ROAR AFRICA

The sun drops low and everything slows. Colors bloom across the horizon, the sounds fade and time itself seems to stretch. Scientists studying awe have found that moments like this, when beauty holds our attention, can calm the nervous system, expand our sense of time and open the heart to connection. Recent research featured in The Guardian shows that awe, whether experienced in nature or through art, can reduce inflammation and improve emotional well-being. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, led by Professor Dacher Keltner, describe awe as the emotion we feel when we encounter something vast that transcends our current understanding of the world. Out here, it is impossible not to feel it. The African sunset has a way of quieting the mind and awakening something deeper. They say the sun burns brighter in Africa, and you only understand why once you have seen it. At ROAR AFRICA, we created A Journey to Awe with Professor Keltner to explore this truth. That awe is not just seen, it is felt. It lives in wild landscapes, in the silence before dawn, in stories shared around the fire. In a world that moves quickly, awe asks us to slow down. To look up. To feel. To remember what matters. When was the last time you let a sunset stop you? Sources: The Guardian: “How to fight chronic inflammation for free”  https://lnkd.in/g9txXJsu University of California: “Dacher Keltner: Awe inspired, and you should be too” https://lnkd.in/gMrpsQry

There is a rare kind of travel that feels effortless. Africa stretches wide beneath you, golden light catching the curve of rivers and tall grass. From the air, distance dissolves and every horizon feels within reach. One private jet, every detail in rhythm and a sense of calm that follows wherever you land. When movement feels this natural, presence comes easily. You begin to feel the pace of the wild, the stillness between destinations, the quiet wonder that travel is meant to awaken. ROAR AFRICA’s Custom Private Jet Safaris are created for those who value ease as much as exploration and who understand that true luxury is found in how a journey feels. Can you remember a moment when travel made you feel completely at peace?

True luxury today isn’t where you go, it’s how you travel. Imagine exploring Africa without schedules to follow or lines to wait in. Just one private jet, your loved ones beside you and every detail handled with care. When travel flows effortlessly, something shifts, you have more time for the moments that matter. Laughter lingers longer, conversations run deeper and presence returns. That’s the idea behind ROAR AFRICA’s Custom Private Jet Safaris. They are created for those who value privacy, comfort and ease as much as adventure. Because when everything else fades away, what remains is time and how you choose to spend it. Discover what travel feels like when it’s not about movement, but meaning.

On a recent ROAR AFRICA safari, guest Vickie Neighbor joined a team of veterinarians and rangers at Jamala Madikwe for a rhino notching ceremony, a vital conservation process that allows experts to identify, monitor, and protect individual animals from poaching. It is not a spectacle, it is service. It is the kind of experience that leaves you humbled, aware, and deeply connected to the purpose behind conservation. At ROAR AFRICA, we believe that the truest luxury is access, not just to beautiful places but to moments that mean something. There is something extraordinary about the power of participation. What travel experience left you feeling connected to a greater purpose?

We’re grateful to be featured in Food, Drink, Life among the women transforming tourism across Africa. At ROAR AFRICA, we’ve always believed that luxury travel can, and must, create lasting change. From supporting conservation and education programs to mentoring women in the travel industry, our mission has never been only about extraordinary journeys, but about the lives they touch along the way. As Food Drink Life highlights, a quiet movement is reshaping the continent. Women are leading with strength, grace and vision, redefining what sustainable tourism can be. We are deeply proud to be part of that story. Read the full article. 

Jane Goodall once wrote in her book, Reason for Hope, that in a moment of deep connection with nature, she “had known timelessness and quiet ecstasy.” It was an experience beyond words, where the self seemed to merge with the life around her. Modern science now echoes what she described, showing that such moments of awe can quiet the brain’s chatter and open us to presence, revealing how deeply we belong to the natural world. At ROAR AFRICA, The Journey to Awe was created to offer space for this same quiet revelation. A chance to step beyond the noise and rediscover a sense of belonging to the living world. When was the last time you felt that kind of awe? (Inspired by Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey)

On World Mental Health Day, we’re reminded how deeply nature heals. Awe quiets the mind, slows the breath and reconnects us to what matters most. It’s more than wonder, it’s medicine for the soul. That belief is at the heart of A Journey to Awe, a rare kind of safari created with Professor Dacher Keltner of UC Berkeley, whose pioneering research on the science of awe reveals how profoundly it shapes our well-being. Set at the beautiful Segera Retreat in Kenya, this experience explores what happens when science meets the wild. Over five days, guests are invited to rediscover stillness, connection and the quiet clarity that only nature can offer. Because when we allow space for awe, we allow space for healing. Comment the last time you truly felt awe.

We live in an awe deficit. Days filled with pings, screens, and noise leave little room for wonder. Yet when we step into the wilderness, time rearranges itself. Silence expands until you hear your own breath. The stars remind you to look up again. And the vastness of it all dissolves the self, leaving only presence. This is what UC Berkeley psychologist Professor Dacher Keltner calls wild awe, moments when we glimpse our place in something infinitely larger. His research shows awe is not just a fleeting emotion, but a biological necessity: calming the nervous system, reducing inflammation, strengthening connection. Wild awe is the heartbeat of our Journey to Awe retreat in Kenya, where science and soul meet in the rhythms of the wild. Amid rewilded landscapes and extraordinary wildlife, we’ll explore awe as both practice and presence. Come experience what it means to be small, so you can feel infinitely alive. https://lnkd.in/gnziCYX2 

Leadership in travel is often measured in miles. But at ROAR AFRICA, it is measured in impact. Every year, our Women’s Empowerment Retreat brings together voices shaping the future of conservation, sustainability and storytelling. Around a shared fire, conversations unfold that ripple far beyond the safari. They shape how communities are supported, how wildlife is protected and how the next generation of women leaders step into their power. The women we choose to amplify define the future we are building. Their courage, clarity and vision remind us that real change begins with presence and with choosing to lift each other up. Who is one woman who has changed the way you see the world? Read the full reflection.

Saturday was World Tourism Day and we took a moment to reflect on the power of travel to transform, not only the traveler, but the places and people we encounter along the way. At ROAR AFRICA, we believe that tourism, when approached with reverence, has the ability to protect cultures, conserve wilderness and sustain communities. Luxury, for us, is not excess, it is the privilege of access to experiences that are rare, restorative and deeply meaningful. It is traveling with intention, ensuring that every journey leaves a place better than we found it. Africa teaches that true wealth lies in connection to land, to wildlife and to one another. When travel is guided by this principle, it becomes more than movement across a map. It becomes transformation. This World Tourism Day, we recommit to shaping journeys that honor the wild, support local communities and remind us that the greatest gift of travel is not what we take away but what we give back.