Where the Wild Begins

We are living through a seismic shift. Throughout human history, luxury has come as external shows of wealth: gold, jewels, fashion, homes, art. From Mesopotamia to Manhattan, materialism mattered. But that’s changing. Over the past decade, the definition of fine living has undergone a seismic shift. For the first time in history, we travel not to arrive, but to become something deeper.

This new luxury is not to be found at society dinners but alone at sunrise, on the margins of the world. The result is an understanding of what it means to travel well – and a state where true happiness exists. What we are in need of is the place beyond the known. Travel that inspires, broadens the mind and reignites our childlike sense of wonder. Taking the path less travelled and living in the moment. And that means venturing beyond predictable choices.

For most of us, the daily routine is what prevents us from embracing adventure. Because we lead busy lives we choose not to linger and look at sunrises – we have to get ready for our working day. We cannot stop and soak in the moment when the air hits differently, or walk off in the direction of a beautiful sound, because everything we do in daily life is timed, quantified and purposeful. But travel exists beyond the daily grind. In words attributed to T.S. Eliot and Leonard Woolf, “The journey, not the arrival, matters.”

Yet the journey is often overlooked by a global travel industry that has been encouraged to package off and parcel up experiences into branded chunks. Every element of a trip is quantified, pre-defined and sold as seen, so that we know what we will find before we get there. We rarely hear about the value and power of the unknown. The place where the maps end, and the enormity of nature takes over. The wild.

But our idea of luxury is changing.

In his 2024 bestseller, An Immense World, examining the ways in which animals’ senses open up very different worlds to them which we cannot perceive, National Geographic’s Ed Yong talks about the need for us not just “to travel to other places; we need to see through other eyes.”

This has given rise to an idea borrowed from oceanographers’ classifications of coastal, reef and ocean waters: the Deep World. This is the world beyond our usual line of sight of experience: remote and pristine, living by its own principles and ecosystems. And for bold travellers with the desire to see the world differently, no continent has more to offer than Africa. Almost 20% of the ‘Motherland’ is wilderness – habitat untouched by humanity. That’s more than 1.6 million square miles. In terrestrial terms, and discounting Antarctica, this is as close to true space as Earth comes.

That doesn’t mean that the bold few who want to watch the sunrise over the Masai Mara in Kenya, or the sand dunes of Bazaruto Island on Mozambique’s archipelago, need to do it the hard way. Because for anyone looking for transformational travel, help is at hand.

This is a new breed of travel experience: resorts and accommodation that don’t just aspire to live lighter on the Earth but which function as perfect viewing windows and bridges to that Deep World. These resorts exist in the wild, often served by light aircraft and overland journeys through landscapes of inconceivable scale and beauty.

Elewana Loisaba Tented Camp perches at the very edge of a breathtaking natural precipice in Kenya’s Laikipia County, within the 57,000-acre Loisaba, one of Kenya’s largest conservation areas. The views over the plain are panoramic and unimpeded. Light disturbance is close to nil. It is hard to imagine a purer way of immersing oneself among the wildlife, sights and sounds of the African grasslands.

Further south, the majestic expanse of the Masai Mara is one of the world’s few genuine wildernesses. This is a land owned by megafauna – lion, rhinoceros, elephant, leopard, zebra, giraffe, hippopotamus, cheetah and buffalo – who live freely and in numbers, while humans are the guests. To see it for yourself, stay at Elewana Sand River Masai Mara. This luxurious tented camp features fixtures and aesthetics that mirror the exclusive permanent safari camps popular in the 1920s.

There are homes, too, in the treetops. Over the border in the heart of Tanzania’s national parks and just southwest of Mount Kilimanjaro is Elewana Tarangire Treetops. Crafted around a main lodge, the hotel’s 20 rooms are all elevated above the ground, offering views over the canopy of surrounding marula and baobab trees.

And for a true taste of the wild, with a splash of sea spray, visit one of Africa’s tropical private islands. Off the coast of Mozambique lies Ilha de Bazaruto (‘Island of Mists’), an all but undisturbed natural paradise. But for a private airstrip and the award-winning Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort, you could be in a world far removed in time. This is a place where whales and dolphins play in the water off the dizzying duned beaches. It is luxurious and life-affirming in equal measure.

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