Sights in Africa
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White Monastery
Currently the best reason to stop at Sohag is to visit two early Coptic monasteries, which trumpet the victory of Christianity over Egypt’s pagan gods. The White Monastery, on rocky ground above the old Nile flood level, 12km northwest of Sohag, was founded by St Shenouda around AD 400 and dedicated to his mentor, St Bigol. White limestone from Pharaonic temples was reused, and ancient gods and hieroglyphs still look out from some of the blocks. It once supported a huge community of monks and boasted the largest library in Egypt, but today the manuscripts are scattered around the world and the monastery is home to 23 monks. The fortress walls still stand though they…
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Temple of Seti I
At the northern end of the Theban necropolis lies the Temple of Seti I. Seti I (1294-1279 BC), who also built the superbly decorated temple at Abydos and Karnak's magnificent hypostyle hall, died before this memorial temple was finished, so it was completed by his son Ramses II. The temple sees few visitors, despite its picturesque location near a palm grove and recent restoration, after it was severely damaged by torrential rain and floods in 1994.
The entrance is through a small door in the northeast corner of the reconstructed fortresslike enclosure wall. The first and second pylon and the court are in ruins, but recent excavations have revealed the foundations of the…
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Temple of Merneptah
Almost directly behind Amenhotep's temple, lie the remains of the Temple of Merneptah, who succeeded his father Ramses II in 1213 BC and ruled for 10 years. In the 19th century, the 'Israel Stele', now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, was found here, which was the only Egyptian text to mention 'Israel' (which Merneptah claimed to have defeated). The Swiss Institute in Egypt has done considerable work here, uncovering the temple's original plan and a large number of statues and reliefs.
At the small museum near the entrance, the history of the temple is illustrated with text, plans and finds from excavations, a great help to understand the little that remains of the…
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Mastaba of Ti
Northeast of the Philosophers' Circle is the Mastaba of Ti, which was discovered by Mariette in 1865. It is perhaps the grandest and most detailed private tomb at Saqqara, and one of our main sources of knowledge about life in Old Kingdom Egypt. Its owner, Ti, was overseer of the Abu Sir pyramids and sun temples (among other things) during the 5th dynasty. In fact, the superb quality of his tomb is in keeping with his nickname, Ti the Rich.
Like Zoser, a life-size statue of the deceased stands in the tomb's offering hall (as with the Zoser statue, the original is in the Egyptian Museum). Ti's wife, Neferhetpes, was priestess and 'royal acquaintance'. Together with their…
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Attarine Souks
There's a cluster of souks just off the Talaa that are worth exploring. Coming from Bab Bou Jeloud, the first is Souk Triba, meaning 'square in shape', with a small orange tree and some cosmetic and electronic shops. Walk through to Souk Tallis where sacks for wool and wheat were sold. Now there's a carpet stall and several shops selling cloth for jellabas (cloak with a hood) - though many of the shops are now closed.
Continue through to the next souk, L'Hayek (;09:00-12:30 & 15:00-17:00 Sat-Thu), which refers to the white cloth used for women's clothes. These days there are jellabas, gandoras (men's embroidered jacket and pants) and jabadors (garment worn under a…
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Lamu Museum
Housed in a very grand Swahili warehouse on the waterfront, the Lamu Museum is an excellent introduction to the culture and history of Lamu Island. It's one of the most interesting small museums in Kenya, with displays on Swahili culture, the famous coastal carved doors, the Maulid Festival, Lamu's nautical history and the tribes who used to occupy this part of the coast in pre-Muslim days, including the Boni, who were legendary elephant-hunters. There's a bookshop that is specialising in Lamu and Swahili culture.
