Equatorial Africa encompasses environments ranging from lowland tropical rainforest to savanna and globally-exceptional, glacier-bearing tropical mountains. The rainforest is drained by the world’s second largest river by flow volume, which also uniquely amongst rivers crosses the equator twice. The East African savanna’s famously rich mega-fauna includes the world’s biggest, tallest, fastest, and second fastest land animals and biggest flightless bird and is also probably the origin of our own species.

The unique, ‘otherworldly’ Afro alpine zone above 10,000 ft also provides the ultimate source of the world’s longest river and borders the home of the world’s highly endangered largest great ape.

Just south of the equator are the legendary Mountains of the Moon with their rumoured existence first referenced  by the Greek, Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy some 1,900 years ago, but not explored by outsiders until the Italian Duke of Abruzzi’s expedition in the early 20th century.