August 2022 News Brief

It’s been a couple of months since we last wrote and the global backdrop remains opaque – a perspective that is not helped by the deluge of information with such different presentations of “facts.”

What happened to good old fashioned news, the kind Herodotus described?

Against that backdrop it has been an extraordinary pleasure to be on safari – an incomparable sense of freedom and a respite.

The Partners have spent a good amount of time in the field, each of us beyond grateful to the safari crews and to the support teams headed by Petrina and Nicky.

The last few months have been a clear example of the importance of a team to a common cause and how lucky we all are to have stayed together through the challenges of the pandemic.

It has been so good to deliver on safaris planned and promised several years ago, and in so many cases booked and postponed several times.

We all feel a lot of joy seeing guests coming back and in welcoming new guests to the particular way we believe a safari should be done

Judging from the comments and first hand interactions, a safari is still a “trip of a lifetime.”  It is a chance to truly connect and share with family and friends.

Collectively, we can focus on something completely different without the virtual filter that permeates our day-to-day lives. It’s real, it’s beautiful and one can feel the genuine warmth of the welcome. This is surely what exploring the natural world should be about?

Whilst there are some COVID regulations still in place, they are dropping away. Travel, despite the anxiety over world events, is booming.

Once again the challenge is finding the right space at the right time.  We are lucky to have our own private canvas units, unique access and special relationship with the crews from the local areas that make it happen.

What happens next?

We can be certain there will be another crisis: real or imagined, an election, a pandemic, a war, a recession, a natural disaster.

These are events we have lived through, in some cases multiple times. Each one attracts another storm of “expert” opinion which becomes amplified, politicized, and sensationalized into a muddle of nonsense.

After nearly 40 years of leading safaris, one weeps for the ones that changed our plans, the ones that stopped us learning, living and sharing.

Prejudice is all too often built on perspective. There is no substitute for travel and there is nothing that changes and broadens our perspectives like a safari and the interactions that are a part of every day.

Perhaps we should all watch more “bush TV” at the campfire. I am beginning to believe they are a sort of rehab from the global chaos.

We hope to see you here soon.

Thank you.