Uganda

As you follow your tracker through Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, you might notice how very aptly named the reserve is. Its terrain is thickly forested and steep, and your course dictated by telling pointers of crushed grass and snapped twigs will probably see you crawling through thickets, getting tangled in vines, and encountering a reasonable amount of mud.

However, there are precious few who would say the trek wasn't worth it. Getting close to a family of mountain gorillas (there are only 600 left in the world) is one of the most profound moments nature can offer. Gorilla trekking might be Uganda's most famous attraction, but it's by no means the only one.

Natural beauty, diverse wildlife and thriving traditional ways create an alluring package. Tourist numbers are still relatively low, and so the welcome you receive is correspondingly hearty.

If you fly in, you'll probably arrive at the international airport at Entebbe on the banks of Lake Victoria, although Uganda's capital Kampala is nearby .

Elegant and higgledy-piggledy, the city is the gateway to one of Uganda's newest projects, the fascinating Kabaka's Trail, which links around 40 cultural and historical sites relating to the ancient Baganda people. Kampala nestles in and around seven hills, and is subsequently green, leafy and lush.

While the capital suffered during civil upheaval in the 1980s, it's been transformed and regenerated into a thriving city, demonstrated by its lively and bustling street markets.

From Kampala, a road ascends west past villages to Kibale Forest National Park (playground of chimpanzees and other primates) and the lush, snow-capped Ruwenzori Mountains ('Mountains of the Moon'). There are ten national parks all in all, dotted around the country in wilderness areas, among lakes, waterfalls, marshes and plains.

The incredible array of bird and mammal species roaming within them makes Uganda's animal population one of the most diverse in Africa.