of untamed wilderness carpeted [...]
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