Several months ago we arranged a Wilderness safari in Botswana for travel writer Susan Farewell…

When you travel to Africa, you inevitably hear someone make reference to having safari eyes. What that basically means is seeing more. Two people can look out at the same savanna. One might see only grasslands rippling in the wind. The one with safari eyes might also see a jackal sitting in the grass, an eagle perched on a treetop, and the long necks of giraffes in the woodlands beyond.

Getting safari eyes is not some natural aptitude or an acquired skill. It’s all about slowing down and paying attention to everything around you, using your eyes, your ears, your sense of smell. In general, your instincts—something we all have but kind of lose as we get tangled up in our packed day-to-day schedules, our ever-present electronics and our long-term agendas.

Last month, my almost-13-year-old daughter and I spent the bulk of our 10-day trip through Botswana and Zambia, getting our safari eyes.

We had gone to Southern Africa with the cliché safari expectations: to see lions, elephants, leopards, zebra, giraffe and other animals in their natural habitat. With the exception of the rhino, we saw all of the high-profile (the new name for the original hunter’s title, the big five) animals. In fact, we saw them all very early on, very close up.

What I didn’t expect is that we’d see so much more… read more

More about our safaris in Botswana….