Open Heart Safari

We are still looking for a few kindred spirits to share a truly special journey with us this July 17-31.  (Optional Botswana extension: July 31-Aug. 2.)

THIS IS NO ORDINARY SAFARI. We experience remote natural areas. We spend time in rural and urban communities. We meet with community groups and conservation activists. We learn about how national parks affect local people and how community folk are getting involved in wildlife conservation. We do yoga and meditation, just enough to take care of our bodies and be present for the amazing landscape, animals and people. We deepen our experience through regular group sharing circles. And we have fun! 

We choose Zambia for our safari, because it offers amazing wildlife without the crowds, as well as welcoming people, superior wildlife guides, and walking safaris. (Not to mention spectacular Victoria Falls.)

One of our travelers from last year was asked her impressions by a woman considering joining our next trip.  Her response was so enthusiastic that I felt compelled to share it more widely:

I have so many good things to say about the Open Heart Safari with Tom – I’m not quite sure where to start!

Zambia is referred to as the “Real Africa” and I can see why. It’s a lovely country, and very safe. I really liked the chance to meet with local people. The itinerary was a great mix of spending time with wildlife in beautiful national parks, and then spending time with local people in various settings. We got to stay overnight in a local village which was really incredible. A local guide took us around the village & we got to play with kids & see their school & meet a traditional medicine woman/healer, and eat a typical meal & sleep in a sweet little hut. Speaking of eating & sleeping – aside from one or 2 especially “authentic” meals (eating with your hands!), the rest of our meals were at the lodges where we stayed, and the food was incredible. I’m a vegetarian & my dad’s a meat eater & we both were really happy with all the food choices. I think I even gained a few pounds (which seems hard to believe in Africa!). The food & the lodging were both over & above what I expected. The place we stayed the longest was called Flat Dog’s & it was wonderful. Big comfortable beds with nice linens, hot showers, laundry, very clean & safe, really customer-service oriented staff, a swimming pool, etc. We also stayed at a lodge that was WAY out in the boonies & was such a unique experience. My dad & I had our own little house/bungalow (which they call “chalets” there), with a bathroom that was mostly open-air. Clean & nicely decorated, but really felt like we were out in the wilderness. One morning we woke up & there was elephant dung near our front porch At that place we had 3-course meals, which was quite a surprise given how remote it was.

One of the biggest highlights of the trip was the relationships we developed with Tom & Laura & the other participant, David. From the first evening when we sat down to meet & chat, Tom really opened up & shared a lot & it opened the way for the rest of us to be really honest & upfront & really share a lot. And from there, the daily contemplative practices & sharing & yoga & drawing all really helped connect us. It’s such a crazy experience to see a wild leopard just a few feet from your jeep – it was so magnificent & moving, I almost cried. And spending a day in a slum in the capitol & seeing the way they lived & really feeling like we made a contribution & connecting with local people there – that was also very moving. It’s hard to know what to do with feelings like that – it’s so much more intense than my daily life here. So having a close group that I could process that stuff with & talk it over & share how we each experienced things & how we were feeling made a HUGE difference in my time there. I felt like I had a good amount of one on one time with my dad, and also appreciated the group dynamic. We are all still in contact & have even visited each other from across the country since the trip. 

Oh & Victoria Falls was great! My dad was especially excited about that part & he wasn’t disappointed. It was quite a sight! And we got to spend a whole day there & took a really cool trip to a little island right at the edge of the falls where we got to go right up close, and had a very high-end breakfast overlooking the falls. Very nice.

Here’s what Laura wrote after our August 2012 trip:

The Open Heart Safari was perfectly designed for someone like me – a person who wants to slow down and experience the beauty and subtleties and challenges of Africa. With its focus on tuning in to the environment using the senses, I found myself looking with an artist’s eye at the savannah, the plains and the bends in the riverbed. 

If only I could paint what I saw! 

The Open Heart Safari is true to its name. In its first tour, it attracted a group ready to be touched by the remarkable Zambian landscape and its welcoming people. We talked about how we were open – and closed –  and took note of what touched us and what we pulled away from. We used different contemplative practices, movement, and expressive arts to connect to the environment, explore our experiences, and to keep our minds, bodies and spirits healthy.  This was my third trip to Zambia, and I had found previous trips hard on my body and my spirit. The OHS design and the camaraderie served to make this my best trip to-date. I loved the invitation to travel with an open heart and the opportunity to combine safari adventures with community visits and time with activists, youth and nonprofit leaders. I can’t wait  until the next trip!

Here are some items from my palette:

 - watching the day unfold slowly, the sunrise illuminating the bend in the river, the subtle differences in golden grass, scrub, and antelope; turning the bend to see elephant emerging from the bush, looking out at the river as hippos made a retreat to warm water

 - beginning each day with meditation, or poetry, or yoga alongside others who are interested in the quiet and beauty inside and out; opening our eyes to find elephants have arrived, baboons threatening to steal our shoes

- learning how local people feel aboutlarge conservancies – typically owned by outsiders – designed to protect the wildlife that they are accustomed to hunting and eating

- tracking lions by foot, listening to guides’ imitating the sounds of lions, leopard, antelope and hippo, and learning to distinguish the sounds for myself especially at night. I love the hyena’s high pitched call and was surprised by the rumbling sound of the lion- visiting with villagers, dancing with the women’s’ group by day and hanging out at teenagers’ outdoor nightclub by night

-  discussing what it’s like to witness an abundance of wildlife in its natural habitat, to be a person of privilege in a land where nearly all are poor, to walk through urban slums where cholera is a recent memory, to be living in a country on its fifth president with a constitution still in flux nine months into term

Please join us to view spectacular slides of African wildlife and other scenes from Zambia, and hear more about the trip this August.  And please pass along this invite to friends who might be interested.

We will be gathering at a home in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco (address provided upon rsvp), on Sunday, May 6, from 5-6:30 pm.

Please let us know if you plan to come.

This will be our only SF showing!  Don’t miss it.

As always, if Laura has anything to say about it, refreshments/snacks will be served.

Looking forward to sharing our adventures with you.