Africa beyond the headline destinations.
Escarpments, rainforest, Saharan rock landscapes, coastal archipelagos and inhabited mountain systems with strong local identities.
Africa in context.
The African collection moves between high escarpments, equatorial forest, desert basins, island coasts and living pastoral landscapes. Each profile connects physical geography with the communities that know it best.
Place stories from Africa
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Maletsunyane Falls
A high single-drop waterfall cuts into a basalt gorge within the open mountain country surrounding Semonkong.
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Ait Bouguemez
Irrigated fields, earthen villages and high mountain ridges form a broad inhabited valley in Morocco's central High Atlas.
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Fish River Canyon
A vast canyon system cuts through the arid south of Namibia, revealing folded rock, dry plateaus and a river that moves seasonally.
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Matobo Hills
Rounded granite domes, balancing rocks, wooded valleys and extensive rock art create a deeply cultural landscape south of Bulawayo.
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Tsingy de Bemaraha
A limestone plateau eroded into sharp pinnacles, deep fissures, forest pockets and canyon systems in western Madagascar.
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Sao Tome
Volcanic peaks, equatorial rainforest, cocoa estates and small coastal settlements form a lush island landscape near the Equator.
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Mount Mulanje
A vast isolated massif rises above tea estates and villages, holding granite peaks, waterfalls, forest and high plateaus.
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Wild Coast
Grass-covered hills, river mouths, cliffs and dispersed Xhosa settlements meet along a long, lightly urbanised section of South Africa's eastern coast.
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Nyungwe Forest
Ancient montane rainforest, tea fields and high ridges occupy the Congo-Nile divide in southwestern Rwanda.
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Tassili n'Ajjer
Sandstone plateaus, rock forests and thousands of prehistoric images preserve both geological and human histories deep in the Sahara.
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White Desert
Wind-shaped chalk towers rise from pale desert ground between the Bahariya and Farafra oases in western Egypt.
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Simien Mountains
High escarpments, cultivated plateaus and deep valleys form a dramatic inhabited mountain landscape in northern Ethiopia.
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Bazaruto Archipelago
Sand islands, seagrass shallows, coral reefs and coastal communities form a broad marine landscape off southern Mozambique.
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Santo Antao
A deeply cut volcanic island where green valleys, high ridges, dry coastal slopes and farming villages meet within a compact Atlantic landscape.
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Loango Coast
A remote equatorial coastline where rainforest, lagoons, savanna and Atlantic beaches meet with unusually little urban interruption.
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Lake Natron
A remote alkaline lake beneath Ol Doinyo Lengai, where mineral flats, changing water colour and volcanic horizons define a severe Rift Valley basin.
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Rwenzori Mountains
An equatorial mountain range of cloud forest, giant plants, bogs and glacier-cut peaks rising above the western branch of the Rift Valley.
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Makgadikgadi Pans
An immense system of salt pans and grassland where seasonal water, migration and ancient lake sediments produce radical changes in scale and colour.
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Kgalagadi
A transfrontier desert landscape of red dunes, dry riverbeds, sparse trees and long wildlife corridors beneath an unusually open sky.
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Fouta Djallon
A cool West African highland of plateaus, waterfalls, cultivated valleys and villages at the headwaters of major regional rivers.
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Drakensberg
A vast basalt escarpment of amphitheatres, high plateaus, sandstone foothills and rock-art shelters along the edge of southern Africa's interior.
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Ennedi Massif
Sandstone towers, arches, hidden water and rock-art shelters rise from the eastern Sahara in one of Africa's great desert massifs.
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Richtersveld
A mountainous desert of granite ridges, succulent biodiversity and Nama pastoral culture along the lower Orange River.
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Bale Mountains
High Afroalpine plateau, cloud forest and deep valleys support rare wildlife and pastoral communities in southeastern Ethiopia.
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Bijagos Archipelago
A low tropical archipelago of mangroves, tidal flats, sacred islands and communities whose lives follow the rhythm of the sea.
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Nyika Plateau
Rolling montane grassland, forest pockets and broad horizons create an unexpected high plateau across the Malawi-Zambia border.
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Chimanimani Mountains
Quartzite peaks, deep valleys, waterfalls and transboundary communities define a rugged section of southern Africa's Eastern Highlands.
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Saloum Delta
Mangrove channels, shell islands, salt flats and fishing communities form a dense estuarine landscape south of Dakar.
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Lake Abbe
Limestone chimneys, geothermal steam, salt flats and a shrinking terminal lake create a surreal border landscape in the Afar Depression.
