Finding Post-Pandemic Wellness on Safari

Let’s not mince words: It’s been a rough year. Even if you’re lucky enough to have weathered the pandemic with your health intact, and have set your sights on travelling, you’re likely feeling at least somewhat depleted. Happily, though—for us and for you—safari travel can offer powerful, even profound, opportunities for rejuvenation. Here are a few ways in which an African safari can help you reconnect with both nature and your own well-being.

Communion With Nature

Experiencing a deep sense of rapport with wild nature is the very essence of an African safari. No matter what parts of Africa you visit on your Micato safari, or what day-to-day activities you pursue, you’ll be plunged into an all-encompassing awareness of the vast natural world around you, with its boundless web of interrelated species. Once you‘re conscious of this astounding ecological network—and your own small, critical part in it—you’ll discover it imbues every aspect of your safari. You’ll recognize it as you’re sitting quietly in a parked vehicle surrounded by grazing giraffes and elephants; or while you’re floating in a hot-air balloon high above massed herds of migrating wildebeest; or spotting swooping birds as you’re poling through delta waterways in a dugout canoe. You’ll sense it on a guided walk through the savannah with a Maasai warrior, who knows every plant, birdsong and animal track you encounter; or reclining beneath the African night sky, while the roars and chortles of nocturnal animals echo around you. Nearly every moment of an African safari is designed to remind you that you are a piece in a grand cosmic puzzle—an understanding that’s both humbling and awe-inspiring.

Body-Mind Nourishment

Encouraging a spiritual connection with the earth and its creatures isn’t the only way that safari travel fosters wellness. At Micato’s carefully selected camps and lodges throughout East and Southern Africa, pursuits that allow you to strengthen, move, and healthfully nourish your body are also a priority. At some of these camps and lodges, you can enjoy vigorous activities like mountain biking or horseback riding through beautifully rugged terrain (ranging from expansive grasslands to thickly forested mountain slopes). At others, you can partake in more tranquil exercises, like daily yoga classes—sometimes led by locals who bring a uniquely African flavour to this Eastern meditative practice. And at most every partner property, house chefs take pride in creating menus that feature fresh, regionally grown ingredients, many of which are harvested from their own onsite shambas (farm gardens). You can even arrange to pick your own herbs, or learn how to recreate healthy safari cuisine at home.

Serene Spa Treatments

While an African safari can be breathtaking, fortifying, and thrilling, we also recognize the need to slow things down. At Micato we understand—especially in the wake of the pandemic—that peace of mind sometimes requires your corporeal self to be at complete rest. That’s why a growing number of the lodges and camps we include in our small-group and private custom Africa safaris offer luxurious spa facilities. These can take the form of open-air spa bungalows overlooking acacia groves; sanctuaries set amid tropical gardens and perfumed by the sea; or even opulent hammam-style steam rooms. You can choose to indulge in treatments as various as being wrapped in coffee-and-mint-infused mud, soaking in an aromatic “bush bath,” or surrendering to the percussive ministrations of a massage therapist wielding traditional African rungu (wooden sticks). Regardless of your preference, your blissed-out post-pandemic body and soul will thank you for taking them on an African safari.

To learn more about finding wellness on safari—and to start planning a trip for the ultimate in post-pandemic relaxation and restoration—contact one of Micato’s expert planners.