Africa and the Middle East

Tanzania

How's this for stats? In just one country you can scale Africa's highest peak on Mount Kilimanjaro, then venture to its deepest lake at Lake Tanganyika. Fossil records place human life, and our ancestors, in Tanzania more than 2 million years ago. Understandably, there's lots to see. National Parks afford quintessential Africa - that heart-stopping moment you make eye contact with a lion. For a beach break, island Zanzibar is nearby.

Kenya

Just north of Tanzania, Kenya's must-see cities are Nairobi and port town Mombassa. Between the two - Kenya's largest national park, Tsavo East.

South Africa - Cape Town

There's Table Mountain at the top and the Cape of Good Hope down below. Between the two, Victorian houses, museums, galleries and restaurants. Terrifying - the chance to dive with great white sharks, or watch them feed from the relative safety of a boat. Tantalizing - Stellenbosch wine country, just outside the city. Surf, hike, kite-board and generally explore a gorgeous city that champions outdoor living.

South Africa - Johannesburg

Johannesburg's Soweto is growing as a tourist spot - an important area to see apartheid's history and legacy in person. Within ‘J-Burg' itself - a chock-a-block list of history, politics and a tremendous love for sport.

South Africa - Kruger National Park

You've already seen Kruger National Park: in that classic YouTube video, “Wildebeest vs lion vs crocodile.” The ‘big five' here are (lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and buffalos) and so too are everything else you could want to see. Unspoiled park territory stretches for miles and miles to each horizon, bordered to the South by the Crocodile River and to the West by the blood-red setting sun.

Egypt - Cairo

A vast city hustles and bustles around the world's best-known wonders. Built on the Nile, you can easily find the Egypt of history books in Old Cairo and the Egyptian Museum. Jump forward three milennia, haggling at the bazaar and along a glitzy, modern waterfront. For totally unforgettable - that'd be the Great Pyramid at sunrise.

Botswana

Planet Earth documentaries covered the Okavango Delta in stunning detail, but we think you'll love your snapshots even more. Visit just once and never forget this most gorgeous corner of Africa. Part is dedicated national park territory. So, too, is the massive Central Kalahari Game Reserve - home to the full cast of the Lion King.

Namibia

While Namibia has its fair share of national parks (plus deserts, canyons and heaping quantities of ‘panorama') its bigger appeal might be its stunning Skeleton Coast. Seals and shipwrecks line a stretch of salty, sun-baked coast, made all the more dramatic for its frequent fog.

Also worth mentioning - Rwanda, Morocco, Lebanon, UAE, Jordan

To go further afield in Africa, Rwanda continues to rebuild itself as a destination for environmentalists and keen photographers, fondly known by both as the backdrop to Dianne Fossey's timeless Gorillas in the Mist. Morocco to the north hosts a mix of Euro-influenced food and architecture, with a hospitality all its own.

Towards the Middle East, the Levantine cities of Beirut and Damascus share global repute for their beauty. In the UAE, Dubai and Abu Dhabi famously compete to be shinier, taller and flashier than the next. In the other direction, reenact Indiana Jones at Jordan's Petra, an incredible mausoleum hewn into the red rock of the canyon wall.