Africa

Africa offers trail running contrasting relief: the Twelve Apostles above Cape Town, the highlands of Madagascar, the snow-capped summits of Morocco's Atlas. African trails often combine spectacular nature with local cultures very present along the course, far from Alpine trail standards, on ranges still little documented by Western guidebooks.

The Ultra-Trail Cape Town circles Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles, with the Atlantic Ocean as a constant backdrop. The Otter African Trail Run follows South Africa's Garden Route, between cliffs, empty beaches and indigenous forest. The Toubkal Ultra Trail climbs into Morocco's High Atlas, to the foot of Jbel Toubkal, the highest summit in North Africa. Madagascar's less-run highlands complete this tour of the continent, between terraced rice fields and eucalyptus forests, in a light few other landscapes offer at this latitude.

Raw relief, atmospheres beyond European standards: the raw material for a topographic poster that stands out, far from maps reproduced a thousand times.