The world’s last unexplored places – and how to see them before everyone else

The Golden Age of exploration is long gone – or so we tend to think. All that’s left to investigate on our long-suffering planet are the murky depths of our oceans – and perhaps a few scraps of jungle. In this, the era of the sat nav and Google – when everything is accessible at the click of a mouse – there’s nowhere left for budding explorers to go. 

Except, it turns out there are ample places. Because, however good the satellite imagery, nothing beats getting up close and personal with off-beat terrain – especially when that terrain includes well-hidden caves or permanent cloud cover. I was reminded of this back in 2017 when I disappeared off the map for almost a month, on the misty slopes of the forbidding Central Range of Papua New Guinea. Finding me became an international search effort. 

Last year, I trotted for three weeks through the lowlands of West Papua, next door in Indonesia, looking for friends of mine – a semi-nomadic band called the Obini, last seen four decades before. In the end, I had to give up. Astoundingly, their forests had survived all these years – and were simply too vast for me to search. 

Other such unexplored realms include the stark glacial valleys of the Karakoram Range, in Pakistan, the verdant paradise that is Timor-Leste, and the plunging sinkholes and soaring, seemingly reachable plateaux of Guyana – I once climbed the most famous of these Lost Worlds, Mount Roraima, and in order to retrace my steps through the labyrinth of uncharted rock laid out a cotton thread. 

Not to forget West Africa; deep in the coastal forests of Gabon I came across the remains of two majestic elephants that surely no human had ever seen. Their beautiful amber tusks were still in place.  

There’s still so much to discover, but, with environmental destruction everywhere you look, so little time to do it. Yes, we need the scientists and blue-sky thinkers pushing the frontiers of our knowledge, but there’s still a place for those intrepid souls prepared who brave malaria, crocodiles and whatever they might encounter, in order to simply share their experience of immersion in the far reaches of our precious planet; with the triumph, awe and humility that comes with disconnecting from the familiar, and exposure to something greater. 

Yes, there’s always space – the final frontier. But we need explorers down here on earth more than ever. Here’s our list of 10 of the greatest unexplored places you can visit, before anyone else.

Benedict Allen

Few would willingly wind up at the gates of hell. The Darvaza Gas Crater is an exception. Blazing fire and brimstone in the Karakum Desert for more than four decades – after Soviet geologists accidentally collapsed a cavern of natural gas – it’s a bucket list attraction in the least visited Stan.

In a totalitarian country ruled by a series of off-the-wall dictators, most major websites are illegal, only white cars can be driven in the capital Ashgabat, and beards (for men under 70) are banned.

Aside from the oddities of daily life, reasons for visiting include a selection of impressive little-known archaeological ruins: the Silk Road metropolis Merv (once the world’s largest city until it was destroyed by the Mongols); remnants of mud-brick architecture dating back to the third century BC in Old Nisa; or the mausoleums and minarets of Kunya-Urgench.

A skeleton exposed by disappearing seas, Yangykala Canyon is a raw-red ribcage of gaunt cliffs concertinaing into the desert, a four-hour drive from Balkanabat. At Kow Ata cave, it’s possible to swim in a therapeutic sulphur lake.

A complicated visa system – typically granted only for organised tours and carrying a penalty of imprisonment if overstayed – means the country won’t be giving up its “world’s least visited” appellation any time soon.

Wild Frontiers (020 3504 9097; wildfrontiers.com) offers a 15-day Uzbekistan & Turkmenistan: Cities of the Silk Road tour from £4,195, B&B. Excludes flights. Various departures April to October. For the latest travel advice for Turkmenistan visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

Numerous destinations lay claim to being Adam and Eve’s Garden of Eden. The dense, near-impenetrable forests of this sparsely populated Central African country come the closest. Almost 12 per cent of the land is protected as national parks, although, beyond the capital Libreville, there’s been little development. Ironically, preservation is indirectly down to the oil industry; a GDP based on an easily exploitable resource meant there was little need for anything else.

