Africa is a long flight, and it is worth every hour. The safari belt — Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda — delivers the kind of wildlife experiences that don't exist anywhere else on Earth. The Great Migration in the Maasai Mara and Serengeti, gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park, the Okavango Delta floods, Cape Town's wine country with Table Mountain behind it. North Africa is its own trip entirely: Marrakech's souks, the Atlas Mountains, the Sahara, Egypt's pyramids and Nile cruises. West Africa — Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria — is where you go for the music, the food, the cities that produced jazz, jollof, and Afrobeats. Safari season is dry season (roughly June through October across most of east and southern Africa). Egypt is October through April. Pack for layered temperatures and book lodges 6–12 months out.
