With modern life being lived at such a frenetic pace, an African safari offers the ideal opportunity to slow things down and live in the moment.
Some luxury lodges are starting to recognise that slow safaris answer a deep need within every traveller to pause and take an unhurried look around Africa’s wilderness. It’s the best way to appreciate the smaller details, and to use your senses to hear, smell and touch Africa.
The Tarangire and Manyara areas of northern Tanzania can claim to be the birthplace of slow safaris, and I always pack an extra novel or two when I go there, to catch up on my holiday reading while leisurely enjoying my surrounds.
And Bushmans Kloof in South Africa has perfected the art of the slowing down; a few days there always helps me to relax, recharge (myself, not my smartphone!) and enjoy the sensation of simply being in Africa. I also love stopping to smell the Cape flowers nearby – not roses exactly, but the fragrant banners of a unique floral kingdom.
Zambia also perfects the slow safari, quite literally when it comes to several days of walking in the wild at South Luangwa. For a shorter stint, try fly camping there, or opt for a leisurely afternoon of tiger fishing at the Lower Zambezi.