Rigs lining the coastline give a cluster of French-owned beach resorts a dystopian tinge. But untouched stretches have become a sandy promenade for forest elephants, nesting turtles and the occasional surfing hippo.

Inland, habituated lowland gorillas can be trekked in Loango and Moukalaba-Doudou national parks. Although far outnumbered by trees and animals, there’s an opportunity to interact with communities through Bwiti initiation ceremonies ingesting iboga – an hallucinogenic plant that makes ayahuasca look like paracetamol.

Bone-cracking roads, poor infrastructure and a military coup have deterred most people from biting the forbidden apple. But for those willing to make the effort, the Last Eden is divine.

Explorations Company (01367 850566; explorationscompany.com)  offer an eight-night trip from £10,000, including full board stays in Pongara and Loango national parks with a gorilla trek and guide. Excludes flights. For the latest travel advice for Gabon visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

A penthouse of snow-dusted peaks stretching beyond anyone’s reach soars over 25,000ft into the sky. Trumped only by Nepal, northern Pakistan’s Karakoram range is shaped by some of the tallest mountains in the world – many never climbed before. 

While K2 is best left to the professionals, treks in the Hunza Valley are more manageable. Admire a land of giants on a drive along the Karakoram Highway, an engineering marvel connecting Pakistan to China through giddy ranges of granite spires colliding with the Himalayas and Hindu Kush. Gaze up at glaciers and cross plateaus of wildflowers in places so silent even the wind fears to whisper. 

Despite low levels of tourism, tough-living local people are comfortable in the company of strangers. Getting to grips with their daily struggles is almost as incomprehensible as summiting the surrounding peaks.

In the cities, vestiges of the ancient Silk Road trade route are embodied by elaborate architecture including Lahore’s 17th-century Badshahi Mosque. Dating back to 2500 BC, drainage systems belong to ancient Indus Valley settlements – a period of glorious history too easily erased by more recent unrest. 

Requiring a combination of physical and mental strength, travel here will never be straightforward – but that’s the main appeal.

Untamed Borders (01304 262002; untamedborders.com) offers a 14-day Pakistan – Hindu Kush & Karakorum trip from £1,877, B&B. Flights extra. Departs May 24 2025. The FCDO currently advises against all travel to some parts of Pakistan: the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; areas in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province; Balochistan Province, except the southern coast of Balochistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. For the latest travel advice visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

Smart, sassy and more badass than Boudicca, in the 17th century Ana Nzinga heroically defended the Kingdom of Ndongo against the Portuguese. In a story all too familiar across Africa, the great nation fell into post-colonial conflict and ongoing squabbles over the spoils of a lucrative oil industry.

But the unknown is full of surprises. Aside from the disputed Cabinda Exclave, there are no official advisories against travel to the rest of the country – a swathe of savannah, desert and mountain highlands where the source of Botswana’s Okavango Delta lies.

Bypass the capital Luanda – a city of failed hopes and overpriced expat bars – to explore the nature beyond. Ever-shifting dunes swallow the south-western corner, part of the Namib desert extending from neighbouring Namibia. Recovering numbers of oryx, hyena, cheetah and ostrich can be seen in Iona National Park, along with the coiling tendrils of 1,000-year-old welwitschia plants. Head to Kissama for elephants grazing in grasslands and forests of baobabs.

At the Kalandula Falls, 240 miles east of the capital, follow a rocky trail to stand beneath a horseshoe of cascades almost as tall as Victoria Falls, but without the distracting fanfare of attractions. Stand at the top of the Tundavala Gap, a remote canyon on the edge of the Central Plateau, to appreciate why – even if not politically for now – Nzinga’s kingdom has the potential to be great again.

Lupine Travel (01942 366555; lupinetravel.co.uk) offers a six-night Angola Highlights tour from £2,195, B&B, including guides. Excludes flights. Departs February 10 and July 14 2025. The FCDO currently advises against all but essential travel to some parts of Angola: Cabinda Province, except Cabinda city and Border areas in Lunda Norte Province. For the latest travel advice visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

In the remote mountain caves of Asia’s youngest country, unearthed stone artefacts and animal bones could be the oldest evidence of human life. More than 44,000 years ago, people occupied this tiny country 370 miles north of the Australian city of Darwin. Yet after centuries of struggle, colonial plundering and brutal oppressions, it only achieved independence in 2002. 

