Destinations on National Geographic’s world tour

Some of the highest ground at Machu Picchu is occupied by temples, which overlook the residential and agricultural sectors.  (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Shimmering on the banks of the Yamuna River, the marble Taj Mahal is an architectural spectacle, its symmetry — four minarets and matching mosques on two sides — enhanced by its reflection on the water. Because worshipers must face east, only one of the mosques is functional; the other was duplicated for purposes of symmetry.  (Scott Kraft / Los Angeles Times)

The onion-domed Taj, as seen through an archway.  (Scott Kraft / Los Angeles Times)

Surrounded by a rectangle of long corbel-arched galleries, Angkor Wat rises in three astounding tiers to a cluster of five beehive-shaped towers, or prasats.  (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)

Statues line a roadway in the Angkor temple complex in Cambodia.   (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)

A school of fish swim in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Elephants take their ease at a watering hole at Bilila Lodge Kempinski, making it easy for guests to get a close-up view of some of the wildlife of Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park.  (Rosemary McClure / For The Times)

A lion dozes after filling up on a kill in Tanzania’s Serengeti park. Large cats rarely go hungry in the park, which has huge herds of wildebeests, gazelles and zebras.  (Rosemary McClure / For The Times)

Vehicles stop along a Serengeti route, as often happens when animals come into view. One of them might be your neighbor; Los Angeles provides 30% or more of the leisure travelers who visit Africa, says Ron Mracky of the Africa Travel Assn.  (Rosemary McClure / For The Times)