Safari Africa gets plenty of airtime. Lions, leopards, sundowners, you know the drill. But that’s a pretty heavily edited version of a massive, bonkers continent.
So, we’re taking out the red pen and heading for the countries that tend to get skipped over, misunderstood or left sitting near the bottom of the bucket list. Which, as it turns out, is a big (huge) mistake.
You won’t find the Big Five on this list, but you’ve seen enough of them anyway.
somewhere less obvious.
Safari Africa gets plenty of airtime. Lions, leopards, sundowners, you know the drill. But that’s a pretty heavily edited version of a massive, bonkers continent.
So, we’re taking out the red pen and heading for the countries that tend to get skipped over, misunderstood or left sitting near the bottom of the bucket list. Which, as it turns out, is a big (huge) mistake.
You won’t find the Big Five on this list, but you’ve seen enough of them anyway.
somewhere less obvious.
belly of a VOLCANO
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mount Nyiragongo rises 3,470 metres above Virunga National Park, and when conditions allow, the trek to its summit is a properly sweaty slog through rainforest, old lava fields and increasingly gnarly volcanic terrain.
The payoff is waiting at the top. Nyiragongo’s crater has famously held one of the world’s largest lava lakes, glowing an apocalyptic shade of red after dark while trekkers spend the night in basic huts on the crater rim. Toasty.
Right now, though, you’ll have to keep this one firmly on the bucket list. Tourism around Nyiragongo remains affected by the security situation in eastern DRC, so nobody’s casually popping up for a volcano sleepover just yet.
But when Virunga says go again, start packing.
better hair
Simien Mountains, Ethiopia
Are geladas baboons? Or are they little ageing rock stars?
The jury’s still out, but thousands of them roam Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains, and reaching them means pulling on your boots and heading into one of Africa’s most ridiculous mountain landscapes: enormous escarpments, plunging valleys, jagged peaks and trails that regularly wander north of 3,000 metres.
The geladas are the stars, though. These grass-eating primates hang out in huge groups, spending their days grazing, squabbling and flicking back magnificent manes like they know damn well you came all this way to see them do exactly that.
And fair enough, too.
COMPETITIVE flirting
CHAD
At the Gerewol Festival, Wodaabe men spend hours preparing for what amounts to one hell of a beauty contest. Faces are painted with ochre, lips darkened, jewellery piled on and feathers carefully positioned before the men line up to dance, sing and show off their height, white teeth and enormous eyes.
The audience they really care about? The women, who judge the performances and choose the men they find most attractive.
It happens after the rains in Chad’s Sahel, when Wodaabe families come together after months spent travelling with their cattle. Travellers are very much observers here, not participants, and visiting respectfully with operators who have established community relationships matters.
Still beats swiping right, though.
WILD Hyena
Harar, Ethiopia
There are easier ways to feed an animal, but every evening outside the ancient walls of Harar, wild spotted hyenas emerge from the darkness looking for dinner. Waiting for them are the city’s famed Hyena Men, who call individual animals by name and feed them scraps of meat from sticks.
Then things escalate.
Travellers can sit in front of the hyenas and offer them meat too. The particularly committed hold the stick between their teeth, putting their face roughly one kebab-stick away from one of the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom.
Humans and hyenas have lived alongside each other in Harar for centuries, with the animals historically helping dispose of the city’s organic waste. The nightly feeding tradition came later and continues today.
Maybe start with the hand-held stick, though.
get LOOSE
Malawi
Most festivals give you a muddy field and a lukewarm beer. Lake of Stars gives you Lake Malawi.
The long-running arts festival returned to Fish Eagle Bay Lodge in Nkhotakota from 2–4 October 2026, bringing Malawian and international musicians, DJs, dancers, theatre and visual art to the shores of one enormous freshwater lake.
Between sets, festival-goers swapped portaloo queues and overpriced chips for swims in the lake, beers on the beach and generally having a much better time than anyone wearing gumboots in a paddock.
Lake of Stars has been doing its thing since 2004, growing into one of Malawi’s best-known cultural events and a very good reason to keep an eye on next year’s dates.
Your move, Glastonbury.
2,874 METRES
Lesotho
We reckon no one should have to work this hard for a pint.
