Deserts, wildlife and ancient sites: the whole of Africa in five thrilling journeys

The wildest animals, the green, unspoilt hills, the barren, yellow savannahs, the oceans with their thundering waves, the bustling metropolises, those markets that resemble human beehives, the forests’ only apparent silence, encounters with the red dunes, arriving in villages of thatched and mud huts, greeted by jubilant children, a firm handshake with the staff of non-profit organisations who care for the sick, maintain water wells and open schools. There are endless emotions and motivations that drive one to choose Africa, even in August, or rather, as Ryszard Kapuściński – the Polish journalist and writer who travelled the length and breadth of the continent – wrote in *Ebano* and his other essential books, the many Africas. For the climate, religion and geography make this continent a multitude of different worlds, both distant and close. Yet all these ‘Africas’ are united by the wonder of the places and the kindness of those who live there. The wildebeest migrations, the roar of the water plunging over Victoria Falls, the road trip through Etosha National Park, the lines etched on the faces of the Fulani men and women, the royal palaces of Abomey, the manuscripts in the book-shacks of Chinguetti – all constitute moments of discovery that will remain etched in the memory forever, just as paddling through the canals of Ganvié, the stilted city of Benin, will. Certainly, animals – perhaps because of their ability to reconnect us with our most ancestral nature in this highly technological age – can melt even the most closed heart.