Every road we know

The northern reach of the Serengeti ecosystem and the stage for the Great Migration river crossings between roughly July and October, when close to two million wildebeest and zebra run the gauntlet of the Mara River. Outside migration season the Mara still holds the densest big-cat population in Kenya — lion, cheetah and leopard on open grassland that seems built for watching them.

The elephant park, and the one that gives you the photograph you already have in your head: big tuskers crossing dust and swamp with Kilimanjaro filling the sky behind them. Amboseli's herds are among the most studied on earth and remarkably relaxed around vehicles. The mountain hides in cloud through the middle of the day, so the light you want is at dawn and again at dusk.

Seventeen kilometres of white coral sand south of Mombasa, backed by palms and fronted by a reef that keeps the water flat and clear. Colobus monkeys move through the canopy behind the beach hotels. Kitesurfing, diving on the reef, dhow trips to Wasini Island and the Kisite Marine Park make it more than a place to lie down — though it is very good at that too.