Best of · Africa
The 15 Most Beautiful Places in Africa
15 places · every one real, mapped, and worth the trip
Africa's natural spectacle runs from the endless savannas of the east — home to the greatest gathering of large animals left on Earth — to the red dunes of the southwest, the world's largest waterfall, and glaciers on the equator itself.
This is our editors' pick of the continent's most beautiful natural places, loosely ordered by the strength of the spectacle. Every one is a real, mapped place with an honest guide to reaching it and the season it looks its best.
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Victoria Falls The greatest curtain
Zambezi River, Zimbabwe / Zambia border
The world's largest sheet of falling water, where the Zambezi drops into a mile-wide chasm and the spray rises high enough to be seen for miles — 'the smoke that thunders'.
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Serengeti The great migration
Northern Tanzania
Endless golden plains that host the largest overland animal migration on Earth, as millions of wildebeest and zebra follow the rains in a great circular march.
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Sossusvlei & Deadvlei The red dunes
Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia
Towering rust-red dunes above white clay pans where dead camelthorn trees stand skeletal against the sand — the signature image of the Namib.
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Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro Highlands, Northern Tanzania
A vast intact volcanic caldera whose grassy floor holds one of the densest concentrations of wildlife anywhere, ringed by 600-metre walls.
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Mount Kilimanjaro
Northern Tanzania
Africa's highest peak and the tallest free-standing mountain on Earth, a snow-capped volcano rising alone from the Tanzanian plains — climbable without technical gear.
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Okavango Delta
Northern Botswana
A river that never reaches the sea, fanning out into a maze of channels and islands in the Kalahari where elephants wade and mokoro canoes glide.
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Table Mountain
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
The flat-topped massif towering over Cape Town, its summit often draped in a 'tablecloth' of cloud, reached by cableway or trail.
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Tsingy de Bemaraha
Melaky, western Madagascar
A forest of razor-sharp limestone pinnacles in Madagascar, crossed on bridges and ladders — one of the strangest landscapes on the planet.
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Simien Mountains
Amhara, northern Ethiopia
A jagged escarpment of pinnacles and gorges in the Ethiopian highlands, home to gelada troops and some of Africa's most dramatic ridgelines.
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Avenue of the Baobabs
Menabe, western Madagascar
A row of ancient, colossal baobab trees on a dirt road in Madagascar, at their most magical in the amber light of sunset.
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Fish River Canyon
ǁKaras, southern Namibia
One of the largest canyons on Earth, a vast winding gorge carved into the stony plateau of southern Namibia.
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The Drakensberg
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (bordering Lesotho)
A soaring basalt escarpment walling off southern Africa, all buttresses, hidden valleys, and ancient San rock art.
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Mount Kenya
Central Kenya
A glaciated equatorial peak of jagged summits and tarns, the second-highest in Africa and the mountain that gave a nation its name.
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Zanzibar Archipelago
Indian Ocean, off the Tanzanian coast
An Indian Ocean archipelago of white sand, turquoise shallows, and spice islands, fringed by reefs and old Swahili trading towns.
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Nyiragongo
Virunga, eastern DR Congo
One of the few volcanoes on Earth with a permanent lava lake, glowing red in its summit crater — a rare and closely guarded spectacle in the Congo.
Africa's wildlife spectacles turn on the seasons — the migration and the dry-season game viewing peak at very different times from the green, bird-rich rains. Each guide notes the best window and how to reach it; for wildlife, a reputable local guide makes all the difference.
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