(This is the second of a two-part series. Read part one)
6.) Ngorongoro Crater
Located near the Southern Serengeti in Tanzania, Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest unbroken volcanic caldera measuring 19 km across and 600 meters deep from its rim to its floor.
Ngorongoro Crater has a total floor area of 260 square kilometers and is considered a natural enclosure for wildlife, thanks to the thriving population of animals inhabiting the floor.
7.) Okavango Delta
Okavango Delta, Botswana
Situated in northern Botswana within the Kalahari Basin, Okavango Delta is the world’s largest inland delta and one of the world’s greatest enigmas of water in a desert.
The delta covers an area of over 17,000 square kilometers and it was formed thousands of years ago after the drying up of Lake Makgadikgadi. The lake used to be fed by the Okavango River, which today empties its water into the sands of the Kalahari desert forming the Okavango Delta – a spectacular labyrinth of inland lagoons, floodplains, waterways and forested islands.
Okavango Delta is considered one of the best safari destinations in Africa due to its diverse flora and fauna. The delta is home to the Nile crocodile, African buffalo, African bush elephant, the black and white rhino among many other animal species. Over 500 species of birds have been recorded in the delta.
8.) Table Mountain
Offering a spectacular backdrop to South Africa’s city of Cape Town, the Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming part of the Table Mountain National Park.
The prominent landmark is one of the most famous mountains in Africa and a significant tourist attraction, offering mountain climbers several trails of varying difficulty.
The mountain is renowned for the sheets of clouds (referred to as table cloth) that pours incessantly down the slopes – attributed (in old women tales) to a smoking competition between the devil and a local pirate called Van Hunks.
Table mountain was named one of the Seven Wonders of Nature in November 2011.
9.) The Nile River
The Nile River is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa, running for 6,695 kilometers through ten countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt.
The river has two major tributaries: the Blue Nile (source of most water and fertile soil) and the White Nile (the longer tributary). The two tributaries meet near the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, from where the river flows almost entirely through a desert. The Nile river ends in a wide delta that drains into the Mediterranean Sea.
10.) Sahara Desert
Sahara Desert
Sitting on an area of about 8.6 million square kilometers, the Sahara Desert is the world’s largest hot desert covered by huge areas of sand dunes, gravel plains, salt flats and mountain areas.
One of the striking features of the desert that sometimes gets no rain for several years is the mountain ranges whose peaks offer magnificent snow during the winter season. They include Tibesti in Chad, Hoggar in Algeria and Azbine in Niger.
Sand sheets and dunes are also major attractions of the Sahara Desert and so is the Qattara Depression (Egypt) – the lowest point of the Sahara at 130 meters above the sea level.
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