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Hoggar Mountains
Volcanic peaks and immense desert plains rise around the highland core of the central Sahara.
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Tafraoute and the Anti-Atlas
Granite domes, almond valleys and Amazigh villages occupy a dry mountain basin in Morocco’s Anti-Atlas.
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Kerkennah Islands
Low islands, tidal shallows and traditional fishing structures create a subtle maritime landscape off Tunisia’s eastern coast.
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Banc d’Arguin
Desert dunes, tidal flats and rich coastal water meet along one of West Africa’s most important migratory bird landscapes.
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Bandiagara Escarpment
A long sandstone escarpment, cliff villages and cultivated plains form one of West Africa’s most significant cultural landscapes.
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Lope
Forest and open savanna meet in a long-lived ecological and archaeological landscape near the Ogooue River.
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Lake Turkana
A vast desert lake, volcanic shores and pastoral territories occupy the eastern arm of the Rift Valley.
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Mafia Island
Mangroves, coral reefs and Swahili settlements form a quieter island landscape south of Zanzibar.
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Cederberg
Sandstone arches, dry mountain valleys and rock art create a rugged landscape north of Cape Town.
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Okavango Panhandle
A broad river enters Botswana through papyrus channels and fishing settlements before spreading into the Okavango Delta.
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NamibRand
Open desert plains, red dunes, dark mountains and exceptional night skies form a privately protected landscape in the southern Namib.
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Akagera
Savanna, wooded hills, lakes and wetlands create a broad ecological transition along Rwanda eastern border.
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Mathews Range
A forested mountain island rises from dry northern Kenya, sheltering springs, wildlife and Samburu communities.
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Loita Hills
Forest, high grassland and Maasai communities occupy a quieter upland between the Rift Valley and the Mara plains.
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Quirimbas Archipelago
Coral islands, mangroves, tidal flats and Swahili settlements stretch along the far northern coast of Mozambique.
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Kidepo Valley
Dry savanna, seasonal rivers and mountain walls create an isolated northeastern Ugandan landscape near South Sudan and Kenya.
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Lamu Archipelago
Coral-stone towns, mangroves, dhow routes and long beaches form a layered Swahili seascape on the northern Kenyan coast.
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Tsingy Rouge
Red laterite pinnacles rise from eroded gullies in northern Madagascar, creating a fragile miniature badland landscape.
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Toubkal Valleys
High Atlas valleys, Amazigh villages, walnut terraces and snow-fed streams surround North Africa highest mountain.
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Sao Nicolau
A rugged Cape Verde island of green mountain valleys, dry coast, old towns and long walking routes remains quieter than its neighbours.
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Kaokoland
Desert mountains, ephemeral rivers and widely dispersed communities shape a remote landscape between the Namib and the Angolan frontier.
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Baviaanskloof
Folded mountains, dry valleys, river crossings and isolated farms create a long wilderness corridor through South Africa’s Eastern Cape.
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Mount Elgon
A huge extinct volcano rises above farms and forest with moorland plateaus, caves and long ridges along the Uganda-Kenya border.
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Lake Bunyonyi
A deeply indented highland lake dotted with islands sits among steep terraced hills in southwestern Uganda.
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Mount Cameroon
An active volcano rises from humid coastal forest to bare lava fields above the Gulf of Guinea.
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Niokolo-Koba
Savanna woodland, gallery forest and the Gambia River support a large wildlife landscape in southeastern Senegal.
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Tsitsikamma
Dense coastal forest, river mouths and wave-cut cliffs meet the Indian Ocean along South Africa’s southern Garden Route.
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Lake Tana
Ethiopia’s largest lake combines papyrus boats, island monasteries, wetlands and the headwaters of the Blue Nile.
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Dzanga-Sangha
Dense Congo Basin forest opens suddenly into mineral-rich clearings visited by forest elephants and other wildlife.
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Manovo-Gounda St Floris
A vast savanna park spans floodplains, rivers and dry woodland in the northern Central African Republic.
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Odzala-Kokoua
Rainforest, rivers and saline clearings create one of the Congo Basin's strongest wildlife destinations.
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Nouabale-Ndoki
A largely intact lowland rainforest protects gorillas, elephants and remote river systems near the borders with Cameroon and the Central African Republic.
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Loango National Park
Lagoon, savanna, rainforest and Atlantic beach meet in one protected coastal mosaic.
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Ivindo National Park
Dense equatorial forest is broken by some of central Africa's most powerful waterfalls.
