Uganda

Winston Churchill called Uganda the Pearl of Africa, and for once the colonial-era superlative was not an exaggeration. This landlocked country straddling the equator has an almost unfair concentration of natural wonders: half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas live in its misty volcanic forests, the Nile begins its 6,650-kilometer journey to the Mediterranean from the shores of Lake Victoria here, and the Rwenzori Mountains - the legendary Mountains of the Moon - rise to over 5,000 meters with glaciers on the equator.

Uganda's biodiversity is staggering. With over 1,060 bird species, it has more than any other country in Africa, packed into a territory smaller than the UK. The country has also undergone a remarkable transformation from the dark years of Idi Amin's dictatorship in the 1970s, rebuilding into one of East Africa's most dynamic economies. Kampala is chaotic, entrepreneurial, and growing at breakneck speed, while the countryside remains lush and green in a way that makes the name Pearl of Africa feel entirely earned.