Still rejoicing in a new era of peace, there’s a palpable sense of freedom – from reporting in the local press to the commendably carefree attitudes of locals who live a basic lifestyle.

What they lack in monetary terms is more than compensated by natural beauty. Part of the Coral Triangle, the waters around the Wetar Strait off the north coast have some of the most biodiverse reef systems on the planet. At dive sites spread between capital Dili and offshore island Atauro, there are chances to see more than 2,000 types of fish and six of the world’s seven marine turtle species.

Heading from sea to sky, Mount Ramelau in the centre of the island punches nearly 10,000ft into the clouds. Climb with a guide in the night for soul-stirring dawn views.

While simple living and limited facilities won’t engage the masses, they could be the humble country’s saving grace.

Intrepid (020 3308 9753; intrepidtravel.com) offers a nine-day trip from £1,414, including mixed board accommodation. Flights are extra. Various departures between May and October. For the latest travel advice for Timor-Leste visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

Bouncing on and off no-go lists, Central America’s largest country has been scalded by a fiery past. 

But it’s not just the political situation that’s explosive. Of the 50 volcanic cones shaping the landscape, seven are active. Molten lava bubbles from Masaya’s five craters, skirted by hiking trails in the country’s largest and oldest national park just outside the capital Managua. Zipline above the cloud forests of Mombacho, kayak around dormant Maderas or surf down the black ash slopes of Cerro Negro on a specially designed board.

If that doesn’t get your heart beating, the coffee will. Known as the city of mists, Jinotega in the northern highlands has the perfect elevation and volcanic soil to produce 80 per cent of the country’s black gold.

Spread across two coastlines, beaches are wildly varied: surf super-waves along the Pacific, or laze along sleepy stretches of the Caribbean. A throwback to barefoot days before glitzy resorts, tax havens and package holidays took hold, the Corn Islands are a refreshing antidote to over-developed fly-and-flop destinations like Cancun and the Dominican Republic. 

But cheaper prices and restored calm could mean that Nicaragua’s popularity – just like its volcanoes – has the potential to erupt, so visit now.

Journey Latin America (020 3553 1502; journeylatinamerica.com) offers a 13-day Signature Nicaragua trip from £2,850, B&B. Excludes flights. For the latest travel advice for Nicaragua visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

The familiar sound of English voices could rapidly denigrate a destination. But South America’s one-time British colony proudly keeps its wilderness credentials intact. Beyond the spoken word, it’s nothing like our nature-depleted nation. Around 85 per cent of land belongs to the Guyana Shield, part of the Amazon rainforest, providing shelter for colourful wildlife, self-sustaining indigenous communities and uncontacted tribes.

In the middle of it all is Kaieteur Falls, a sinkhole in a sea of green spewing an almighty single-drop cascade. Arriving on a tiny plane delivers that rare heart-thumping joy of discovery. With common sense being the only barrier, it’s possible to walk right up to the edge of the action, almost touching the wings of swifts wheeling in a veil of mist.

From flashy cock-of-the-rocks to mean-machine harpy eagles, the breadth of birdlife is exciting enough to engage non-twitchers. An unnerving army of insects – including bird-eating spiders and skin-burrowing jiggers – keeps a mass market at bay. 

Ecotourism lodges run by communities in the Iwokrama Rainforest and along the Rupununi river provide the best immersion into a wild environment. But with Wi-Fi working its way into many villages, the outside world edges closer every day.

Rainbow Tours (020 8131 6706; rainbowtours.co.uk) offers a 13-night Guyana Nature Experience from £6,495, including mixed board accommodation and flights. Various departures. For the latest travel advice for Guyana visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

Mysterious, confounding and largely misrepresented, the Papuas are a puzzle of pieces that never quite fit. Of the three areas making up New Guinea – the world’s largest island after Greenland – two Indonesian provinces occupy the western section, a land of tribes living in treehouses and some of the world’s best dive sites beneath the waves. 

