Hamba Travel Magazine
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From a detour close to home to a long road through East Africa. Pick a part of the world, or read them in order.
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153 stories from our editors. Filter by part of the world, or page back in time.
Asia · Thar Desert · Gobi, Mongolia
The world’s 10 most remarkable deserts, ranked
In Egypt’s White Desert, wind-blown sand has carved snow-white chalk into mushrooms, cones and solitary towers. This deliberately subjective ranking weighs access alongside landscape and distinctive character, so a spectacular place can fall when reaching it requires a serious expedition.
Brazil · India · Pantanal, Brazil
Top 5 wildlife encounters that keep animals wild
These five encounters differ in more than their headline animals: one unfolds from a riverboat, another from a jeep, snorkel, tundra vehicle or ranger-led walk. Each depends on a habitat that concentrates wildlife at certain times, but none offers a guaranteed sighting.
Ecuador · Peru · Mexico
Where Ecuador’s cacao changes form in Quito
At República del Cacao’s Quito factory, cacao arrives stripped of its tropical disguise. Growers have already harvested the pods, fermented the wet beans and dried them; the city’s work begins with sacks of dry cacao.
Africa’s national parks ranked: ten landscapes beyond the Big Five
Salt hardens across a vanished lake in Botswana. Atlantic surf meets rainforest in Gabon, while cliffs fall away from Ethiopia’s high plateau. These ten national parks show a continent far wider than the usual safari circuit.
Europe · Spain · Manises: City of Ceramics
Manises: Where Clay Still Marks the Town
On Carrer del Sagrari, eighteenth-century tiles sit beneath the windows of Casa Ferraro. Inside, the Museu de la Ceràmica de Manises traces the local work that made Manises known far beyond Valencia, then leads back out to workshops, a ceramics school and tiled public spaces.
South America · Chile · Valparaíso
Ascensor Reina Victoria: Valparaíso in 40 Steep Metres
At the bend in Calle Elías, two rails run straight into the hillside at 52 degrees. Ascensor Reina Victoria covers only about 40 metres, but it links the lower *plan* of Valparaíso with the pedestrian streets of Cerro Alegre in one steep, compact movement.
Middle East · Asia · Oman
The Carved Doors of Mombasa Old Town
In Mombasa Old Town, carved timber marks the boundary between the street and the rooms beyond. Teak, brass, floral carving and geometric grids show how a Swahili port absorbed ideas and materials from across the Indian Ocean.
Romsdal, Norway · Centovalli · Locarno
Seven European train routes where the railway is the destination
Above Vermafossen, a regular train crosses the stone Kylling Bridge before dropping between the rock walls of Romsdal. These seven lines put landscape, railway construction and ordinary public transport in the same frame.
South America · Argentina · Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires at the Kiosk Window
At Junín and Paraguay, coffee crosses the counter of a green newspaper kiosk while magazines still face the pavement. Canillita has broadened its trade without abandoning the compact, street-level exchange that put Buenos Aires kiosks on daily walking routes.
Woodstock, still at work
At the Old Biscuit Mill, steel stairs, bridges and broad steel-framed windows sit alongside the older factory buildings. The conversion retained Pyott’s former biscuit factory and made each newer layer plain to see.
Recife · São José · Mercado de São José
From São José Market to Recife’s Tidal River
Inside Mercado de São José, a covered passage runs between iron columns, box stalls and two separate pavilions. Outside, a short walk to the Capibaribe shows why trade in central Recife has long relied on islands, quays and bridges.
Middle East · Syria · Lebanon
Sesame Bread and Knafeh in Downtown Amman
At the northern edge of downtown Amman, customers at Salaheddine Bakery take sesame-coated *ka’ak* from a wooden bin, cut it open and fill it at the counter. That brief stop puts bread between work, shopping, traffic and the steep routes home from the hills.