The 10 most beautiful places in Africa

Made up of 54 different countries, Africa is teeming with beautiful places to experience on your holiday.

Visit, for example, South Africa’s scenic wine country, experience the breathtaking views from the top of Africa on Kilimanjaro or be blown away by the huge volumes of water at Victoria Falls.

Africa definitely has something for you. Find inspiration for 10 of Africa’s most beautiful places below.

The idyllic wine country in South Africa

A scenic drive from the bustling metropolis, Cape Town, is South Africa’s idyllic wine country, where you can taste the country’s world-famous wines.

There are many fantastic areas, but some of the most popular are Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl.

The landscape is amazing here, dominated by green fields with row upon row of vines, and beautiful mountains in the background.

Dotted here and there between the vines and the mountains are lovely old vineyards. Each vineyard produces its own wine made from the grapes harvested from the surrounding fields.

On a tour of the wine country, you get to visit beautiful, old whitewashed vineyards, as well as newly built, state-of-the-art wineries, all located in the most charming surroundings.

Lush rainforest in Bwindi National Park in Uganda

Situated in south-western Uganda is Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, one of Africa’s most beautiful national parks.

Here, you will find a dense, green jungle growing on a steep mountain. The rainforest, which is Uganda’s oldest, is said to be more than 25,000 years old.

Bwindi is also Uganda’s most biologically diverse rainforest. The height difference in the rainforest ranges from 1,160 metres to 2,607 metres above sea level. This large difference in height means that many different plant species thrive in the forest.

But it is not only its nature that Bwindi is famous for.

Some 400 mountain gorillas live in the forest, which is about half of all the mountain gorillas in the world. That’s why Bwindi is the place to visit if you want a glimpse of the beautiful, rare apes.

The top of Africa – Uhuru Peak on Kilimanjaro

It takes several days of hiking to reach Kilimanjaro’s snow-capped mountain top – Uhuru Peak. But the view is totally worth it!

At its highest point, Kilimanjaro is 5,895 metres high, making it the highest point in Africa.

Standing on Uhuru Peak is a unique experience that only a few people before you have crossed off their list. It is especially beautiful at sunrise, when the sun’s golden rays bounce off the snow. Try to imagine what it must feel like when the first rays of the day hit your face after some long, hard days.

In Swahili, Uhuru means freedom, and that is perhaps also what many people feel when standing atop the world’s highest free-standing mountain.

Victoria Falls’ enormous volumes of water in Zambia

By the Zambezi River, which forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, lie the beautiful Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls are a huge, roaring waterfall that descends into the deep Batoka Gorge. The waterfall is 1,708 metres wide and 108 metres high, and every minute, 550 million litres of water cascade into the deep Batoka Gorge and on into the Zambezi River.

The waterfall constantly creates clouds of water vapour, which nourishes the neighbouring rainforest. The water vapour also means that you will almost always see a beautiful rainbow at the waterfall.

If you visit Victoria Falls during a full moon, you may be lucky enough to experience the “moonbow” created by the light of the moon. This phenomenon is found only in a few places on the globe and can be seen quite often at Victoria Falls.

Lush nature and sandy beaches in Mauritius

Mauritius is a lush, green island covered in vegetation all year round.

The island state is especially famous for its coastline with beautiful beaches and azure waters.

It offers a total of more than 160 km of sandy beaches, where you can relax under the swaying palm trees or swim in the fabulous water.

You have every opportunity to dive or snorkel at places such as Trou aux Biches, where you will find clear water as well as a coral reef relatively close to the coast, making it ideal for snorkelling.

If you grow tired of Mauritius’ beautiful sandy beaches – if that is even possible – you can also explore the amazing nature of the island, which offers, among other things, waterfalls, mountains, sugar cane fields and blue lagoons.

Diverse Stone Town in Zanzibar

Zanzibar offers countless beautiful coastlines and beaches, which are one of the main reasons for visiting the island. But there are also plenty of cultural experiences, too, in beautiful Stone Town, for example.

Stone Town is the oldest district in Zanzibar city, offering a unique atmosphere. The city has been under European, African and Middle Eastern influence, and this is reflected in its buildings.

