North Africa from the Sky

In this spectacular video by top contributor Timelab.pro, you'll explore the North African country of Mauritania.  Filmed with a DJI Inspire 3 drone and supplemented with ground camera footage, the video will take you around this fascinating nation, which covers a very large land area of about 400k square mi. (over a million square km) but is sparsely populated.   The first part of the video was filmed in the interior, most of which is covered by the Sahara Desert, while the last part will take you to Mauritania's Atlantic coastline.   

AirVuz contributor and pilot samibyala brings us this stunning DVOW nominated video from an abandoned village in the mountains of Libya.  The village is called Wefat is Amazigh, and it's located near the town of Jadu in the Infusen Mountains.  Sometimes called the Nafusa Mountains, these peaks are located in the northwestern corner of the country, just a bit south of its Mediterranean Sea coastline.  Historically, this region was home to much of the country's Berber population.  The area saw fierce fighting during the Libyan Civil War of 2011.  

Morocco, in northwestern Africa, offers a unique blend of Arab, Spanish, and French cultures.  A fascinating place, it's been used as a filming location for numerous episodes of HBO's Game of Thrones series - Yunkai and Astopor, among others, are actually Moroccan towns.  Contributor Bernardo Bacalau used a DJI Phantom 3 drone to create this unforgettable aerial survey of the country.  This video was chosen as a finalist for the AirVuz 2017 Drone Video Awards in the Countries category. 

Lanzarote is the northernmost and easternmost of the Canary Islands, which are part of Spain but lie off the coast of North Africa.  Like its sister islands, Lanzarote is volcanic in origin and an infant in geological terms - it was only about 15 million years ago that it surfaced above the ocean.  In this DVOW nominated video by sergiosigler, you'll get to see some of the highlights of Lanzarote from above.  Much of the video was filmed in and around Timanfaya National Park, in the center-west of the island. 

Behold this aerial tour of Algiers, the capital city of Algeria.  With a metropolitan population of over 5 million, Algiers is the second largest city in North Africa after Cairo, Egypt.  Lying in the northern part of the country on the Mediterranean Sea, Algiers represents a unique blend of African and European (specifically, French) cultures.  In this remarkable video, AirVuz contributor and drone pilot Waleed treats us to an amazing look at this spectacular city and its surroundings, all from a bird's eye view! 

Check out this fantastic drone video of an off-road motorcycle race in North Africa, compliments of AirVuz contributor Master Media Lab.  The Casteu Trophy is an enduro race held in Merzouga, Morocco, which is deep in the Sahara Desert and close to Morocco's western border with Algeria.  The Casteu Trophy race was inspired by the famous Dakar Rally, which is now held in Saudi Arabia but which originated in Northern Africa.  This video was picked as the Drone Video of the Week in late March of 2024.  

In this video, top contributor Fabio Knoll uses his drone to create an aerial portrait of Chenini, a ruined Berber village in the Tataouine district of southern Tunisia.  The village had been a fortified granary. Famously, the Tataouine area was the filming location for "Tatooine", the fictional planet of the Star Wars series.  Iconic scenes filmed in this area include the famous "argument" between Threepio and Artoo in the original film, now known officially as Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977).

Bahariya is a desert valley in near the center of Egypt in North Africa.  Situated in the country's Western Desert, it  is mentioned in various texts from ancient Egypt.  In this amazing video, contributor and pilot Til used a drone to capture aerial footage of  the "Mushroom" and "The camel" shaped rock formations which lies within a national park in the desert.  It should be pointed out that this  video was taken prior to the enactment of laws which make it illegal to fly drones in Egypt's national parks.   

Dhakla is a North African city in the far western Sahara Desert.  It is situated on a peninula into the Atlantic Ocean, and the majority of its people are part of the Berber ethnic group.  It is part of the Western Sahara, former French colony and now a disputed territory that is currently administered by Morrocco.  In this incredible video, top content creator and world traveler Isabelle Fabre uses a drone and some amazing editing techniques to capture her kiteboarding in this desert region.  

Check out this drone video of the ancient El Jem amphitheater in North Africa, compliments of Fabio Knoll.  The amphitheatre El Jem was built in 238 AD in present-day El Djem, which lies along the country's eastern Mediterranean coastline and was part of the Roman province of Africa.  Seating an estimated 35k spectators, it was one of the largest in the world.  Considered one of the best-preserved Roman ruins in Africa, the amphitheater was used to film the 1979 comedy classic, Monty Python's Life of Brian.  

