“Once in a lifetime.”
It’s one of the most commonly used phrases in travel - especially when it comes to safari. And while I understand the intention behind it, it’s not how we think about travel at Explorer.
Not because the moments aren’t extraordinary. They are.
But because the phrase itself puts pressure where it doesn’t belong.
The Problem with Chasing Moments
When travel is framed around a single, peak experience, everything else can start to feel secondary. You’re chasing the sighting, the photo, the story, something your friends posted on their Instagram so you feel you should see the same - and sometimes you miss what’s actually unfolding right in front of you.
Safaris don’t work like a checklist and it’s one of the reasons we don’t provide them in our cars or in our camps. Wildlife doesn’t perform on cue. And the most meaningful encounters rarely announce themselves as “the big one.”
Some of the moments that stay with me most aren’t dramatic at all. They’re quiet. Unplanned. Easy to overlook if you’re rushing on to the next thing. I always remind people, the more time you put in, the more you get out of the wild.
Familiarity Is Underrated
I grew up returning to the same places again and again. The magic wasn’t in ticking them off - it was in noticing how they changed, and how I did too.
A lioness you see once is impressive.
A lioness you see over years - ageing, shifting territory, raising cubs - becomes part of a longer story. And ultimately influences your life and how you see the world.
The Great Migration. Hundreds of thousands wildebeest, zebra and gazelle moving across the plains, or through valleys and over hills. How on Earth could this site ever, ever be a “once in a lifetime” experience. It is phenomenal every single time.
That kind of familiarity deepens the experience. It turns travel into something layered rather than fleeting. And it is a privilege.
Travel Isn’t a Performance
The idea of “once in a lifetime” can quietly turn travel into a performance -for ourselves, for social media, for future dinner-party conversations.
But the wild doesn’t owe us a climax. And some of the most powerful travel experiences happen when we stop trying to manufacture them.
When we allow space for repetition.
For returning.
For moments that don’t look dramatic but feel grounding.
Why We Value Return Journeys
At Explorer, many of our guests come back to the same regions - sometimes the same camps with the same guides - again and again. And every time, the experience is different. Ask them, they’ll tell you.
Different light.
Different animal behaviour.
Different conversations.
Different people.
Nothing is repeated exactly - and that’s the point.
Travel becomes less about capturing something rare and more about building a relationship with a place. Or sitting to understand a feeling that’s within you or an animal’s behaviour you’re watching.
A Different Kind of Magic
Of course, there are moments that take your breath away. And they often happen when you least expect them - not because you planned them, but because you gave them space.
We don’t chase “once in a lifetime”moments.
We make space for moments that happen once because they’re unforced.
And undoubtably, those are the ones that leave their lasting imprint.
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