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Monte Alen
Mountain rainforest, rivers and granite ridges form the largest protected landscape on mainland Equatorial Guinea.
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Mbam and Djerem
A broad transition zone joins northern savanna to southern rainforest around the headwaters of the Sanaga system.
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Korup National Park
Old lowland rainforest, large rivers and exceptionally high plant diversity survive near the Nigerian border.
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Dja Faunal Reserve
A near-complete loop of the Dja River encloses a large block of Congo Basin rainforest.
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Lake Tele
A circular lake lies inside one of the Congo Basin's largest swamp forests and is reached through river channels and flooded vegetation.
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Bateke Plateau
Rolling grasslands, sandy soils and narrow forest galleries create an open plateau unlike the surrounding Congo Basin rainforest.
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Kundelungu National Park
High plateau grassland, gorges and one of Africa's longest free-falling waterfalls define this remote Katanga park.
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Upemba National Park
Lakes, marshes, river floodplains and plateau grasslands form a vast inland water landscape in Katanga.
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Lomami National Park
Remote rainforest between the Lomami and Tshuapa rivers protects bonobos and other endemic wildlife.
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Boyoma Falls
Seven major cataracts interrupt the Lualaba River near Kisangani and support a distinctive local fishing tradition.
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Mbaere-Bodingue
Swamp forest, river channels and lowland rainforest protect a quieter corner of the southwestern Central African Republic.
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Akanda National Park
Mangroves, tidal flats and coastal forest protect one of Gabon's most important migratory-bird landscapes close to Libreville.
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Conkouati-Douli
Lagoon, forest, savanna and Atlantic beach meet near the Gabon border in a protected coastal complex.
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Crystal Mountains
Steep rainforest ridges, waterfalls and exceptional botanical diversity rise inland from Gabon's coast.
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Tristan da Cunha
The world's most remote inhabited archipelago rises from the South Atlantic around a single compact settlement.
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Saint Helena
A remote volcanic island combines cloud forest, steep valleys, Georgian Jamestown and the landscapes of Napoleon's exile.
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Ascension Island
A dry volcanic island contains a man-made cloud forest on Green Mountain and major green-turtle nesting beaches.
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Rodrigues
A small high island is surrounded by an oversized lagoon and preserves a distinct Creole culture.
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Agalega Islands
Two long, low coral islands support coconut groves, a small community and bright lagoon water far north of Mauritius.
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Brava
Cape Verde's smallest inhabited island is greener, cooler and more mountainous than its neighbours.
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Principe Island
A forested volcanic island combines biosphere-reserve rainforest, cocoa estates, secluded bays and small coastal communities.
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Benguerra Island
High dunes, freshwater lakes and broad sand flats create a quieter island inside the Bazaruto Archipelago.
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Tsingy de Bemaraha
Ladders, cables and suspension bridges cross a razor-sharp limestone forest above caves and dry canyons.
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Sentinel Peak Chain Ladders
A high escarpment path uses two chain ladders to reach the Amphitheatre rim and Tugela Falls plateau.
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Nyungwe Canopy Walk
A series of suspended walkways crosses above a montane rainforest valley inside Nyungwe National Park.
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New in Africa
Release 1.5.28 adds 9 more Africa places to the atlas.
Mount Nimba
A biologically exceptional mountain rising above West African forest and savanna, divided by borders and marked by both conservation and mining pressure.
Tadrart Rouge
A Saharan labyrinth of red sandstone arches, dune-filled corridors and rock art near Algeria's southeastern frontier.
Gashaka-Gumti
Nigeria's largest national park, spanning lowland savanna, river valleys, forest and the high mountains along the Cameroon border.
Pendjari
A West African savanna park of floodplains, wooded hills and seasonal waterholes within the wider W-Arly-Pendjari conservation landscape.
Ibo Island
A small island of coral-stone ruins, mangroves, silversmith traditions and tidal streets within northern Mozambique's Quirimbas Archipelago.
Dakhla Oasis
A chain of cultivated settlements, mud-brick towns, hot springs and archaeological sites set within Egypt's vast Western Desert.
Kahuzi-Biega
A protected landscape stretching from high volcanic forest to the Congo Basin lowlands, known for eastern lowland gorillas and exceptional ecological range.
Bangweulu Wetlands
An immense seasonal wetland of floodplain, channels, islands and fishing communities, famous for shoebills and large herds of black lechwe.
Chinko
A remote conservation landscape where Congo Basin forest, wooded savanna and river systems meet across a sparsely settled part of Central Africa.