least favourite is kenya (it's too expensive- we cater for european tourists, tbh)

country that will offer most (in terms of history, food, places?)
ethiopia -and its not as expensive.
you can fly into addis (direct flights from d.c.)
and ethiopian airlines does a really good job with internal connections
I went to lalibela (where the old churches hewn into rocks in the shape of a cross are),
axum (i believe this is where the queen of sheba's palace was <- although it was a pile of rocks, lol),
bahir dar (where the blue and white Nile meet)
and there's other places as well- just speaking of where i've been to. Ethiopia is quite lovely and food is amazing.
(addis abeba is awful though, so don't plan to stay in the capital. i've been several times, awful.).

tanzania- dar is really pretty if you like the beach.
i'd go in february to attend the sauti za busara music festival in zanzibar (4 days of music from all over africa and the diaspora) and amazing food.
other than that though... its a bit...boring.


zambia. victoria falls is definitely worth seeing. either from the zambia or zimbabwe side.
and once in southern africa- you can also do capetown (lovely), lesotho (a beautiful mountainous little ass country), mozambique (only been to maputo, though).