Silence is becoming an increasingly rare luxury in modern life. The world is filled with constant noise and distractions and the assault on our senses can be overwhelming. Most of us cannot remember the last time we heard nothing at all. Which is why we try to escape and look for holiday destinations – like the bush – that allow us to slow down, breathe and enjoy the natural ‘quiet’.
Wellness research underpins the importance of unwinding and switching off. However, with our busy, interactive, noisy urban lifestyles, this isn’t always possible.
On a safari there isn’t an absence of noise. The wild is surprisingly alive and active but it’s a different noise altogether. It takes time to adjust our city ears and identify the sounds worth paying attention to.
Once this shift happens, it changes your safari experience. You become an active listener.
You stop waiting for a sighting and start noticing the animal is already there, you just heard it first. The splash before a hippo surfaces. The rustle of the trees as an elephant comes into view. Bird calls and the loud roar of a lion camouflaged in the tall grass. These are the sounds and memories that will stay with you long after your journey has ended.
At Mantis, these experiences have always been at the heart of our philosophy. We believe some of the most extraordinary safari moments are not the ones you document and photograph but those where you stop to listen.
Scientists and psychologists recognise that being in natural environments can help reduce stress and mental fatigue. Research also explores the restorative effects of natural sounds – birdsong, running water, wind through the trees. These rhythms are timeless and help quieten our minds and slow our breathing. Nature therapy, wellness travel and the idea of acoustic tourism is becoming part of current travel conversations.
Nature has a unique soundtrack. Part of the appeal is that no two destinations are the same. Each has its own audio score. Whether it’s the dawn chorus announcing the arrival of a new day, the wheeze, honks, bellows, roars and cackles that carry across water. The hoots, scurries, croaks and chirps of nocturnal animals or the particular hush that settles over a place once the light starts to change.
As you get more immersed in nature and in tune with your senses, you hear and see even more!
The days of crowded itineraries, chasing the big five and cramming in sighting after sighting, are gone. Most of us are choosing something slower.
This is exactly what a safari offers: An itinerary dictated by nature. Time at a waterhole watching buck, hippo and crocodiles come and go. A tower of giraffe crossing the plain at their own pace. Meerkats peering over a molehill. None of it rushed, because none of it needs to be.
Our guides, conservation teams and neighbouring communities, who know these landscapes best, all play a role in translating these sounds … or their absence.
Sometimes the best wildlife encounters are not about spotting that rare animal or an adrenalin chase, it’s paying attention to the day unfolding naturally.
Whether it’s the stillness at Founders Lodge by Mantis, the vibrant waterways of the Chobe and Zambezi Rivers, the semi-arid quiet of the Kalahari Desert or the beauty of ancient forests or the roaring fire beneath a star-filled African sky, each Mantis destination asks something different of your attention. That’s deliberate. We want to you leave with a memory you can still hear.
There’s a saying: ‘If you want to capture someone’s attention, whisper’. The wild works on the same principle. Often the biggest impact comes from the quietest moments. The ones you hear before you see.
On your next trip with us, try this: Close your eyes and do nothing except listen. Count what you can identify by sound alone. You may be surprised how much was there all along, when you listen to nature’s whispers.
It’s about spending more time in nature, in one place and paying closer attention to it. Slow safari travel means noticing the sounds, light and behaviour that a rushed itinerary tends to miss.
You are replacing the distractions of everyday noise with open spaces, natural soundscapes and slower rhythms. The combination helps you relax, slow down, breathe easier and connect with nature.
Each offers its own version of this. At Founders Lodge by Mantis you have changing landscapes, the big five and water hides. The Zambezi Queen Collection is all about slow, water-based wildlife activity. Quiet days and vast night skies are found at Feline Fields in Botswana.
Yes, slowing down doesn’t mean less wildlife, it means paying closer attention to what is already there. Game drives, sightings and the big five moments remain part of the experience. The difference is what happens between them.
It’s a travel trend around destinations known for their natural soundscapes: Birdsong, rivers, oceans, wildlife, rather than only its scenery.
Research suggests they help lower stress, restore attention and improve overall wellbeing. Natural sounds, especially birdsong and running water, create a sense of calm and can? be restorative.
A wildlife symphony with each destination having its own soundtrack. Depending on where you are: Elephants rumbling in conversation with each other, lions roaring and grunting into the night, a rustle in the grass, fish eagles calling across open water or the gentle crackle of a campfire beneath a canopy of stars.
Many of the best wildlife encounters begin with sound before sight. Tuning in to these natural soundscapes deepens the experience beyond watching alone.
