Destination
Mauritania
Two World Heritage sites and nine elements on the intangible lists, in a country whose entire north current travel advice closes.
From Senegal to Nigeria, including Ghana, a core region for heritage travel. Country guides for thirteen destinations along the Atlantic coast and the Sahel.
Destination
Guinea-Bissau
The only World Heritage site in Guinea-Bissau was inscribed in 2025: the coastal and marine ecosystems of the Bijagos Archipelago.
Destination
The Gambia
An island documenting both the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade and its abolition, and a thousand stone circles shared with Senegal.
Destination
Sierra Leone
A rainforest inscribed in 2025 holding pygmy hippopotamus and the endangered white-necked rockfowl, in the Upper Guinean biodiversity hotspot.
Destination
Liberia
Nothing on the World Heritage List, and three nominations of which two are extensions of properties the neighboring countries already hold.
Destination
Guinea
One World Heritage site, shared with a neighbor, holding a toad that bears live young and chimpanzees that use stones as tools.
Destination
Côte d'Ivoire
Five World Heritage sites, a first capital planned with separate quarters for Europeans and for Africans, and a northern border the advisory closes.
Destination
Togo
Koutammakou, the mud tower-houses of the Batammariba, is the only World Heritage site in Togo and it continues into Benin.
Destination
Benin
The palaces of twelve Abomey kings, a savannah holding the only viable lion population in West Africa, and the advisory that closes it.
Destination
Senegal
Goree, which UNESCO calls both a reminder of human exploitation and a sanctuary for reconciliation, and a thousand stone circles along the Gambia.