Considered by aficionados to be the ‘holy grail’ of Saharan travel, this remote range of volcanic peaks in northern Chad has been out of bounds for many years, but no longer. Cross vast deserts and lonely camel herders, and explore lush palm groves inhabited by the Tubu, legendary inhabitants of the deep Sahara. Explore picturesque gorges, search for ancient rock art, and head to the Sahara’s highest peak, Emi Koussi. The Tibesti holds an allure that is hard to resist, one of the last places left where you can feel like a true explorer.
How to get there: Untamed Tibesti
Cost: From £3,499 per person land content only for 21 daysThe lowest spot in Africa is a bewildering world of salt pans, geological wonders and proud Afar tribes, renowned in the past for being mighty warriors. Explore Lac Assal, once used as the setting for the original ‘Planet of the Apes’ and the spectacular Lac Abbe, a vast salt lake with tall limestone chimneys belching gas into the air. Hike up the volcano of Erta Ale and marvel at its lava lake, illuminated perfectly at night, visit the hot springs at Dallol - the hottest place on earth - and look out for camel caravans carting blocks of salt across the desert.
How to get there: Djibouti and the Danakil Depression
Cost: From £3,299 per person land content only for 14 days
The remote region of Svaneti, high up in the Caucasus mountains, is a throwback to a bygone age when this was a truly wild frontier of Europe. Populated by the Svan people, the medieval style villages here consist of stone built houses clustered around imposing watchtowers, most of which are between 800 to 1000 years old and served as a look out post to warn of potential invaders. The scenery here is truly stunning, as you might expect from Europe's highest mountain range, with snow capped peaks ranging up to 5000 metres, dense forests and gushing rivers. Many of the churches in the region hold fine frescoes but the Svan are more traditional than the Georgians of the lowlands, and in places you can still find evidence of earlier, non-Christian beliefs – with the odd ram’s skull nailed to a church door here and there.
How to get there: Legends of the Caucacus
Cost: Price from £1,299 per person land content only for 11 days
The Altai Mountains meet at the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, and are steeped in shamanism and ancient traditions. Here live the Kazakh people, famed for their practice of hunting with golden eagles, as well as populations of Tuvans, known for their unusual throat singing. The landscapes are equally breathtaking with pristine glaciers, clear blue lakes and towering peaks, inhabited by some of the region’s rarest and most enigmatic wildlife, including the ever elusive snow leopard.
How to get there: Altai Explorer
Cost: From £2,599 per person for 23 days
A remote and traditional corner of one of Europe’s least developed nations, northern Albania is a treasure trove of dramatic scenery and traditions that have long died out elsewhere. The boat journey across Lake Koman is rightly considered one of the world’s best, while the intensely traditional region of Mirdita has a culture based around clan associations that is almost medieval in nature. Tucked away in villages are the last of the ‘sworn virgins’, women who early in life assumed the identities of men, and traditional kullas – towers where menfolk would lock themselves away for months on end to escape blood feuds – can still be found.
How to get there: In the Land of Eagles
Cost: £899 for 10 days
This national park sits up against the borders of Cameroon and the Central African Republic, forming part of the Tri-National Reserve along with Dzangha Sangha in the CAR and Lobeke in Cameroon. This is true primeval rainforest, with little evidence of human activity and pristine jungles, rich in biodiversity and home to an incredible amount of flora and fauna including forest elephant, leopard, bongos, forest buffalo, numerous primate species and of course the western lowland gorilla. Wildlife can be best observed in the bais, natural clearings within the forest where animals congregate to drink or seek out salt licks. The best known is Mbeli Bai, situated in a remote area of the park and accessed by pirogue and on foot, travelling through swamps and waterways and overshadowed by towering trees – travelling here is akin to entering a completely different world, where nature rules triumphantly, and one cannot help but feel rather humbled.
How to get there: Rainforests of the Congo
Cost: From £3,299 per person, land content only, for 10 days
The island of Soqotra is a true jewel of the Indian Ocean straight out of the story books. Explore remote wadis where people have seldom trod and hike to plateaus where the mythical dragon’s blood trees abound, as well as the legendary frankincense trees that once made this an important stop for sailors centuries ago. On pristine beaches discover the diverse marine wildlife of the island, and spend nights camping in idyllic locations with not a soul around. Soqotra is just about as far off the tourist map as it gets.
How to get there: Secrets of Soqotra
Cost: From £1,625 per person, land content only, for 8 days
Only revealed to the outside world a little more than ten years ago, the rock paintings of Las Geel rank among the best in all of Africa. Superbly preserved in caves and under overhanging rocks, the paintings consist of cows, dogs and people as well as the odd giraffe here and there, and anywhere else they would be a major tourist attraction. With the handful of visitors Somaliland receives you are almost guaranteed to have this enigmatic site all to yourself. No-one has yet determined the age of the site - guesses range from five to ten thousand years, but the paintings remain a testament to the pastoral traditions of Somaliland's ancient inhabitants.
How to get there: Rock Art and the Red Sea
Cost: Price from £1,399 per person, land content only, for 8 days
Founded in the 13th century as the centre of several trans-Saharan trade routes, Chinguetti’s well preserved historic buildings give it the sense of yesteryear; walking through its sandy streets, rubbing shoulders with blue robed men and veiled women, it’s not hard to imagine that you’re in another time. Many of the older houses feature doors cut from massive ancient acacia trees, which have long disappeared from the surrounding area. The old quarter of the Chinguetti has five important manuscript libraries of scientific and Koranic texts that date back centuries, with many dating from the later Middle Ages.
How to get there: From the Atlantic to the Chinguetti
Cost: Price from £2,949 per person, land content only, for 12 days
Nagorno Karabakh is one of those curious political oddities thrown up by the demise of the Soviet Union, unrecognised by most of the rest of the world but with its own government, army and currency. It has long been a source of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan – a war fought here in the 1990s saw most of the Azeri population leaving, and now its population is predominantly Armenian. The scenery here is stunning, with striking mountains and beautiful valleys, and the name itself means ‘mountainous black garden’, a mixture of Persian and Turkish words reflecting its geographical location between two great powers. It is also home to some fine monasteries, but perhaps the biggest draw-card is the fact that you’ll be travelling to a country that doesn’t officially exist, and will be something of a novelty to local people.
How to get there: Ancient Armenia
Cost: Price from £1649 per person, land content only, for 10 days