Look a gorilla in the eye in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest; walk with a family of endangered Rothschild’s giraffes in Lake Mburo National Park; see the world’s weirdest bird, the shoebill stork, and hear its machine-gun call, ak-ak-ak-ak-ak, in the Mabamba wetlands...

The thing about travel destinations that have become clichéd is that they started out simply as beautiful or interesting places. Ireland’s Cliffs of Moher, one of the country’s most-visited tourist sights, fit this bill.

I had no idea just how beautiful Edinburgh is. And how old.

But first, let’s take a quick trip around the city’s outskirts. Edinburgh (like Rome) is built on seven hills that surround the city. Holyrood Park is situated to the east of the city centre, not far from the historic Royal Mile, and is dominated by the distinctive shape of the 251m-high Arthur’s Seat, an ancient volcanic peak that broods over the city. Some say it was once the site of Camelot, King Arthur’s fabled court.

Since watching the Netflix series Vikings, Norway has been very high up on my travel wish list.

When Dermot MacCarthy, one of Ireland’s fiercest chieftains, built his fortress in County Cork, Ireland, almost 600 years ago, little did he know that one of the great stones near the very top of the castle would one day become one of the country’s greatest treasures and that millions – yes, millions – of people would come here to visit it.

Smart, cunning, opportunistic, trickster – these are some of the words that come to mind when many of us think about jackals.