Marketing brochures seem to just scream about luxury resorts on palm-fringed beaches, but East Africa’s Indian Ocean islands are as diverse as the islanders, spice merchants and explorers that have shaped them. Whether you’re looking for giant coconuts or giant tortoises; lush rainforests, cool highlands or lambent coral reefs; or crossroads cuisine and curious wildlife, there’s an island to suit …

Had a visitor in 1958 stood on the crest of Bumi Hills and peered out through a pair of binoculars, they might have been distracted by the sight of a bare-chested man in a floppy hat attempting to strap an elephant to a wooden raft. Rupert Fothergill was chief game ranger of what was then Rhodesia, now northern Zimbabwe, and …

Although best known for its spectacularly-mountainous dunes, this national park offers so much more. It’s spread over almost 50,000 sq km, covering vast swathes of the Namib Desert and encapsulating a sea of sand, as well as mountains, canyons and desert-adapted wildlife. Here are a few things not to miss. The ephemeral pan of Sossusvlei (top centre) surrounded by the …

Malawi is in the throes of an inspiring renaissance. Famous for being the ‘warm heart of Africa’ and for its vast glittering lake, the country will soon be renowned as an exciting safari destination. Thanks to conservation organisation African Parks, three beautiful reserves – Majete, Liwonde and Nkhotakota – once decimated through poaching and poverty, are blossoming back to life. …

Set off on a self-drive road trip beneath the big skies of Zambia: roaming among big game by day, pitching under the stars at night and casting off in a canoe at the road’s end. Camping beside an oxbow lake at Kalovia campsite, close to one of the largest hippo populations in Africa © Philip Lee Harvey / Lonely Planet …

One could argue that taking 12 to 24 hours to cover the 163km between Madagascar’s highlands and its Indian Ocean coast is a rather slow and inefficient way to travel. It is, but that is the point. Travelling on the Fianarantsoa-Côte Est (FCE) railway isn’t really about getting from A to B – it’s about the journey. The Fianarantsoa-Côte Est …