At the furthermost point is West Papua and the Raja Ampat archipelago, an underwater swirl of neon-hued corals and brain-bending creatures, weaving beneath soaring limestone karsts. Triton Bay is another world-class dive site, renowned for its pygmy seahorses and seasonal whale sharks. 

Terrestrial adventures are in store in neighbouring Papua, where poor infrastructure and limited experience of Western expectations keeps the pace enjoyably slow. The largest protected area in south-east Asia, Lorentz National Park is home to tree kangaroos, echidnas and Indonesia’s only glaciers.

Further north in the highlands of Baliem Valley, meet the Dani people, who made contact with the outside world less than 100 years ago. Many villages have barely changed in millennia. With no real urgency or desire to develop tourism, they will likely remain that way for some time yet.

Native Eye Travel (01473 328546; nativeeyetravel.com) offers a 13-day West Papua – The Last Frontier trip from £5,299, B&B. Excludes flights. Departs September 19 2025. For the latest travel advice for Indonesia visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

A cloak of Soviet-era secrecy still shrouds much of the Caucasus, although several regions are slowly emerging from the shadows. In the centre of the mountainous isthmus, which separates two inland seas at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, is an ancient nation replete with riches too long ignored by the rest of the world. 

Biblical references abound throughout the valleys and mountains of Armenia – from high-altitude monasteries such as Geghard and Haghpat, to stone churches at the base of deep gorges in the north. 

Part of the Silk Road network of trading routes, several caravanserai (inns for travellers) are still standing – including a well-preserved 14th century stone building below the Selim Pass. Going back even further in history, remains of a 6,000-year-old winery in Areni make this one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world.

Regional instability, language barriers and a lack of decent accommodation have prevented tourism from ever taking off. But with several budget airlines operating via Vienna, it won’t stay that way for too long.

Regent Holidays (01174 531008; regent-holidays.co.uk)  offers an 11-day Cultural Landscapes of Armenia tour from £3,660, B&B, including flights. The FCDO currently advises against all travel to parts of Armenia: Armenia-Azerbaijan border and the M16/H26 road between Ijevan and Noyemberyan. For the latest travel advice visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

Beset by the greatest global case of mistaken identity, this safe, friendly nation is obscured by the dark shadow of its unruly neighbour. Unlike the Democratic Republic of the Congo, travel in most parts of the ROC – or Congo Brazzaville – is far from life-threatening. 

The emerald jewel is Odzala-Kokoua National Park, part of the Congo Basin, the second-largest rainforest after the Amazon – so powerful it has its own weather system. 

Habituated over several decades, lowland gorillas can be trekked through dense marantaceae (arrowroot) in a community-empowering project supported by the Kamba collection of eco-resorts. A thrillingly unpredictable adventure makes Rwanda look like Disneyland.

Wade through swampy streams leading to bais – open areas where forest elephants graze – and listen to the primordial rhythms of chimps drumming on buttress roots. Access to the park is complicated and expensive, although intrepid travellers can take a scheduled African Airlines flight from the capital Brazzaville (bookable via WhatsApp) to the park’s east entrance and stay at African Parks’ excellent – and affordable – new Imbalanga Camp.

Leave time for a stopover in easygoing Brazzaville to meet the sapeurs – a collective of African dandies who dress in the finest Parisian threads and strut to Congolese rumba.

Natural World Safaris (01273 691642; naturalworldsafaris.com) offers a nine-day Western Lowland Gorilla & Bai safari from £12,480, including full-board accommodation with Kamba. Flights extra. The FCDO currently advises against all travel to parts of the Republic of Congo: Republic of Congo-Central African Republic border area in Likouala Region; some districts in Pool Region and the Mouyondzi District in Bouenza Region. For the latest travel advice visit gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.