Source for a sizable portion of Egypt's freshwater supply is more than an optical illusion.

Nature's water park in the Wadi Bani Awf valley is full of pools flanked with cliffs and natural water slides.

This bazaar is one of the oldest in the Arabian world.

A sinkhole and now a swimming hole, too, full of dazzling turquoise water.

One of Western Africa's oldest mosques, this Timbuktu icon has stood for nearly 700 years.

Ancient Manuscripts showcase the civilization of West Africans during the Middle Ages.

The most important and best preserved remnant of West Africa's powerful Songhai Empire.

These homes carved into the mountains seem to defy the laws of nature.

Despite a fraught and controversial history this African island holds a powerful monument to the tragedy of the slave trade.

This deceptively salty lake looks like blushing pink lemonade.

Wander among hulking piles of rusted machinery left over from the Eritrean-Ethiopian War.

Eritrea's futuristic gas station is a nod to Italy's fascist history.

This fortified sand barrier dividing a contested territory is the longest minefield in the world.

This remarkably well-preserved mosque stands amid an 11th-century caravansary.

Five ancient libraries, little changed for centuries, preserve a medieval archive of Quranic lore and civic documents

A geological bull's-eye visible from outer space.

Climb atop one of the world's longest and heaviest trains for an unbelievable journey across the Sahara Desert.

This deceptively beautiful island was once home to a German concentration camp and known as "Death Island."

Road signs in Namibia mark the location of one of the five major circles of latitude.

A rare cluster of alien-like plants grows along a dusty highway.

This "dead marsh" sits among the largest sand dunes in the world, a forest frozen in time.

The remains of diamond fever taken over by the desert.

The central mosque of this Mali town is entirely built from mud.

You can still find treasures on the pebbly beaches of one of the world's oldest jade-producing areas.