Contributor Mr. Bur used a DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone to create an aerial mini-tour of Senegal.  Senegal is a country situated on the Atlantic Coast of North Africa.  Formerly a colonial possession of France, the country was originally granted independence as part of the Mali Federation in 1960.  However, the federation was a short-lived entity that quickly dissolved to form Senegal and its neighbor Mali, Senegal being somewhat the smaller of the two nations.  It has the distinction of being the westernmost country of Africa.

The North African country Sudan is enormous - with a land area of almost 1.9 million square km (over 700k square mi) it is amongst the 15 largest countries in the world.  While most of the land area is interior desert (part of the vastness of the Saraha, which covers much of North Africa), Sudan has a coastline along the Red Sea.  Contributor and pilot Jeff Langdon used a drone to aerially film a lighthouse at Sanganeb National Park on Mukawwar, on island which lies off the Sudanese Red Sea coast.  

Contributor and pilot Naim sh brings us this amazing drone video of some spectacular rock formations in the Libyan desert.  The Acacus Mountains begin at Ghat in the country's southwestern corner (near the Algerian border) and extend northward, forming part of the Sahara Desert.  The rock formations you'll see in the video host some of the world's most well known pre-historic cave art.   With paintings that are as old as 14 millennia, the area has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Check out these drone views of the African island of Santo Antão, compliments of AirVuz contributor mitevisuals.  Santo Antão is the westernmost island of Cape Verde, an archipelago nation of ten islands which lie a few hundred mi./km off of Cap-Vert, the westernmost point of the African continent.  Santo Antão covers an area of just over 300 square mi. (a little under 800 square km) and has a permanent population of about 38k as of 2019.  The video was filmed with a DJI Air 3 drone.  

Content creator SlymoFPV used a DJI Mavic Pro drone to create this stunning aerial tour of Marrakesh, Morocco.  Marrakesh is the country's fourth largest city.  Marrakesh is located near the geographic center of the country, just north of the Atlas Mountains which dominate much of the interior of the country.  Founded in the 11th century, it is considered by many to be the cultural capital of this vast North African country.  The old city was one of the most heavily fortified towns in the Muslim world.  

Contributor and drone pilot Etch created this marvelous bird's eye view of Siwa Oasis in Egypt's great Western Desert, a part of the great Sahara.  It's located just a few km/mi from the country's border with neighboring Libya to the west.  The desert here is considered the most remote part of Egypt, North Africa's largest country in terms of population.   The oasis was named for a famous oracle and was once known as Oasis of Amun Ra.  It's believed that the area was settled in the tenth millennium BC.  

Contributor and pilot Thevmaker used a DJI Mavic Pro drone to create this stunning aerial video of Kelibia, a small town in the very northeastern corner of Tunisia in North Africa.  It's situated at the tip of the Cape Bon Peninsula, which juts out into the Mediterranean Sea.  The beaches of Kelibia are considered some of the finest in the Mediterranean region.  At the :16 mark in the video, you'll get a look at the Kelibia Fort, a 16th century structure that is the city's most distinctive feature.

Check out this drone video of Rabat, the capital of Morocco.  Rabat was a filming location for the 2015 movie Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, the fifth in the series.  A port city situated on Morocco's Atlantic coastline, it's "only" about eight centuries old - young by Moroccan city standards.  The city gained some notoriety from appearing as a filming location for a high profile chase scene in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), the fifth installment in the Mission Impossible series.  

Contributor Hamza Charkaoui used a DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone to create this stunning mini aerial tour of the great North African country of Algeria. Most of the video was shot along the country's Mediterranean coastline.  The coastline extends about 1.6k km (about 1k mi.) from west to east, with the capital city of Algiers (the second-largest in North Africa) located about midway.  The footage in the video was taken away from the capital city, in remote parts of the coast that are simply spectacular.     

Check out this stunning drone video of Tenerife, one of Spain's Canary Islands, by top contributor Haussmannvisuals.  Shot in the month of May, it features footage from both the interior and the coastline of this magnificent island, which was formed from an eruption on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean about 12 million years ago.  You'll get some epic views of its famous coastline as well as Mt. Teide, whose peak is the highest in any Spanish territory. This video was a DVOW nominee in June 2019.

