Namaqualand, South Africa
This area has two landscapes an unpromising, sunbaked rocky barrenness for most of the year, and a magnificent profusion of flowers, from your feet to the far horizon, in spring. Orange, yellow and cream daisies predominate but there are also brightly coloured vygies, flowering aloes, nemesias, pelargoniums and wild irises.

The Cedarberg, South Africa
The shaping of the rocks in this mountain range seems to have occured at two levels. There's the rough trimming that has left huge features, such as the Wolfberg Arch, the Cracks and the Maltese Cross, visible on hiking trails. Then there's the finer scale of operations, which has created the gnarled gargoyles and stacked blocks of sculpted sandstone that can be seen from the Pakhuis Pass.

Hex River Valley, South Africa
Visit this lovely valley in early winter when the vine leaves turn copper and gold and a dusting of dazzling snow covers the towering peaks. Heaths, sedges and disas grow prolifically on the mountain slopes, and you may find San paintings and engravings on the rock faces.

Blyde River Canyon, South Africa
It's not just what it is?the third-largest gorge in the world, with a depth of 700m. It's also where it is?on the edge of the great Drakensberg escarpment, with views across the sinuous Blyde River and the eroded peaks to the plains of the Lowveld. Part of the canyon forms Bourke's Luck Potholes, a staggering feat of sculpture by water and stone.

The Amphitheatre, Drakensberg, South Africa
From a distance, the casual symmetry of this basalt curtain is arresting. Closer examination reveals its awesome majesty, massive pinnacles and outcrops, and the ribbon of the young Tugela River streaming airily over the rim. If you manage the difficult climb to the top you'll be rewarded with a staggering view, particularly from the Eastern Buttress, down into the Amphitheatre.

Sossusvlei, Namib-Naukluft Park, Namibia
The experience of this dunescape awaits only those who make the effort to get here by landrover or on foot for four kilometres through soft sand. But then you're among some of the world's highest dunes, in a red-sand sea with serpentine curves. Climb up to the top to appreciate the full panorama of this unusual landscape.

Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana
At midday, this vast area of white salt and clay shimmers like a sea. There once was a huge expanse of water, but all that remains are pebble beaches, grassy peninsulas and islands of trees which mark an ancient shoreline. It is now one of the largest saltpans in the world. The rains from November to April bring pelicans and flamingoes whose colours flash through this otherwise muted landscape.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe/Zambia
The sound is part of the spectacle of roaring water rushing from sunlight to shadow, and a ghostly rainbow above the flowers, ferns and trees of the rain forest. David Livingstone, back in 1855, thought the scene was lovely enough to have moved the angels to tears and it is certainly best seen from the air.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
A snow-capped peak practically on the equator is not what you'd expect to see. The sight of it from Kenya, rising as a solitary peak from the plains of Amboseli, is even more extraordinary. If you wait long enough, a herd of elephant or giraffe might pass in front of it, fixing the image in your mind forever.

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
The world's second-largest Caldera, or blown-out volcano, Ngorongoro Crater is also one of the world's greatest conservation areas. The abundance of wildlife on its hills, plains and wetlands has to be seen to be believed.