While unpredictability sometimes feels like the keyword of the day, travel hasn’t lost its appeal-instead, our guests come to us wanting more than ever to connect and share, learn and enjoy.
The rise of intentional travel is here. But what does that mean?
For our team, it means taking moments to truly listen to our inner voice, remembering the moments in our life when we smile and laugh til our cheeks hurt, when we feel light and open. Unburdened from our responsibilities and daily expectations, so many of us find that the things that bring us the most joy are the simplest. It could be seeing a mighty elephant matriarch for the first time, with our own family seated around us. Or, watching the first rays of sunrise over a herd of galloping zebras. Perhaps, dare we suggest it, an evening in the bush with no WiFi, listening to the roar of a male lion in the distance.
For longtime Rothschild Safaris guest Doug Andonian, his pure joy is discovering Africa. After going on his first safari crafted by our team in 1998, he has returned every year since.
Doug Andonian in one of his recent trips to Africa“You can do one of two things with your life: you can live or you can exist,” Andonian wrote to us recently. “I chose to live my life my way. I love East Africa and can never get enough of it. Leora Rothschild has understood, right from the beginning, exactly what I was looking for.”
From a hair-raising encounter with imposing Cape buffalo in Tanzania to spending time with a pregnant lion, Andonian, like so many of our guests, is enthralled by the magic of safari. His recent book, From Where Lions Speak, details these and other adventures.
Cape Buffalo, Ngorongoro Crater, Arusha, Tanzania
Serengeti, Tanzania“I thought traveling to Africa once would be enough,” Andonian says. “But even if I lived ten lifetimes it wouldn’t be enough.”
The beauty of these moments is that they can happen anywhere on safari. Our expert team crafts priceless memories, from canoe trips along the Zambezi River to forest walks with the Hadzabe tribe, one of the most ancient hunter-gatherer communities in the world.
Whatever form it takes, the intention is what guides us, and you. To embark on a safari, we must first ask ourselves what makes us happiest-and don’t shy away from simple responses.
Take it from the seasoned Andonian. “My favorite thing to do is take my Amarula on ice after dinner, sit by the campfire, and look up at the stars,” he writes. “You’ve never seen a sky that clear.”
