To travel in Africa is to discover a continent characterized by its geographical and cultural diversity. Many languages are spoken. Arabic in the north, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese in the former western colonies, and countless national languages and dialects. The two main religions represented on the African continent are Islam in the north and Christianity in the south, to which are added the traditional religions practiced particularly in the central countries. From north to south, from ocean to ocean, the landscapes are so varied, the peoples so different, that it’s hard to believe that this is a single continent.

To the north, Morocco, to name but one, is an orientalist’s dreamland, and its very name is an invitation to ochre and green, desert and lush landscapes. Marrakech is certainly the emblem of refined, picturesque Morocco, which reveals itself little by little at the turn of a souk or in the courtyard of a riad, refreshed by fountains and orange trees. Egypt is just as Oriental. It’s the land of archaeologists, history buffs and mystery seekers. Here, it impresses: Karnak, Luxor, Philae and, of course, the inimitable pyramids of Giza suggest that, long ago, man was on a par with the gods.

To the south of the great sandy deserts that separate the Maghreb from Black Africa, the world changes. In Ethiopia, we enter the Rift Valley, where man took his first steps. Further south, nature reigns supreme. In the Congo, we come to admire the master of the forest, the impressive gorilla. In Kenya and Tanzania, the savannah unrolls its endless plains, allowing prey and predators to play out before our eyes the scenes of a life with immutable rules. And finally, to the south, the South African rainbow, separated by a few hundred nautical miles from the islands of Madagascar and, further afield, Reunion and Mauritius. Africa is truly the continent of our origins, where it all began, and where many mysteries remain to be explored.