The pride of the collection are the remarkable and ornate siwa (ceremonial horns) of Lamu and Paté, dating back to the 17th century. Lamu's siwa is made of…
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Parc National de L'Isalo
The flat, grassy plains of the hauts plateaux near Ranohira are abruptly broken by towering sandstone massifs sculpted by wind and water into gorges and craggy bluffs. It's one of the country's most spectacular regions, perfect for overnight hikes, rock-hopping along cool canyons and spotting lemurs.
It's best to visit during the cooler months (April to October), when the bizarre pachypodiums and periwinkles are in flower on the rock faces and walking is more comfortable. The Sakalava people used to bury their dead in caves high up on cliff faces and some areas are fady (taboo) even today.
Official guides are compulsory for visits to the park and fees depend on the length…
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Beit el-Ajaib
One of the most prominent buildings in the old Stone Town is the elegant Beit el-Ajaib, now home to the Zanzibar National Museum of History & Culture. It's also one of the largest structures in Zanzibar.
It was built in 1883 by Sultan Barghash (r 1870-88) as a ceremonial palace. In 1896 it was the target of a British naval bombardment, the object of which was to force Khalid bin Barghash, who had tried to seize the throne after the death of Sultan Hamad (r 1893-96), to abdicate in favour of a British nominee. After it was rebuilt, Sultan Hamoud (r 1902-11) used the upper floor as a residential palace until his death. Later it was used as the local political headquarters…
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Dyingerey Ber Mosque
Timbuktu has three of the oldest mosques in West Africa. While not as visually stunning as some in Mali, they're still extremely impressive and represent classic and well-preserved examples of the Sudanese style of architecture which prevails throughout much of the Sahel. The oldest, dating from the early 14th century, is Dyingerey Ber Mosque.
You can go into this mosque, west of Place de l'Indépendance, but sometimes only with a guide. The interior is a forest of 100 sturdy pillars, and there are a series of interconnecting rooms with holes in the wall at ground level - in the days before microphones, worshippers who could not hear the imam could look through into the…
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Père Laval's Shrine
The shrine of the French Catholic priest and missionary Père Jacques Désiré Laval is something of a Lourdes of the Indian Ocean, with many miracles attributed to visits to the priest's grave. The padre died in 1864 and was beatified in 1979 during a visit by Pope John Paul II. He is credited with converting 67,000 people to Christianity during his 23 years in Mauritius.
Today Père Laval is a popular figure for Mauritians of all religions. Pilgrims come here from as far afield as South Africa, Britain and France to commemorate the anniversary of his death on 9 September. Notice the coloured plaster effigy of the priest on top of the tomb – it's been rubbed smooth by…
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Museum Dar Essid
This small, private museum is also not to be missed. In a quiet part of the medina, it occupies a beautiful old home, furnished in the style of a well-to-do 19th-century Sousse official and his family. The dimensions of the elaborately decorated, arched door are the first indication of the owner's status. It opens into a small anteroom for meeting strangers, and then into a tiled courtyard surrounded by the family rooms.
A plaque in the courtyard reveals that the house was built in AD 928, making it one of the oldest in the medina. There's an extravagance reflected in the Andalusian tiled façades and items ranging from European antique furniture to traditional perfume…
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Bet Amanuel
This freestanding, monolithic church is considered one of the Lalibela's most finely carved churches. Some have suggested Bet Amanuel was the royal family's private chapel.
It perfectly replicates the style of Aksumite buildings, with its projecting and recessed walls mimicking alternating layers of wood and stone. To appreciate this fully, you should make a day trip to Yemrehanna Kristos , which is one of Ethiopia's best-preserved Aksumite structures.
The most striking feature of the interior is the double Aksumite frieze in the nave. Although not accessible, there's even a spiral staircase connecting the four-pillared walls to an upper gallery. In the southern aisle, a…
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Aksum
Sprawling, dusty, and rural - Aksum is modest almost to a fault. On first sight, it's hard to imagine that the town was ever the site of a great civilisation. Yet Aksum is one of Ethiopia's star attractions.
