Tadrart Acacus Rock-Art Sites, Libya

TADRART ACACUS ROCK-ART SITES (Libya)

A rocky group of mountains in the Sahara, on the borders of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, has thousands of cave paintings in many different styles, dating from 12,000 BCE to 100 CE, exhibiting marked changes in the area's flora and fauna (giraffes, elephants, ostriches, and camels), as well as the changing lifestyles of the area's human populations.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Okapi Wildlife Reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo

OKAPI WILDLIFE RESERVE (Democratic Republic of the Congo) 

The unique okapi (looks a bit like a zebra, but related to the giraffe) lives only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Okapi Wildlife Reserve, occupying about 1/5 of the Ituri forest in the country's NE, was founded by the Okapi Conservation Project in 1987. Threatened primates and birds and about 1/6 of the world's wild okapi live there, as do traditional nomadic pygmy hunters.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

The Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia

THE LOWER AWASH VALLEY (Ethiopia)

You may not have heard of Ethiopia's Awash River Valley, but you should know of the most famous person who ever lived there: this is Lucy, an early hominin fossil dated to about 3.2 million years ago. (Her scientific designation is AL 288-1, but she is also called Dinkinesh, "you are marvelous" in Amharic.) The Valley hosts one of the most important groupings of palaeontological sites on the African continent.

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Khami Ruins, Zimbabwe

KHAMI RUINS (Zimbabwe)

Khami was the capital of the Butua kingdom from about 1450-1683, after the collapse of the former capital of Great Zimbabwe. A built-up area, the "Hill Complex," was occupied by the king and his family; platforms in the valley were occupied by commoners. It is located 14 miles west of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's 2nd largest city, in the country's southwest.

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The Ennedi Massif, Chad, Africa

THE ENNEDI MASSIF (Chad)

Through the ages, water and wind erosion have sculpted the sandstone mountains of Ennedi in NE Chad into a spectacular landscape of canyons, valleys, cliffs, and arches. Permanent water in the largest canyons supports the Massif's ecosystem: floral, faunal, and human. Thousands of rock art images adorn caves, canyons and shelters, one of the largest ensembles in the Sahara.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Thimlich Ohinga, Kenya, Africa

THIMLICH OHINGA (Kenya)

From the 16th to the mid-20th centuries, pastoral communities in the Lake Victoria Basin in Kenya built massive forts of interlocking dry-stone for themselves and their livestock called "ohingas" (settlements). Thimlich ("frightening dense forest") Ohinga is the largest (52 acres) and best preserved of the 138 remaining walled enclosures. It may be more than 550 years old.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Ancient Thebes, Egypt

ANCIENT THEBES (Egypt)

This ancient city on the Nile near Luxor in Upper Egypt--about 300 miles south of Cairo--was Egypt's capital during the Middle and New Kingdoms. Most of its monuments are 1,000 years younger than the pyramids, and include the Temples of Luxor and Karnak, the Colossi of Memnon, and the hidden tombs in the Valleys of the Kings (like King Tut's) and Queens.

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Sangha Trinational, Africa

SANGHA TRINATIONAL (Africa)

This unusual site comprises three contiguous national parks--in three countries! Located in the NW Congo Basin, it's where Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and the Congo meet. Largely unaffected by human activity, it is home to Nile crocodiles, the western lowland gorilla, chimpanzees, and forest elephants. (The name means "Village of Elephants.")

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Marrakesh, Morocco

MARRAKESH (Morocco)

The Medina (old Arab quarter) of Marrakesh was founded 1070-72 by the Almoravids, a confederation of Berber tribes whose empire included NW Africa and S Spain (Andalusia). It has a major Mosque, a Kasbah, battlements, monumental doors, and gardens from that period. Later additions--and the stalls of vendors--add to the charm. It is today one of Africa's busiest cities, as well as a site of Sufi pilgrimage.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda

BWINDI IMPENETRABLE FOREST (Uganda)

Stands of bamboo amongst the larger forest hardwoods give this large primeval forest in SW Uganda both its indigenous name (meaning "place of darkness") and its English one. One of the most biodiverse areas on Earth, it is home to half of the world's mountain gorillas, as well as 120 species of mammals, 348 of birds, 220 of butterflies, 27 of frogs, and 160 of trees.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Le Morne Brabant

