Africa is studded with literally hundreds of worthwhile spots that can be visited at minimal expense. Sadly - although for understandable ecological reasons - few of the continent's prime natural attractions fall into this category; you'd have to be pretty well-heeled to regard the cost of the most affordable Kilimanjaro climb, Serengeti safari or gorilla-tracking trip as small change. Still, any of the adventures listed below could be substituted with half a dozen broadly comparable and equally affordable experiences.

Furthermore, while ultimate luxury more or less defines itself, the question of what constitutes a budget option is more subjective. Many hotels that would feel rather tawdry after the superlative Ngorongoro Crater Lodge might come across as unquestionably luxurious to anybody who'd been backpacking around using local lodgings. Likewise, while a total cost of US$40 to track chimps in Kibale Forest might feel like a bargain to a young professional on a fortnight's break in Uganda, it would stretch the budget of many backpackers on a six-month trip.

Some of the selections below may therefore feel rather pricey to the hardcore shoestring traveller. And others are unlikely to appeal to those with low discomfort thresholds. But every one of them is reasonably accessible and relatively inexpensive, and they all represent a world-class investment. You'll gain many great memories for every dollar spent.

1. Trek through Dogon Country, Mali
The Dogon are among the most fascinating West African people, known for their complex animist traditions, curvaceous cliffside villages, colourful masked dancers and unique custom of burying their dead in inaccessible clifftop caves. You can visit Dogon Country in luxury of a sort - staying in a nearby town hotel and making 4x4 forays into the villages - but it's no substitute for the highly affordable option of hiking from one village to the next and sleeping as locals do on the breezy starlit rooftops.
Be there >> For the hauntingly organic architecture and cultural integrity of the Dogon, to visit a hogon (essentially the animist counterpart to a priest) and to hike through the bird-rich woodland below the burnished sandstone Bandiagara Escarpment.

2. Track chimps at Busingiro, Budongo Forest, Uganda
Readily accessible on public transport, this is probably Africa's cheapest ape-tracking experience at roughly US$20 per person per night, for camping and two guided walks.
Be there >> For an 80% success rate in locating chimps, the near certainty of encountering several other forest primates, superb forest birding and the eerie nocturnal screeching of Tree hyraxes.

3. Explore the Rock-hewn churches of Tigray, Ethiopia
The 100-odd churches hand-carved into the remote sandstone cliffs of north-east Ethiopia form one of Africa's great off-the-beaten-track playgrounds - you could travel for weeks here without seeing another Westerner. As for costs, suffice to say that unless your daily accommodation and food budget is around US$5, you'll wish there were some pricier options around.
Be there >> For stunning scenery, wonderful walking and the not infrequent sense of having been transported back two millennia to experience Christianity in its very earliest incarnation.

4. Walk with elephants in Mole NP, Ghana
Ghana's premier game-viewing destination might not match East Africa's finest, but who's quibbling when the cost of a motel room, meals, drinks and guided walks tallies up to less than the daily entrance fee for most East African parks. Be there >> Few places offer a better chance of close-up encounters with elephant on foot and the birding is spectacular.

5. Dine at Forodhani Gardens, Stone Town, Zanzibar
Dusk transforms Zanzibar's magical waterfront into a good-humoured jumble of fast food stalls selling what must surely be the world's cheapest fresh seafood - prawns, linefish, crab and lobster, grilled on hot coals before your eyes. Be there >> For the food, of course, enhanced by the sight of traditional dhows cruising by, white sails billowing in the wind.

Bubbling under
DIY safari to the Kruger NP, South Africa Not everybody's idea of a budget destination, the Kruger is the only game reserve of comparable size and quality that can be explored in a non-4x4 rental car - which remains very affordable in South Africa, as do the well-equipped national park campsites.

Visit South Omo, Ethiopia
Africa's weirdest enclave of traditional cultures, with an estimated 30 different tribes, South Omo is a tough but eminently reachable goal on public transport. It's even cheaper - and more dodgy - than Tigray when it comes to food and lodging.

Swim with penguins, Boulders Beach, South Africa
You've seen those films that mix animated characters with real-life actors? Well, visit Boulders - close to a train station, entrance fee lower than a cinema ticket - and you'll feel like you're in one of those films, playing the straight man to hundreds of these likeable aquatic birds that bustle comically around an otherwise conventional swimming beach.

Climb Dune 45, Sossusvlei, Namibia Accessible in a saloon car or by overland truck, this magnificent red dune positively begs to be climbed - a slithery underfoot experience that perfectly defines the expression "two steps forward, one step back".

Catch a ferry on Lake Malawi African public transport seldom rises above the purely functional (and doesn't always meet even that mark) but the ferries that plough the length of Lake Malawi are a rare exception - a comfortable, sociable and affordable way to travel on this wonderfully scenic 500km-long Rift Valley lake.

Sleep in a Troglodyte cave, Matmata, Southern Tunisia
Several of the ancient troglodyte caves at Matmata now double as atmospheric budget lodgings. These days, the Hotel Sidi Driss (as seen in Star Wars, just in case nobody mentions it…) is as filthy and offish as it is legendary, but the quieter Hotel Marhala around the corner is a real gem. A short bus ride brings you to several current cave dwellings whose Berber inhabitants remain very welcoming.