Littered with massive teetering stelae, ruins of palaces, underground tombs (most still undiscovered) and inscriptions rivalling the Rosetta stone itself, the town once formed part of the Aksumite kingdom. It has a vibrancy, life and continuing national importance very rarely found at ancient sites. Pilgrims still journey to Aksum and the great majority of Ethiopians believe passionately that the Ark of the Covenant resides here.
Though no longer a wealthy metropolis,…
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Lion Mountain
Overlooking Vieux Grand Port is Lion Mountain (480m/1575ft), immediately recognisable by its sphinx-like profile. The mountain offers a splendid half-day hike with stunning views over the coast. It's a very challenging but rewarding walk that climbs up the lion's 'back' to finish at an impressive viewpoint on its 'head'.
The trail begins beside the police station at the north end of Vieux Grand Port. From there, a 4WD track heads inland through the sugar cane; turn right at the first junction and follow the trail up towards the ridge. A set of concrete steps begins on the right just after you reach the start of the forested area. The steps lead to a bunker, from where a…
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Palace of Fasiladas
Almost completely restored with the help of Unesco, the Palace of Fasiladas is the Royal Enclosure's oldest and most impressive castle. It stands 32m tall and has a crenulated parapet and four domed towers. Made of roughly hewn stones, it's reputedly the work of an Indian architect, and shows an unusual synthesis of Indian, Portuguese, Moorish and Aksumite influences.
The main floor was used as a dining hall and formal reception area; note the recessed Star of David above several doorways, which trumpet Fasiladas' link to the Solomonic dynasty. The small room in the northern corner boasts its original beam ceiling and some faint frescoes.
On the 1st floor, Fasiladas'…
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Palace of Ahmed Bey
Hajj Ahmed became bey or ruler of Constantine in 1826, and started building his new palace two years later. Progress was slow, partly due to objections of the more powerful dey of Algiers, but Ahmed finally occupied his new home in 1835. Beyond the high white walls lies one of the finest Ottoman-era buildings in the country. With a series of courtyards surrounded by tiled arcades, it is filled with gardens of olive and orange trees, and decorated with Tunisian and French tiles. Ahmed’s enjoyment of this wonderful place was short-lived because two years after he moved in, the French chased him out and turned the palace into their headquarters. After independence the…
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Sharia as-Souq
Starting from the southern end, Sharia as-Souq appears very much like the tourist bazaars all over Egypt, with persistent traders trying to lure passers-by into their shops to buy T-shirts, perfume, spices, beaded galabiyyas (robes) and roughly carved copies of Pharaonic statues. But a closer look down side alleys and walking further north reveals more exotic elements, hinting at the markets south in Sudan and Africa.
Here traders sell Nubian talisman for good luck, colourful Nubian baskets and scull caps, Sudanese swords, African masques, and enormous stuffed crocodiles and desert creatures. This is also very much a living market, where Nubians from Elephantine Island…
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Parque Nacional da Kissama
Kissama (also spelt Quiçama), situated 70km (43.5mi) south of Luanda, is Angola's most accessible and well-stocked wildlife park. This huge swathe of coastal savannah punctuated by gnarly baobab trees is home to elephants, water buffalo, indigenous palanca antelopes and a precarious population of nesting sea turtles.
Inaugurated as a nature reserve in 1938 and upgraded to a national park in 1957, Kissama remains at the forefront of Angola's wildlife regeneration efforts despite of years of poaching and neglect during the civil war. It's thanks largely to a pioneering relief project known as Operation Noah's Ark. This extraordinary scheme, run in partnership between the…
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Notre Dame d'Afrique
The Byzantine-inspired Notre Dame d’Afrique, known locally as Madame Afrique, sits above the bustle of the city, seemingly impervious to the fact that the people who created it and filled its pews have long gone. The idea for the church is said to have come from two women of Lyon, who missed the shrine that sits above their native city and who placed a statue of the virgin in the hollow of an olive tree on the north of the city. The basilica was finally consecrated in 1872 by Bishop Lavigerie, founder of the White Fathers. Four years later, the statue was crowned ‘queen of Africa’ with the approval of the Pope in Rome. The date of that event, 30 April, has become the…
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Qohaito
Historians debate whether or not the ruins of Qohaito were once the inhabited walls of the ancient town of Koloe, a commercially important place during the good times of the great Aksumite kingdom. Even if it wasn't, the city's impressively large remains - covering an area of 2.5km (1.5mi) by 15km (9mi) - are testament to its once-great stature.