And yet, Africa’s highest pub sits at the top of the Sani Pass, 2,874 metres above sea level and just inside Lesotho. Getting there involves tackling one of southern Africa’s most notorious mountain roads, a switchbacking dirt track that claws its way up the Drakensberg and makes the local bottle-o seem more convenient than you’ve ever given it credit for.
Eventually, though, you reach Sani Mountain Escape and its brilliantly self-explanatory Highest Pub in Africa.
Grab a beer, find the view (it’s hard to miss) and praise the lord you’re a lot closer to that no one’s asked you to be the deso driver.
Whale sharks
Djibouti
Good news: the biggest fish in the ocean eats plankton (not you).
Still, when a whale shark the size of a small bus glides out of the blue towards you, your brain may take a second to remember that.
Djibouti is one of the planet’s great places to swim with them, particularly when whale sharks gather in the nutrient-rich waters of the Gulf of Tadjoura. Mask on, fins on, over the side you go.
Then you’re swimming beside a spotted giant that can make a fully grown human look like a bath toy.
Expect a fair bit of muffled screaming through the snorkel.
CARRYING BOMBS
SUDAN
The Umbria went down with a bit more than deckchairs aboard.
In 1940, its Italian captain deliberately sank the cargo ship near Port Sudan rather than let it fall into British hands. Down she went, along with vehicles, wine bottles and an alarming amount of munitions.
Much of it is still there.
Today the wreck lies shallow enough for experienced divers to explore its coral-covered exterior and, with the appropriate training, sections of the holds, engine room and other interior spaces. Fish have moved in, but the bombs haven’t moved out.
Sudan’s current conflict makes recreational travel there another not-right-now proposition, but when conditions eventually allow safe tourism again, the Umbria remains one hell of a reason to bring your dive gear.
But look, don’t touch. Really.
Lava
Fogo, Cabo Verde
Your hotel is inside a volcano. Sleep well. And, scene.
Casa Marisa sits almost 1,700 metres above sea level on the floor of Chã das Caldeiras, the enormous crater surrounding Pico do Fogo. Its simple bungalows put you right among the black volcanic landscape, with the hulking cone looming nearby as a reminder that this island was built by some fairly aggressive geology.
Better still, you can hike Pico do Fogo from here, clambering up loose volcanic scree before coming back down at a pace your knees may wish to discuss with the hotel’s management.
Then it’s back to your bungalow. Inside. A. Volcano.
graveyard OF TANKS
Asmara, Eritrea
On the outskirts of Asmara sits one of the strangest reminders of Eritrea’s long fight for independence.
Tanks, trucks and other military machinery were piled together after years of conflict, creating what became known as the Tank Graveyard: a rusting tangle of twisted metal, tracks, turrets and vehicles slowly being reclaimed by time.
It’s visually extraordinary, but this isn’t some quirky outdoor museum. The wreckage represents a brutal chapter in Eritrean history, so gawking without context rather misses the point.
Go with someone who can explain what you’re looking at. You might find that the story you’re hearing is heavier than the metal you’re looking at.
tiny castles
Koutammakou, Togo
Someone really needs to tell the Batammariba that mud huts aren't supposed to have turrets.
Across Koutammakou, a UNESCO-listed cultural landscape spanning northern Togo and neighbouring Benin, families live in extraordinary earthen tower-houses known as takienta. Built from earth, wood and straw, they can contain sleeping quarters, kitchens, livestock areas and rooftop granaries within fortress-like walls.
But these aren’t architectural curiosities frozen for tourists. Koutammakou is a living cultural landscape, and the homes sit within a much bigger system of farms, sacred places, ceremonial spaces and traditions belonging to the Batammariba.
In other words: visit like you’ve been invited into someone’s home. Because you have.
CHUNKY BOYS
Tiwai Island, Sierra Leone
Pygmy hippos have clearly understood the benefits of keeping a low profile.
Smaller, nocturnal and considerably harder to find than their enormous river-hogging cousins, these endangered little units live in the forests of West Africa, including Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Sierra Leone.
The community-led sanctuary sits within the Upper Guinea forest and is reached by crossing the Moa River. Once there, you can head out on guided forest walks and boat trips looking for pygmy hippos, monkeys, birds and whatever else decides to reveal itself.
Will you actually see a pygmy hippo? Maybe. Will every suspicious rustle suddenly become a pygmy hippo? Hell yeah it will.
*with eyeballs, obvs.
