These are the moments we live for

Earlier this summer, I visited two beautiful islands I’ve loved for decades. I have been visiting both for almost 20 years, but this time, I left with what I can only describe as my cup half full. The return on investment – soulful, emotional investment – was low. These once beautiful, exclusive retreats have become overexposed scenes. What used to be barefoot elegance is now bottle service, boat-clogged shores and roads so congested you can’t move.

My heart yearned for space, uncongested freedom, the gentle ease of movement and for the rare gift of a place that hasn’t traded authenticity for attention. Where I didn’t have to keep imagining what was, so I didn’t see what is.

When travel is crafted, with care, depth and knowledge, it’s not a grind, it’s a joy and it’s gentle. If I am going to make the effort to invest my time, energy and heart into a journey, I want it to move me, to nourish me, to set my imagination alight and envelop me in awe. Like most investments, we want low risk and guaranteed returns… And for me, there is only one place to choose - Africa. Not just for the wildlife, the vastness, the beauty, although of course all of that is there, but because after decades of witnessing what happens when people experience the continent, I’ve come to believe that being in the wilds of Africa is the only kind of travel that offers a genuine return on investment, not in dollars and cents but in soul value. It is the only place that I leave with my cup over flowing and my soul soaring.

If you haven’t taken a vacation this year (or even if you have), I would ask:

Our journeys are designed to create space… the kind where the noise & grind falls away. And while every ROAR AFRICA journey is handcrafted and completely unique, I often recommend Kenya and South Africa to those beginning their relationship with the continent. Both are effortlessly accessible from the U.S., and the combination of landscapes, rhythm, and welcome creates something far greater than ease. It’s not just that they’re easy to love, it’s that they will help you remember how to feel - ease.

I have always felt that Kenya has a real vitality to it — a sense that you are witnessing nature as it truly is. It’s not just the wildlife, although the sheer abundance of lions, elephants, and giraffes on the golden plains of the Mara still takes my breath away, but the spirit of the land and its people. To be here is to feel both deeply moved and joyfully free. In places like Loirien Mara, private villas hidden in the heart of the Mara, days unfold differently: morning game drives through landscapes teeming with lions, leopards, giraffes, elephants, buffalos, black rhinos and cheetahs; sun-drenched lunches under the trees; and evenings gathered around the fire, the joy and the vitality of the Maasai dancing beside you reverberating through the night.

Then, just north in Laikipia, the landscapes shift and the skies stretch wider, and you’ll find Segera, a sanctuary of stillness and vision. It is here that my good friend Jochen Zeitz is spearheading one of the most ambitious conservation projects on the continent: the creation of Africa’s largest rhino sanctuary, created by the joining of acres of ancestral lands. With scenic helicopter flights, we can take you beyond the reaches of most travelers, soaring above the Great Rift Valley to the jade Lake Turkana. You’ll land among the nomadic Pokot tribe, one of Kenya’s most traditional tribal communities, to share in a powerful cultural exchange few ever witness, before continuing over the Suguta Desert with its domes of caramel and volcanic rock to Lake Logipi, a shimmering sheet of pink flamingos. These are the moments, the moments we live for.

South Africa is one of the easiest, most exhilarating places to fall in love with the continent. It is a country of profound contrast and complexity, where staggering natural beauty lives alongside history and creativity, all shaped by a long, unfinished story. And from October, as the northern hemisphere folds inwards, South Africa stretches wide open. Truly, there is nowhere I would rather be than walking Cape Town’s exquisite coastlines, exploring the Winelands with a glass of something rare in hand, or watching leopard slip through the shadows of the Sabi Sand Private Nature Reserve.

South Africa is also home to most of the ROAR AFRICA team, and it shows. Our heritage and deep-rooted relationships, built over decades, allow us to design journeys shaped by rare access and a real sense of place. From privately guided visits to Robben Island with Christo Brand, Nelson Mandela’s former prison guard, to sensory walks through the Cape Floral Kingdom and the country’s unique fynbos with a botanical expert, or simply taking off in a private helicopter over the Table Mountain range, these are the kinds of experiences that remain with you.

As we move into the latter part of the year, both Kenya and South Africa come into their own. With Thanksgiving and the festive season just around the corner, let us help you plan something meaningful that offers a true return on investment. Because in the end, the soul is all we take with us… And these are the moments we live for.

Please get in touch on welcome@roarafrica.com.