Maasai Mara, Kenya. Forget the documentaries, nothing prepares you for the real thing. You’re bouncing in an open jeep at 6 am, frost on the grass, and suddenly a lioness walks two meters from your wheel with a bloody breakfast in her mouth. The Great Migration hits around July to October, millions of wildebeest crossing rivers while crocs wait like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. Hot-air balloon at sunrise is pricey but when you float above the plains and see the herds stretching to the horizon, you’ll shut up and just stare. Stay in a tented camp, fall asleep to hyenas laughing outside, wake up to giraffes staring in your “window”.

Table Mountain, Cape Town. You can cheat and take the cable car down, but hiking up is where the fun is. Platteklip Gorge route is straight up the face, basically stairs carved by giants, two hours if you’re fit, longer if you stop every five minutes for photos (you will). At the top the views smash you: city one side, Atlantic crashing the other, clouds rolling over like a waterfall. Do the full traverse to Maclear’s Beacon and back via Skeleton Gorge if you want the legs to burn properly. Dassies (those fat rock rabbits) will try to steal your lunch, don’t trust their cute faces.

Sahara Desert, Morocco. Fly into Marrakech, get out fast, jump in a 4×4 and head southeast. First night sleep in a normal hotel in the dunes, second night go proper Berber camp, carpets on sand, tagine cooking over fire, drums after dark. Wake at 4 am, climb the biggest dune you see, watch the sand turn pink then gold while the stars fade. Camel trek if you want the classic, but honestly the sandboarding down 100-meter dunes is more fun and hurts less the next day. In winter it drops below zero at night, bring a beanie, you’ll thank me.

Quick extras because Africa spoils you: Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe side. Walk the knife-edge path while the spray soaks you like a hurricane, then do the devil’s pool swim on the edge in low water season, terrifying and amazing. Simien Mountains, Ethiopia. Trek with gelada baboons running around like it’s their backyard (it is), sleep in tiny villages, scenery that looks like Lord of the Rings but real. Okavango Delta, Botswana. Paddle a mokoro (dugout canoe) through reeds, elephants swimming past, total silence except birds.

Every one of these will push you a bit, altitude, heat, bumpy roads, early starts, but that’s the point. Africa doesn’t hand you adventure on a silver plate, you earn it, and it tastes better that way. Pack light, bring good boots, and leave room in your heart because this continent takes a piece every time. Worth it.