Where to look first.
A small, hand-picked set of destinations and data stories that we think best represent the continent right now. Refreshed periodically.
Featured destinations
All tourism →
7 Coloured Earth - Chamarel
Volcanic soil dunes in seven distinct colours — red, violet, green, blue, purple, yellow, and brown.
8. Main Falls
The world's largest sheet of falling water, over a kilometre wide, dropping into a basalt gorge.
Anse Source d'Argent
Giant pink granite boulders framing the turquoise lagoon of La Digue — one of the world's most-photographed beaches.
Carthage
The ancient Phoenician and Roman capital on Tunis Bay — Antonine Baths among its UNESCO remains.
Devil's Pool
A natural rock pool right at the lip of Victoria Falls, swimmable only in the low-water season.
Djenné
The Great Mosque of Djenné — the world's largest mud-brick building — rebuilt annually by the community.
Maasai Mara National Reserve
1,510 km² of open savanna in south-west Kenya — the northern half of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem and the stage for the world's largest land migration.
Mount Cameroon
West Africa's highest peak and an active volcano, rising straight out of the Gulf of Guinea.
Murchison Falls National Park - Wangkwar Gate
The Nile forced through a narrow gorge in one roaring jet — boat cruises run right up to its base.
Nyiragongo
One of the world's largest lava lakes, glowing inside an active volcano above Goma — a two-day trek.
Parc national de Loango
Gabon's showpiece park: forest elephants and hippos walk Atlantic surf beaches at dawn.
Parc National des oiseaux du Djoudj (PNOD)
A UNESCO wetland hosting millions of migratory birds — pelicans, flamingos, herons by the thousand.
Pics de Sindou
Narrow sandstone chimneys rising from the savanna — among West Africa's most striking geological formations.
Praia do Bazaruto
Powder-white dunes and turquoise channels in Mozambique's flagship marine park, Bazaruto.
Sossusvlei
Some of the world's tallest dunes, rust-red against blue sky, ringing Deadvlei's white clay pan.
Yamoussoukro
The world's largest Christian church by floor area — a dome above a man-made lake.
Aapravasi Ghat
UNESCO World Heritage immigration depot where 500,000 indentured labourers from India first landed.
Chutes de la Lobé
Rare waterfalls that drop directly into the Atlantic — Lobé Falls just south of Kribi.
Cour Royale de Tiebele
Kassena royal court at Tiébélé, where women paint intricate geometric murals on every earthen wall.
Ecomusée de la Lopé
The Lopé–Okanda UNESCO site: 5,000 km² of ancient rainforest, savanna, and forest elephants.
Fish River Canyon Viewpoint
Africa's largest canyon, a 160 km gorge cut by the Fish River, walked on a five-day trail.
Grand-Bassam
UNESCO-listed French colonial quarter on the Atlantic lagoon, Côte d'Ivoire's first capital.
Great Zimbabwe National Monument
A 1,800-acre stone city built without mortar — the medieval capital that gave Zimbabwe its name.
Kairouan
Islam's fourth-holiest city; its 9th-century Great Mosque is the oldest standing in the Maghreb.
Lake Nakuru National Park
Soda-water lake whose alkaline shallows draw flocks of pink flamingos, framed by yellow-fever acacias and cliffs of black-and-white colobus.
Livingstone
Zambia's gateway town to Victoria Falls, named for the explorer who first charted the falls.
Quirimbas National Park
A 700 km coral-reef archipelago in Cabo Delgado; check current security advisories before visiting.
Saint-Louis
Saint-Louis's 19th-century iron bridge over the Senegal River, the old colonial capital's landmark.
Source of Nile
Where the White Nile leaves Lake Victoria to begin its run north — East Africa's rafting hub.
Timbuktu
The fabled desert city of Timbuktu, once home to 100,000 scholars and the Sankore madrasa.
