Remember when

Wherever one looks, purveyors of travel promise their prospective travellers a great deal. We trade in ‘journeys of a lifetime’, ‘dream destinations’, ‘unforgettable experiences’, ‘epic adventures’, ‘enchanting escapes’, ‘memorable moments’ and so on. This is all well and to the good: depending on needs and wants, a ‘journey of a lifetime’ or a ‘dream destination’ is precisely what a traveller might expect of a beautifully designed safari.

However, the more the industry uses these phrases, the more likely it is that they empty out of meaning. Rendered rhetorical by overuse, they are sadly powerless to adequately describe the experience (in advance or in retrospect), which is why, while still guilty of letting slip the odd piece of rhetoric myself, I do my level best to steer clear of them. Much better, I’ve found, to let the experience speak for itself, especially through the words of those (the travelling guests) who have experienced them. The perfect example, received from Cathy Cary, whose family travelled with us to Tanzania: ‘You must know what an impact you and Africa had on my children, family and friends.’

I was reminded of all of this when I received a lovely note from Pamela Neilson, which speaks of an artefact-filled living room that pays homage to all her travels, and which ‘has become my go-to space to sit in our home’. At the risk of ruining your read, it ends: ‘I travel in my mind through your gift.’ I would rightly be accused of false modesty if I were to deny the pride I felt upon reading this, but that’s not the reason why I’m sharing it. Rather, it is how Pamela describes the preservation, meaning, and power of the memory of her travels. There is something indescribably beautiful about the act of sequestering one’s self in one’s memory room. It’s original, it’s personal, it’s poetic.

Indeed, for every piece of exhausted rhetoric, a cursory glance through the feedback provided by returning guests provides something different, alternate, and powerful. Here’s Irini Pari, upon returning from northern Tanzania, on the whys and wherefores for the making of the all-too-easily described ‘unforgettable experience’: ‘We wanted to celebrate a cumulative 150 years of life of my children and myself. We wanted it to be in Africa, where I was born.’ This is a brief from heaven, the detail, the poignancy, the level of expectation. On ‘epic adventure’, here’s Megan Kirley: ‘The favourite family memory that comes up over and over again is hiking in Ntakata Forest with Roland, trying to find the ranger station and finally arriving at midnight.’ I know exactly what it is to be in the company of that most epic of adventurers, Roland Purcell, and I know the beauty that is Ntakata Forest at night.

It’s here, in the remembering by those whose memories they are, that words and phrases describing what it is to safari are once again filled with meaning. Just as it should be.

A big thank you to Cathy Care, Pamela Neilson, Irini Pari, and Megan Kirley for sharing their thoughts. For fuller versions of the feedback, see Testimonials. For Megan’s tribute, see 25. To experience something similar, please get in touch with Will and the rest of the team.