You will see European-style buildings with beautifully decorated wooden balconies with detailed carvings, as well as Arab-style mansions with tall, white walls standing side by side Indian-inspired buildings with stained glass in the windows.

Stone Town is especially famous for its beautiful Arabic doors, which are adorned with bronze knobs and often have Arabic scriptures from the Quran at the top. The doors were once seen as a sign of prosperity.

The Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania

Tanzania offers unique natural diversity extending from the endless plains of southern Tanzania in Serengeti to the wild, varied landscapes of Selous Game Reserve in the north.

One of the country’s unique natural phenomena is the extinct, volcanic Ngorongoro crater, which is the world’s largest intact caldera – volcanic cauldron. It is one of the most beautiful areas in the world, earning Ngorongoro the nickname “Tanzania’s Garden of Eden”.

The area offers both overwhelming nature and abundant wildlife.

Ngorongoro boasts some unique landscapes in the 260 km2 area that it covers. The crater consists among other things of highland plains, savannah and forests, and driving down the side of the crater to experience Ngorongoro close up is a truly fascinating experience.

The crater also offers incredible, diverse wildlife with around 25,000 wild animals, making it the obvious place to go on safari. Ngorongoro can, for example, boast of having one of the highest concentrations of lions in the world.

Large herds of animals in Masai Mara, Kenya

In south-western Tanzania, around 270 kilometres from Nairobi, is Masai Mara – one of Africa’s nature reserves.

In Masai Mara, you will find endless, open grasslands dotted with acacia trees as well as green woodlands and rushing rivers.

On the savannah, you can experience the most beautiful sunsets that create a very special golden light.

Despite the incredibly beautiful scenery of Masai Mara, the park is especially famous for the great migration, when millions of animals migrate across the plains of the nature reserve from July to October.

During the great migration, the animals cross the Mara and Talek rivers, where ferocious crocodiles lie in wait to catch some of the copious prey, and thousands of animals do not survive the migration through Masai Mara.

The beautiful scenery of the Okavango Delta in Botswana

The Okavango Delta in Botswana is a lush, pristine and green delta that is home to amazing wildlife. A network of rivers flowing through the delta is the lifeblood of the surrounding nature.

The delta is one of the largest inland deltas in the world, located in the otherwise dry Kalahari Desert. Every year, the delta is flooded with water that has flowed all the way from the mountains of Angola to the Okavango River, which eventually bursts its banks into the delta.

The delta is the lifeblood of a complex ecosystem, and every year from July to September, thousands of animals migrate to the delta in search of water. In some seasons, almost half of all Africa’s elephants are to be found in the Okavango Delta as they migrate there to find water.

In addition to stunning scenery, the sunsets of the Okavango Delta are breathtaking. The sunset is reflected in the area’s rivers behind the silhouettes of trees and perhaps an elephant – an almost dreamlike sight.

There are also 482 different bird species in the delta. What’s more, you are also in with a really good chance of seeing predators such as lions, leopards, cheetahs and Africa’s wild dogs.

Elephants in Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Southern Kenya is where you will find Amboseli National Park. One of Kenya’s smallest national parks, it nevertheless offers some of the greatest experiences.

Amboseli’s 400 km2 are known to contain a large concentration of elephants. There are around 1,000 elephants in the park, making Amboseli one of the best places in Africa to see elephant herds right up close. One of the reasons that elephants thrive in the park is that meltwater from Kilimanjaro’s ice cap flows beneath the park, creating springs that the elephants can bathe in.

The park offers some unique views as well.

From Amboseli National Park, you have the amazing view of Kilimanjaro, for example. Perhaps you’re familiar the classic image of Kilimanjaro with elephants in the foreground? That’s from Amboseli! The park also offers some amazing sunsets. Picture silhouettes of elephants in a dusky sunset created by the dusty plains – that view is hard to beat!

Africa offers fascinating, unique and beautiful places, no matter where you travel to.

If you have any questions about our destinations, holiday types or tours, feel free to contact our travel specialists to help you find your dream tour to Africa.

TourCompass – From tourist to traveller