News Flash: Guest Emma Major Schroeder just received the Conde Nast Top Travel Special 2021 award. Enjoy her expert advice and keep dreaming up your South African travel!
South Africa Podcast Format:
M: Emma, welcome to the podcast will you take a minute to introduce yourself?
E: Hi everyone! I’m Emma Major and I own Major Traveler. We’re affiliated with Epperly Travel and Virtuoso. I have a team of 4 agents who are all stars and all passionate about different things. As an agency, we plan a lot of honeymoons as well as big bucket list trips for our clients.
M: Where are we going today?
E: South Africa! One of my favorite places in the world.
M: Please kick us off with your best South African travel story!
E: I went on my first South African safari a few years ago and had no idea what to expect. I heard many reports that a visit to Africa is life changing and will impact you in unimaginable ways. I didn’t fully understand this until we truly experienced South Africa.
So we get to our first safari camp, called Tswalu Kalahari. It’s absolutely stunning, completely remote and right in the middle of the desert. Again, we have no idea what to expect on safari – I think our expectations were set somewhere around a more hands on zoo experience.
We get in our safari vehicle and our guide, Nelson, is phenomenal. He’s asking what’s on our bucket list and immediately everyone says lions. So he lets us know that trackers saw lions earlier today and we’re going to go find them. It takes us about 20 minutes on desert roads to find a full lion pride. We’re immediately immersed into this incredible situation of lions catching their dinner.
Nelson points out that the lion laying across the road is casually hidden by the brush but watching the impalas in the distance. Another lion is creeping slowly towards the impalas about 100 feet away. On the other side of the impalas lies another lion. These three lions have a pack of impalas absolutely surrounded. I don’t know that I’ve ever been so quiet and expectant in my entire life.
All of a sudden, as if the buzzer sounded, the three lions pounce. The impalas run and the lions start sprinting towards this pack. At the same time, Nelson hits the gas and we start flying across the desert. We’re trying to keep up with the lions as they make this kill. Mind you, this is our first 10 maybe 20 minutes into our first safari. It was epic. The lions ended up missing their dinner, but as we came over a hill, we got to witness about 10 lions just hanging out at sunset. It’s one of those top 10 life experiences for sure.
M: What impact did traveling to South Africa have on your life?
E: Everyone always says that Africa will change you. I knew this going into the trip, but I didn’t understand it. Africa truly does impact you. I believe it gave me new perspective on travel, people, and culture. It’s the purest, mostly untouched form of travel. It’s a rare experience these days.
We got to witness a leopard scale a tree with his kill. Month old lion cubs with their mothers. A massive herd of elephants young and old. Over 50 giraffes in an open field. We were surprised by a bush dinner in the exact spot that my dad had been talking about watching the sunset all week.
A guide noticed my interest in photography and set me up with a pro to edit my photos. Everything in Africa is done with such intention. The care that everyone has for the land, the wildlife, the experience. And beyond that, the care that everyone has for preserving the culture is incredible.
I think the impact comes from being able to jump right into that intentionality and allow it to change your perspective.
M: When you think about going back...