Vallée de Mai
The UNESCO Vallée de Mai — a primeval coco de mer palm forest where the world's largest seed grows wild.
Virunga National Park
Africa's oldest national park, a gorilla stronghold where tourism has been suspended since 2020.
Amas coquiller de Fadiouth
Village cemetery built on centuries of discarded clamshells, shared by Muslim and Christian graves.
Anse Lazio
Anse Lazio on Praslin: granite headlands, transparent turquoise water, and a beach of pale golden sand.
Baï de la Langoué
Langoué Baï forest clearing where 100–200 forest elephants converge daily in Ivindo NP.
Bandiagara Escarpment UNESCO World Heritage Site
A 150-kilometre sandstone cliff sheltering Dogon villages and ancient Tellem cave dwellings.
Bazoule Sacred Crocodile Pool
A sacred village pond 30 km from Ouagadougou where 200+ Nile crocodiles live alongside humans peacefully.
Große Spitzkoppe
A granite inselberg of bald domes rising from flat plain, nicknamed the Matterhorn of Namibia.
Kahuzi
Volcanic peak naming a UNESCO park sheltering eastern lowland gorillas, found nowhere else on Earth.
Khami Ruins (World Heritage Site)
A Torwa-dynasty stone capital famed for chevron-patterned walls, a UNESCO site since 1986.
Kibale National Park
Africa's highest primate density — habituated chimp troops tracked on foot through rainforest.
Le Morne Brabant
The UNESCO basalt peninsula of Le Morne Brabant, memorial to enslaved people who sought refuge in its cliffs.
Medina Tozeur
Ochre-brick medina quarter famed for raised geometric brickwork patterns, a Saharan oasis gateway.
Mount Kenya
Africa's second-highest peak — 5,199 m of glacier ice on the equator. Trekking circuits ring three summits and pass alpine tarns above the moorland.
Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve
A UNESCO cloud-forest reserve on the Guinea border, home to rare viviparous toads.
Parque Nacional da Gorongosa
Mozambique's flagship rewilding success — wildlife rebuilt from near-total loss after the civil war.
Victoria Falls Bridge
A 1905 cantilever bridge spanning the Batoka Gorge, linking Zambia and Zimbabwe over the Zambezi.
Waza National Park
Sahel-edge savanna park in the far north, with elephant herds under flat-topped acacias.
Beau Vallon
Beau Vallon — Mahé's most popular beach on the sheltered north-west coast, calm May–October and vibrant year-round.
Blue Bay Marine Park
Protected coral garden off Mahébourg with 108 coral species and a 1,000-year-old brain coral.
Chinhoyi Cave
An underground lake of deep blue water in a collapsed dolomite cave, sacred to local communities.
Grande Mosquée de Kong
A Sudano-Sahelian mud-brick mosque in Kong, dating to the 18th century — northern Ivorian icon.
Ishasha Tree Climbing lions
One of only two places where lion prides regularly climb trees to rest by day, a real rarity.
Lac de Tengrela
A small lake 7 km from Banfora where habituated hippos surface within metres of traditional pirogues.
Lambarene
Albert Schweitzer's 1913 hospital on the Ogooué River — still operating, with a museum on the grounds.
Lamu Fort
Heart of the UNESCO-listed Lamu Old Town. Coral-stone fort and library, with a sea-front of dhow boats and Swahili courtyards a thousand years old.
Lola ya Bonobo
The world's only bonobo sanctuary, rehabilitating orphaned great apes for eventual forest release.
Mopti
The Venice of Mali, where the Niger and Bani rivers meet amid a maze of pirogues and mud-walled markets.
Ngonye Falls
A horseshoe of cascades on the upper Zambezi, sometimes called the mini Victoria Falls.
Palais des Sultans Bamouns
The 1917 royal palace of the Bamoun kingdom in Foumban, still home to the reigning sultan.
Reserve de Bandia
A private reserve north of Dakar reintroducing rhino, giraffe, and zebra into baobab woodland.
