Travelling tends to be an enriching experience, often providing us with new and fresh perspectives. We can step outside the familiar, encounter places where time feels suspended, and where nature and culture remain unfiltered. Although places like this are becoming harder to find, some pockets still exist. Four such destinations are the Algerian Sahara, Angola’s southwest wilderness, Eritrea’s time-forgotten cities, and the Socotra Archipelago.
Given the remoteness of these areas, there is a clear trade-off. Infrastructure, in general, is limited and there are no luxury hotels, no gourmet restaurants and you are literally off the grid. Yet the experience of being immersed in these places more than makes up for the lack of creature comforts.
The Algerian Sahara
History and nature are the foundations of Algeria’s southeast, home to one of the richest troves of prehistoric rock art in Africa. The sight of the Tassili n’Ajjer plateau, rising amongst sandstone formations, is but one example of the dramatic desert scenery in this corner of Algeria. Teams of Tuareg act as guides, relying on ancestral knowledge to read the land and navigate without the aid of GPS. The camps here are arranged in Tuareg fashion immersing one in the lifestyle that has perdured throughout centuries.
The days in the Algerian Sahara follow the cycle of the desert. Mornings start slow, with walks or drives across panoramic landscapes to end in afternoons of nurturing tea, and evenings staring at the unscathed blanket of the starry sky stretching above.
Although camels were the ancient method of transport across the desert, the substitution of this method by comfortable Toyota 4x4s, makes the experience no less authentic. The Sahara remains the fantastical silent beauty any traveller expects it to be.
From the everchanging Sahara, the journey moves southward into another type of wilderness, where the desert meets the sea, and remoteness takes on a different form.
Southwestern Angola
Southwestern Angola is still a remote and relatively unexplored territory, unlike neighbouring Namibia’s popular safari trails. Astonishingly, one is still able to stand on the Skeleton Coast and feel its immensity entirely to yourself. It is thus unsurprising that the indigenous communities here remain far less exposed to tourism than across the border, making encounters with foreign travellers genuinely based on human connection. In the Namib Desert the wild camps move every few nights, offering different vantage points, from broad horizons to secluded valleys.
Similar to the Sahara experience, the days spent in Angola are composed by walks across beautiful landscapes, learning from local communities, finishing in the comfort of simple canvas tents alongside meals cooked from seasonal ingredients.
Eritrea
Eritrea offers a different kind of journey, involving more intricate details of history and memory. In Asmara, pastel art deco decorates the buildings, classic cinemas still stand proudly, Fiat Topolinos cruise the boulevards and cafés buzz alive with the sound of old coffee machines. The absence of widespread internet creates a rare sense of presence.
Leaving the capital, contrasts multiply. Hilltop camel markets where Christian highlanders and Muslim lowlanders meet, colonial cemeteries where history is carved in stone and Massawa’s crumbling coral-stone architecture shaped by different empires. Nearing the Red Sea, islands are still packed with seabirds, coral reefs, and traces of millennia-old civilizations.
Accommodation here is part of the charm. Like the streets, hotels are wallpapered in rustic art deco, always clean, but sometimes unpredictable in their comforts, serving as a reminder that time, here, has indeed stopped. Journeys are flexible, shaped by local guides’ insights and complemented by expedition leaders who add context encompassing from geology to politics.
The Socotra Archipelago
Completely adrift, where the Arabian Sea meets the Indian Ocean, it is not surprising that Socotra turns out to be one of the most surreal landscapes on Earth. Socotra is known for its Dragon’s Blood trees, its turquoise seas, and its dune-backed beaches home to a biodiversity rivalling that of the Galápagos.
Reaching Socotra is now easier with flights that run twice weekly from Abu Dhabi, although they should be booked in well in advance. Experiencing Socotra is al l about hikes through strange forests, snorkelling in crystalline waters, trekking across dunes, and arriving by boat to remote beaches where fishermen will likely invite you to share a tea with them.
Each expedition remains intimate and respectful by coordinating routes with local leaders before guests arrive. Here too, nights are spent in simple tents set in corners of the island, with meals drawn from land and sea.
Conclusion
All these journeys exceed expectations in creating a space for immersion and raw connection. They are not about checking off sights, but about inhabiting a landscape. By combining local guides’ ancestral knowledge with broader perspectives, it’s possible to gain insight into the intimate as well as the expansive. A few days in these destinations brings a forgotten primeval sensation to the foreground, making city life almost feel alien.