Africa is the second-largest continent on earth and the most diverse. It holds 54 countries, over 2,000 languages, every climate zone from tropical rainforest to Saharan sand to alpine glacier, and some of the oldest civilizations in human history. It is also the continent most carelessly reduced to a single image. Travelers who show up expecting a monolith leave surprised by how different Morocco is from Kenya, or Ethiopia from South Africa. That variety is the point.
North Africa — Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Mauritania — looks toward the Mediterranean as much as it does the rest of the continent. The cities here are Arab-Berber in culture, Islamic in faith, and ancient in every sense. Cairo's pyramids and Luxor's temples, Marrakech's medina, Tunis's souks: these are among the great sights of the world, and the region is well set up for visitors.
South of the Sahara, the continent fractures into regions with their own characters. West Africa — Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Mali, Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast and their neighbors — is the most culturally vibrant part of the continent, with a music scene, food culture, and artistic tradition that influences the whole world. It gets fewer tourists than East or Southern Africa, partly because of political instability in some countries, partly because the infrastructure is more demanding. That is changing.
East Africa is where most first-time African safaris happen, and for good reason. Kenya and Tanzania hold some of the greatest wildlife parks on earth. Ethiopia offers ancient Christian monasteries, dramatic highland scenery, and a culture completely unlike anything else in Africa. Rwanda and Uganda are the places to go for gorillas and chimpanzees in dense mountain forest.
Southern Africa is the easiest part of the continent for independent travel. South Africa has excellent infrastructure, a huge range of landscapes, and more to see than most people budget time for. Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe combine well with it for a longer southern circuit. Mozambique and Madagascar offer Indian Ocean coastline and reef diving without the crowds.
Central Africa — the two Congos, Cameroon, Gabon, and their neighbors — is the least visited part of the continent. The forest is extraordinary, the bureaucracy can be brutal, and logistics are genuinely difficult. But Gabon's national parks and the gorillas of the Congo Basin are among Africa's great experiences for travelers willing to put in the effort.
