Bangweulu Wetlands.

Bangweulu — meaning "where the water meets the sky" — is a vast, community-owned wetland system in north-eastern Zambia, encompassing floodplains, swamps and woodland across an area larger than some small countries. It is home to one of the largest populations of the rare and prehistoric-looking shoebill stork, best approached on foot through the swamp with expert local guides, and to tens of thousands of black lechwe, an antelope found almost nowhere else on Earth. Managed in partnership with African Parks and the surrounding communities, Bangweulu offers a genuinely off-the-beaten-path wetland safari far removed from Zambia's more conventional game-viewing circuits.

Its birdlife, numbering in the hundreds of species, makes it a bucket-list destination for serious birders.