This was my view yesterday morning.

Sunrise over the Kazinga channel in QENP in Uganda was amazing. I sat outside with a cup of coffee and watched the sunrise and then, as if on queue, lions roared close to camp.

I have written about travel and what it does for my headspace many times in the past and this time is no different. New destinations and new environments brings with it new perspective, inspiration and creativity.

For every trip I go on I create a note in my Evernote and the one for this trip is called Uganda 2022 Mind Dump. It’s exactly what it sounds like and it’s a place where I write down ideas, things to research, cool moments from conversations and a whole lot more.

I’ve been doing this for quite some time now and even though I sometimes don’t even go back to check it out it’s a great way to, in a similar way to journaling, create space in my head for new thoughts and creativity.

Linked to this, and I can highly recommend it, being off Instagram has been absolutely amazing. I have not missed it once and it has, without a doubt, made me feel lighter and more positive and a lot more productive.

Living in the moment and not needing to share it with the world immediately is something a lot of you guys are missing out on and if you’re trying to validate for yourself that you ‘have’ to be on Instagram and social media you’re bullshitting yourself and I’d recommend a good long think about why.

Last night I sat at this fire by myself for a while while my guests popped back to their tents.

It was peaceful and quiet.

I took a moment to just let the leash off my mind for a bit – something I’d also highly recommend you do once in a while – and I found confirmations validations, happiness and some free-floating creativity.

I found myself leaning into gratitude for the privilege of the moment as well as the knowledge that my time of hosting as many tours as I have been over the last few years, is slowly coming to an end and that I know where I will be growing into, both as a person and with the value I can bring to people I work with as well as what I can and want to create.

That paragraph obviously carries quite a lot of weight and I’ll be exploring it in a lot more details once I’m back in South Africa. I will most definitely still be hosting international tours like Iceland, Svalbard and such as well as selected PVT guided safaris – like the one I am currently hosting with a group of really awesome people – but I do know that my days of hosting week after week after week is something almost I’m ready to move away from.

But like I said, more on that down the line. 🙏🏼

For now though, time for quick shower and yes, deliberate cold exposure is still a thing, and then after some Lightroom and lunch we will head back to the three lions we left this morning to see if they will live up to their tree-climbing reputation.

Anyway, more on all that soon!

Stay safe and don’t forget to be awesome.