LE MORNE BRABANT (Mauritius)

A 1,824-foot monolith on a peninsula in Mauritius in the Indian Ocean mostly surrounded by a lagoon and riddled with caves and overhangs, its natural defenses made an ideal refuge for escaped slaves ("Maroons") from mainland Africa, Madagascar, India, and SE Asia who settled the rock before emancipation in 1835. It has been a symbol of freedom ever since.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

The Historic Town of Grand-Bassam

THE HISTORIC TOWN OF GRAND BASSAM (Côte d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast, Africa)

The first capital of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is an example of a turn-of-the-century colonial town with four quarters for trade, administration, Europeans, and Africans. A fishing village sits alongside colonial architecture. Once the country's most important city, it attracted people from all parts of Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean Levant.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

The Kasbah of Algiers

THE KASBAH OF ALGIERS (Algeria)

The citadel of Algiers and the traditional quarter around it were founded on the ruins of a 10th-century Berber city. While some old mosques (and Ottoman-style palaces) remain, before French rule began in 1839 there were 166 buildings meant for religious use, including 109 mosques; 19 remain. Home today to 40,000-70,000 people, the city is in severe disrepair.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

The Royal Palaces of Abomey

THE ROYAL PALACES OF ABOMEY (Benin, Africa)

Sited on 100 acres at Abomey, Benin, they were once the royal complex of the ancient West African Kingdom of Dahomey. Founded in 1625 by the Fon people, the empire traded with Europeans on the Slave Coast, selling them prisoners of war until the late 19th century. The twelve palaces once accommodated up to 8,000 people.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

The Great Rift Valley

THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY (Lebanon to Mozambique)

The Great Rift Valley is a 4,300-mile-long series of trenches that runs from Lebanon (in Asia) to Mozambique (in Africa). Tanzania's 30-mile-long Olduvai Gorge leading into the Rift is the site of some of the world's most important "early man" finds, associated with the team of Mary and Louis Leakey (prominent in the "National Geographic" when I was a kid).

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Leptis Magna

LEPTIS MAGNA (near Tripoli, Libya)

81 miles east of Tripoli in Libya stands one of the best-preserved Roman sites in the Mediterranean. A prominent city of Carthage and later Roman Libya, Emperor Septimius Severus (reigned 193-211), was born there in 145. It fell to the Vandals in 439; was restored in 533, it never recovered its former importance, fell to Muslim invasion in 647, and was abandoned.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Mount Kilimanjaro

MOUNT KILIMANJARO (Tanzania, Africa)

This dormant volcano in Tanzania is Africa's highest, and the highest single free-standing mountain (i.e. not part of a range) in the world: the peak is 19,341 feet above sea level and rises 16,100 feet above its base. About 25,000 people try to climb it every year; around 2/3 succeed, and the rest turn back due to altitude sickness.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Asmara, Modernist African City

ASMARA, MODERNIST AFRICAN CITY (Eritrea, Africa)

Capital of Eritrea, at 7,628 feet (2,325 meters) it's the world's 6th-highest capital. Surprisingly, this ancient city--formed in the 12th century when the women of four villages convinced their men to band together for self-defense--was named to the UNESCO list for its modernist architecture, dating to its century as an Italian colony (1889-1991).

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

Mosi-ao-Tunya (Victoria Falls)

MOSI-AO-TUNYA (Victoria Falls) (between Zambia and Zimbabwe, Africa)

This waterfall's name means "The Smoke That Thunders" in Lozi (a Bantu tongue); in Tonga, it's Shungu Namutitima ("Boiling Water"), and in English Victoria Falls. On the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe in southern Africa, it is one of the world's largest waterfalls--5,604 feet (1,708 meters) wide--and home to several unique plants and animal species.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)

The Great Sphinx of Giza

THE GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA (Giza, Egypt)

This limestone statue of a reclining lion's body with a man's head--a symbol of mystery--has been gazing away from the Great Pyramids at Giza on an east-west line for four and a half millennia. Carved from the bedrock of the plateau, it is 240 feet long and 66 feet high. It may once have worn a long pharaonic beard and been painted bright colors.

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(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)