Saudi Arabia is revealing chapters long unseen by tourists. Al-Ula is home to Hegra, the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the kingdom and hosts to ancient Nabatean tombs carved in sandstone cliffs. Nearby, the mirrored Maraya Concert Hall reflects the desert sky, its design both unexpected and elegant amid the sands. Visitors can wander through narrow canyons, step inside rock-hewn facades, and feel the weight of ancient civilizations still echoing across the dunes.
Krong Battambang is a riverside city in northwestern Cambodia, known for its preserved colonial-era architecture, rice-growing countryside, and long connection to Cambodian arts and education.
Elafonisi is a coastal area in southwestern Crete, known for a shallow lagoon, pale sand mixed with pink shell fragments, and a narrow sandy crossing to a small offshore island. The beach lies within a protected Natura 2000 landscape that supports sea lilies, rare plants, seabirds, and other wildlife.
The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is a vast protected wilderness in Botswana’s Kalahari Desert, rather than South Africa. It covers a large area of semi-arid grassland, scrub, dry river valleys, and sandy plains, with Deception Valley and the northern section around Passarge Valley among its best-known areas. The reserve is remote and sparsely developed, with wildlife viewing focused on natural water sources and seasonal changes in vegetation