Known as the "Hobbit Houses," these storybook homes look like they're straight out of the Shire.

One of the last refuges of the endangered eastern lowland gorilla.

The most biologically diverse protected area in Africa is also the most dangerous.

Mount Nyiragongo has erupted at least 34 times since 1882 and is home to the world's largest lava lake.

A massive collection of petroglyphs dating back some 40,000 years.

Foreign invaders almost left this lovely Caucasus palace alone—almost.

This mysterious but iconic tapered tower appears in many Azeri fairytales and legends.

The building's fluid, wavelike walls are a true feat of architectural ingenuity.

Azerbaijani ghost town, decaying after a war left it an armed forces buffer zone.

This striking icon of the disputed Republic of Artsakh caused a stir at a Eurovision Song Contest.

Complete town of 5,000 living out at sea on the world's first offshore oil platform.

Mysterious hillside with a continuously burning natural fire.

Home to nearly a third of the world's mud volcanoes, Azerbaijan is home to a messy, bubbling, and sometimes explosive landscape.

A shrine of fire worship built on top of a natural flame.

In Zanzibar, a historic 19th-century palace is a reminder of the world's shortest war.

There is only one place in the world where the corners of four nations come together.

Eritrea's futuristic gas station is a nod to Italy's fascist history.

A salt lake dotted with steaming limestone chimneys.

Rimmed by white crusts of salt on every edge, Lac Assal is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world.

A MiG-17 fighter jet sits atop this memorial to the indiscriminate bombardment of Hargeisa.

This cave located in the badlands of Somaliland contains some of the oldest cave art in Africa.

Russian Orthodox church built on an Antarctic island.

The best place to send your postcards home from Antarctica.

A Turkish ghost town abandoned in a population exchange with Greece.