Prepare to be amazed by this stunning video from the island nation of Cape Verde off the coast of North Africa, compliments of top contributor and pilot Rein Martens. Known also as Cabo Verde, it consists of a group of ten volcanic islands that resemble a backwards "C" on a map.  Conquered by Portugal in the 1400's, the islands went on to play a critical role in the African slave trade.  Independent since 1975, Cape Verde has become an eco-tourism magnet. This video was a DVOW finalist in August, 2019.

Top AirVuz contributor _mishamartin brings us this excellent Drone Video of the Week Finalist from the Indian Ocean island of Socotra.  Part of the nation of Yemen, Socotra lies near the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, the northwestern inlet of the world's third-largest ocean.  While it's part of (Asian) Yemen, the island is actually closer to Somalia, and it's considered to be geographically part of Africa.  The island covers an area of about 1.4k square mi. or around 3.6k square km.  

Check out this amazing drone video of a runner tacking the vastness of the Sahara Desert in North Africa, compliments of contributor rodolfofalcon.  It was shot in sand dunes near the Naïla Lagoon in the southwestern corner of Morocco proper.  It's near the border with the disputed semi-sovereign Western Sahara, most of which is under de facto Moroccan control.  The lagoon and surrounding dunes are part of a national park which has been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage site status.

Contributor and pilot Thevmaker created this stunning drone video of a wetland area on the eastern shore of Cape Bon in Tunisia, North Africa.  The Cape extends out from the mainland in a northeasterly direction like a finger pointed at Sicily in Italy.  On its eastern side is the town of Korba, whose lagoons are home to some of the finest bird populations in the region.  In the video, you'll get an epic aerial view of the lagoons as well as a large flock of flamingos who depend on the wetland for survival.  

The traveling duo known as the DigitalTravelCouple brings us this spectacular drone video from the Portuguese island of Madeira, which lies off the coast of northwestern Africa.  The video opens with a beautiful shot of the sun hanging over a mountain ridge, followed by a view of an immense coastal cliff.  Other highlights include a "reveal" of a village tucked in the island's interior at the :42 mark, a giant rock arch near Ponta de Sao Laurenzio (1:03), the white clock tower in the town of Ribeira Brava (1:20), and much more.  

Top AirVuz contributor and pilot BeemFlights brings us this fantastic aerial tour of the city of Bamako, Mali.  It's the capital and largest city in this landlocked North African country.  The city is situated on the Niger River in the southwestern part of Mali.  With a population of a bit under two million as of 2019, Bamako is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.  The video features footage of the city itself (including the BCEAO Tower, Mali's tallest building) as well as its outlying areas.  

Check out these spectacular drone views of Algeria's Djurdjura Mountains, compliments of brand new AirVuz contributor and pilot chinzaka.  Located near the country's northeastern corner, the Djurdjura's are part of the Atlas Mountain system that runs on a roughly east-west axis through much of North Africa.  Comprised of two separate peaks, the highest point in the Djurdjura Mountains is Lalla Khedidja which has a peak elevation of about 2.3k meters above sea level (just under 7.6k ft.).

Gran Canaria is one of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. The Spanish island is known for its black lava and white sand beaches like Playa del Inglés and Las Canteras Beach. It is also home to the protected area of Maspalomas Dunes and Roque Nublo, the iconic rock formation and vista. Drone pilot gaetanpiolot features Roque Nublo and Maspalomas, as well as Guayedra Beach, Barrio San Juan and more in this 4K video of Gran Canaria; the video was chosen as a Drone Video of the Week finalist in July, 2019.

New AirVuz contributor samibyala brings us this stunning piece from an abandoned village in the mountains of northern Libya.  The Nafusa Mountains are located in the western part of Libya's Tripolitania Region, which covers the northwestern part of this North African country.  The mountains sit between the country's coastal plain and the Tripolitanian Plateau to their south.  The historical home of much of Libya's Berber population, the mountains saw fierce fighting during the civil war which erupted in Libya in 2011.

Tunisia has a long connection with the Star Wars series.  It was a primary filming location for the original Star Wars film (1977, now called Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999).  A district called Tataouine in south-central Tunisia inspired the fictional Planet Tatooine, one of the main locations of both episodes.  In this video, contributor Thevmaker created this surreal drone's eye view of this now-famous piece of the Sahara Desert.