This week’s guest post is from the President of The Earth Organization, Barbara Wiseman – if you’re considering taking a vacation where you can go to Africa and really get away from it all but you can’t possibly imagine leaving work fully behind, check out this great experience of the perfect work week!
Marissa has worked with me for 3 years as my personal assistant primarily out of Los Angeles office. We were in South Africa on other business when we were offered a luxury cabin for several days at Thula Thula, the exclusive private game preserve created by world-renowned conservationist Lawrence Anthony and his wife Francoise, which offers a wonderful wild safari vacation. We had an intense deadline to get several important articles written and knew that, now that we had to go to Africa, it would take 5 days to finish our work, so we grabbed the chance to work uninterrupted in this paradise.
Our eco-safari cabin was right on a waterway that meandered by our spacious deck. Covered for shade, the comfy furniture, wi-fi, and spectacular views from every angle gave us a perfect environment for work and pleasure. That deck became our office, dining room, and lounge for the next five days and we hardly left it even for a wild safari; eating all our meals there, generally glued to our laptops, and from time to time jumping up to catch the best possible view of strolling giraffes or cavorting monkeys—that’s why most people go to Africa, right? And at night, the Milky Way was so thickly laden with stars they could have called it the Creamery.
To be honest, there were a few eco-safari interruptions…like the morning ritual a family of hippos had of slowly making their way downstream to a pool just beyond our place where they would hang out for a few hours before making their way back for our wild safari. You could hear them coming, blowing bubbles, and puffing the water out loudly each time they surfaced. With two youngsters in tow that looked to be about 4 months old, we were charmed and hit the pause button on our work so we could go to Africa, reveling in the show whenever we saw them.
Then there was the afternoon snooze that two of the pool’s crocs pretended to take, helping to complete our eco-safari whilst sunning themselves on the opposite shore and playing Mexican Standoff with a long-legged crane. While I had always thought of crocodiles as monstrous, the kind you would avoid on a wild safari, there was something so perfect about them being there that I found myself utterly fascinated, and was surprised to gain a deep admiration of their awesome beauty.
This was one week at work I will never forget. Ever.
Join us in South Africa for your own magnificent and unique experience in June or September!