Though only about 20% of the ruins have been excavated, it'll still take you half a day to pick your way through the digging's main sights. The four columns and assorted rubble of the Temple of Mariam Wakiro are thought to have begun life intact as an early Christian church and are surrounded by the dusty remains of a half-dozen…
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Hot Springs
Ai-Ais is Nama for 'Scalding Hot' and these springs are beneath the towering peaks at the southern end of Fish River Canyon National Park. Although the 60°C springs have probably been known to the San for thousands of years, the legend goes that they were 'discovered' by a nomadic Nama shepherd rounding up stray sheep. They're rich in chloride, fluoride and sulphur, and are reputedly therapeutic for sufferers of rheumatism or nervous disorders.
The hot water is piped to a series of baths and jacuzzis as well as an outdoor swimming pool. A pleasant diversion is the short scramble to the peak which rises above the opposite bank (note that the trail isn't marked). It…
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Dar Hassan Pacha
The building beside the Ketchoua Mosque was once the city's grandest mansions and carries the name of its original owner, Dar Hassan Pacha. Hassan was the ruler or Dey of Algiers, a man with a sense of purpose - in 1795 he concluded a peace treaty with the fledgling United States of America guaranteeing their ships safe passage in Algiers' waters. Before that, around 1791, he began his palace on the edge of the Casbah, but away from the waterside, which was vulnerable and damp in winter. When Algiers fell to the French the house was turned into the governor's winter residence. Its facade was remodelled, and unlike most large houses here the Dar Hassan Pacha was given a…
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Grand Marché
Every Monday, the wide open area in front of the mosque is transformed into the clamorous Monday Market, which has barely changed since the days when Saharan camel caravans brought salt across the sands to the gates of Djenné. Thousands of traders and customers come from miles around, and many of these itinerant traders follow the calendar of local market days in the region's villages, their week culminating in Djenné.
Most arrive the night before, and by 06:00 on market day traders are already staking out the best sites (ie those with shade). By mid- to late-morning (the best time to visit the market), the open square in front of the mosque is filled with traders…
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Le Maïdo
Far above St-Gilles-les-Bains on the rim of the Cirque de Mafate, Le Maïdo is one of the most impressive viewpoints in Réunion. The lookout is perched atop the mountain peak at 2205m (7232ft) and offers stunning views down into the cirque and back to the coast. Arrive early in the day if you want to see anything other than cloud.
The name Le Maïdo comes from a Malagasy word meaning 'burnt land', and is most likely a reference to the burnt appearance of the scrub forest at this altitude. The peak is the starting point for the tough walk along the cirque rim to the summit of Le Grand Bénare (2896m/9501ft), another impressive lookout (allow at least six hours for the…
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Kuskuam
Although less preserved than the Royal Enclosure, this royal compound known as Kuskuam is equally captivating. It offers an impressive mix of views over the countryside, each dramatically framed by the complex's crumbling remnants. It was built in 1730 for the redoubtable Empress Mentewab, after the death of her husband (Emperor Bakaffa).
Like the Royal Enclosure, it's made up of a series of buildings including a long, castellated palace used for state receptions and to house the royal garrison. Its exterior is decorated with red volcanic tuff; spot the figures of crosses and Ethiopian characters and animals, such as St Samuel riding his lion.
The nearby smaller building…
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