About Karen
I Was 52 the First Time I Saw Africa.
I didn’t know it then of course, but my life was about to change completely. It wasn’t just the animals, although the animals were extraordinary, and not just because of the completely different landscape or unique culture either.
My life changed because I finally got quiet enough and far enough into nature to hear what had been trying to reach me for years.
That’s what happens in the Wild. The noise is stripped away and in the silence something in you awakens.
It was a giraffe. A beautiful, tall, initially-intimidating, giraffe. You can see the giraffe and hear the story on my podcast video page trailer – Watch video here She was beautiful, I will never forget how I felt in that moment.
That was the start, from there it’s been an array of different animals for me and every guest that braves the long flights and jet lag to experience something new and different.
How This All Started
I certainly didn’t grow up planning to lead wildlife expeditions. I thought I was going on safari one time, would come home and share the pictures, and move on to the next thing. But no.
Perhaps because I was a spiritual teacher and an animal communicator when I finally went, and have a deep conviction that animals and humans can easily be in relationship with each other and should be in conversation with each other, that when I finally got to Africa, everything clicked into place in a way I had never experienced before. The animals were present and alive in a way that demanded something more of me in return.
My first day, my first game drive, I saw a herd of zebras and I actually screamed – which is not like me at all. By the second day, I realized it was more magical than the first. This continued every day until by the end of the trip I knew I had to bring more people back to experience this.
I went back year after year, bringing friends and family, then their friends and eventually groups of up to eighteen. Every single time I watched people arrive carrying the weight of their ordinary lives and leave something behind they had been dragging for years. I had the privilege of watching jaws drop in awe and sparkles return to eyes. I watched a man come home and finally start writing the novel he had been putting off.
After years of leading these groups, I stopped calling it coincidence and started calling it what it is: transformation by design.
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
Albert Einstein
Who I Am
I am an ordained minister of Centers for Spiritual Living, so I have spent over twenty years studying the idea that all life is connected — that consciousness moves through everything, including the animals we are so drawn to watch and photograph without ever quite understanding why.
I am also a professional animal communicator with over a decade of practice, so I have learned how to get quiet enough, and present enough, to receive what animals are communicating. That may sound strange if you have never experienced it, and that’s ok. For some people it’s just easier to know that I am an “animal person”.
My animal communication work has a separate home at karenclevelandandtheanimals.com if you want to explore that world more deeply. But on these trips, it is woven into everything — available to everyone who is willing to try, required of no one.
These Are Not Just Tours I lead
Most travel companies design for what you’ll see. I design for what you’ll feel – and what you’ll be able to do with that feeling once you’re home.
Every trip is built around three phases.
- Before you leave, we do the inner work together so you arrive already open.
- On the ground, animal encounters are treated as an invitation – not just something to photograph, but something to experience. I teach you in real time how to be in relationship with wild animals, not just observe them. We debrief in the evening to discuss what we witnessed and to help connect it with what’s stirring inside.
- Then one month after you return, we all meetup on Zoom to talk about what’s actually shifted in your everyday life. You’ll hear stories that help you figure out why something feels different than before.
I have just two questions for you:
Are you will to give up control?
Are you willing to be open to the magic?
If you’re answer is Yes, the trips are waiting.
Come find out what the wild has to say to you.
Contact Karen or the team with any questions: Karen @ Soulful.travel