Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan travel guide, perfect for independent travellers. Expert advice and holiday tips on Tashkent architecture and hotels, Silk Road history, Islamic art, museums and culture. Includes detailed maps, trekking routes, touring by bike, public transport, archaeological sites in Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva; Fergana Valley; and Kyzylkum Desert.

Karakalpakstan

Karakalpakstan travel guide. Holiday advice and travel information to this autonomous Central Asian republic, featuring heritage attractions (museums, desert fortresses, mausolea, ancient settlements), ecotourism, wildlife, festivals, accommodation, restaurants and transport. Thorough coverage includes Nukus, Ancient Khorezm, Ustyurt, Aral Sea, the Aralkum Desert, Chilpik Dakhma and Amu Darya.

Sudan

Sudan Travel Guide – Expert advice and holiday travel tips on everything from Khartoum historical sites and accommodation to Nile cruises and nomadic traditions. This guide also covers safety, visas, political history, Meroë pyramids, Jebel Barkal, whirling dervishes at Hamed al-Nil tomb, Omdurman, Nuba Mountains, Kassala, Suakin and Aba Islands.

Tajikistan

Tajikistan Travel Guide – Travel tips and tourist information including Dushanbe highlights, hotels and restaurants, homestays, trekking and ancient sites. Also covering the Wakhan Corridor, Silk Road, Pamir Highway, Sarazm and the Tajik National Park UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Garm Chashma bathing springs, kashi and Tajik culture and Lake Sarez.

The best deserts in the world

Deserts are among some of the world’s most spectacular landscapes

Is it worth visiting Karakalpakstan?

The oft overlooked autonomous republic in Uzbekistan has much to offer.

Is Instagram ruining travel?

Powerful marketing tool or the root of all evil? Portia Jones considers the role of Instagram in 21st-century travel.

A land where mountains and mankind meet

Tajikistan’s tourism industry is taking on a new focus, one that brings its breathtaking landscapes to life through a millennia of history.

Introducing dead goat polo: Tajikistan’s national sport

Never mind the Premier League; this is the weekend’s real entertainment.

The best trekking routes in the Fann Mountains

The Fann Mountains are a veritable adventure playground for climbers and trekkers alike.

The Registan

Among the most iconic sights on the Silk Road, this central square is one of the world’s greatest examples of medieval Islamic architecture

From Swaziland to eSwatini

April 2018 saw Mswati III announce that Swaziland – the name given to the country by the British – would be no more.

South Sudan

It is also a place too often overlooked, forgotten about as we turn our attentions (and tourist dollars) to its better developed and more familiar neighbours. As long as we do this, it is we who are missing out. Sophie and Max Lovell-Hoare authors of South Sudan: The Bradt Guide South Sudan, in the two years after…

Karakalpakstan

“Karakalpakstan’s history and traditions are strong, but they are a foundation for development rather than tying people down to the past (…) What you will find time and again in Karakalpakstan is that people surprise you in wonderful ways, and whatever challenges they face, natural or manmade, they respond with creativity, determination and resilience.” Sophie…

Shakhrisabz

Get better acquaintainted with national hero Amir Timur in his hometown of Shakhrisabz. There has been a settlement here, in the upper reaches of the Qashqa Darya River, for at least 2,700 years. The modern highway from Samarkand overlies a much older route across the mountains, but though it was a well-situated trading post, it…