Site touristique Chott El Jerid
A vast salt flat that floods pink and white after rain — one of the largest in the Sahara.
Tofo
A laid-back surf and dive beach town famed for year-round whale shark and manta ray encounters.
Twyfelfontein Rock Engraving
More than 2,000 San rock engravings on red sandstone, among the largest concentrations in Africa.
Abidjan
West Africa's commercial capital — Plateau district towers above the Ébrié lagoon.
Banfora
Gateway to the Cascades Region: Karfiguéla waterfalls, sugarcane plains, and the Domes de Fabedougou.
Black River Peak
Mauritius's highest point at 828 m, reached via endemic ebony forest trails in Black River Gorges NP.
Curieuse
Curieuse Island marine park — home to 300+ free-roaming Aldabra giant tortoises, mangroves, and coral reefs.
Fort Jesus
Sixteenth-century Portuguese fort on the Mombasa harbour, UNESCO-listed. The bastions trace four centuries of trade, conquest, and Swahili resistance.
Fortaleza de Maputo
An 1881 Portuguese fort of red brick in the capital, now housing a small military museum.
Île de la Madeleine
Rocky islets off Dakar's tip, the smallest national park in Africa and a seabird breeding ground.
Kinshasa
Africa's largest Francophone city, on the Congo River across from Brazzaville — river-port energy.
Libreville
Gabon's capital on the Komo estuary — the Atlantic gateway, with rainforest pushing to the city edge.
Limbe Wildlife Centre
A primate sanctuary on the coast rehabilitating orphaned chimpanzees, gorillas, and drills.
Livingstone Railway Museum
Zambia's railway heritage museum in Livingstone, with steam locomotives from the colonial era.
Mount Nyangani
Zimbabwe's highest peak at 2,592 m, a windswept Eastern Highlands summit above the Honde Valley.
Rwenzori Mountains National Park
Equatorial glaciers above 5,000 m on Africa's third-highest peak, ringed by bog and alpine moorland.
Sousse
A 9th-century fortified monastery and watchtower anchoring Sousse's UNESCO-listed medina.
Swakopmund
A wooden pier reaching into the cold Atlantic, anchor of this old German colonial port town.
Tomb of Askia Unesco world heritage site
The 1495 pyramidal earthen tomb of Askia Muhammad, emperor of the Songhai Empire, in Gao.
Diani Beach
Seventeen kilometres of powder-white sand on the south coast, kitesurfing season Jun–Sep, and reef snorkelling year-round at Kisite-Mpunguti.
Featured indicators
All data →Maternal mortality rate
Number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births. The most-cited indicator of maternal health.
Under-5 mortality rate
Probability of a child born in a specified year dying before reaching the age of five, expressed per 1,000 live births.
Life expectancy at birth
Average number of years a newborn would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of birth stayed the same throughout life.
Total population
Total population — counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.
GDP
Gross domestic product at current US dollar market prices — the total value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a year.
Literacy rate
Percentage of people aged 15 and over who can both read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life.
GDP per capita
Gross domestic product divided by mid-year population, expressed in current US dollars.
Fertility rate
Average number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years.
Gender parity, primary & secondary
Ratio of female to male gross enrollment in primary and secondary education combined. 1.0 indicates parity.
Access to electricity
Share of the population with access to electricity, on-grid or off-grid.
Individuals using the internet
Share of population that has used the internet (from any device) in the last 3 months.
Malaria incidence
Estimated number of new malaria cases per 1,000 population at risk in a calendar year.
HIV prevalence (15-49)
Estimated percentage of adults aged 15-49 living with HIV.
Child stunting under 5
Percentage of children under 5 whose height-for-age is more than 2 standard deviations below the WHO Child Growth Standards median.
The whole continent, both halves.
Featured is a starting point. Tourism and Data each have hundreds of pages waiting after.