A random meeting with a wild giraffe changed the direction of my life forever, and you will hear all about it in this first episode of Travel that Touches Your Soul.
In The Doorway Episode: A First Glimpse you’ll hear what makes this podcast and video channel extraordinary, it takes you far beyond sightseeing buses and tourist markets to find the places that touch your soul. You’ll be invited to come with me into the moment that sent me on the path of guiding transformational safaris and now, journeys around the world.
You will meet the top transformational travel experts and change makers from around the world that guide other people through meaningful journeys. In the future, there will be videos from the field and you’ll hear the sounds that we hear as we make these journeys, so tune into this episode and see what it’s all about, then join us when Season One officially drops in January 2026!
Find more at soulful.travel
Transcript
A random meeting with a giraffe changes my life forever.
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:I'll tell you more about that later.
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:Hello and welcome.
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:My name's Karen Cleveland.
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:Welcome to Travel That touches Your
Soul podcast and video channel.
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:I'm going to take you all around
the world and share with you some
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:of the places that people have
had deep, meaningful experiences.
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:And it could be with
animals like it was with me.
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:It might be with people or events
or architecture or landscapes.
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:Any place that has inspired
something within someone to do
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:something more with their life.
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:My hope is that you are inspired to take
that dream journey that maybe you've been
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:putting off or thought you couldn't do it.
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:I want to help inspire you to know that
you can do it, and that you're going to
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:meet a lot of people on this video podcast
that can help you make that adventure
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:real, whatever it is, wherever it is.
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:One of the reasons I do this podcast
is because when I share some of my
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:adventures with people, they say to me,
oh my gosh, I've always wanted to do
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:that, or I wish I could do that, and.
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:I just want to let people know
There's help you can do it.
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:So if it's something that's been
residing deep in your soul that you
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:really wanna do, let us help you do it.
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:You are going to meet so many
different travel leaders and change
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:makers from all over the globe.
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:Different countries, all the continents,
and they each have their own little
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:specialty, but it's always something
that means something deep to someone.
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:It's an adventure that people
really want to take and,
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:and they just didn't know it was possible.
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:They didn't know how to do it.
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:And I wanna help make it easy for you.
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:I want you to know what's available
out there, I hope to expose you to
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:so many different kinds of adventures
on this podcast and video channel.
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:I'm also going to.
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:Bring you video footage
straight from the field.
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:So I have my new camera, and when I'm
going on my trips, I will be taking
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:my camera so you can see what it's
really like there and if that's a
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:trip that you want to take or not.
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:You may have noticed some
sounds in the background.
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:I'm going to bring the sounds from
the location we're talking about
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:in so you can experience that.
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:And we have video of the
location we're talking about.
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:Some of the guides that I invite,
they're gonna be sharing the experience
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:straight from the field as well.
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:So sometimes it'll be in the studio,
sometimes it'll be out in the field, but
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:we're always going to have some kind of
video and we will describe that for you,
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:and the sound will describe it so you
can feel it and you know how that feels.
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:And if you want to go,
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:Now I want to share the experience that
brought me here today to what I'm doing
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:right now because it was that giraffe.
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:I talked about it the beginning,
but first I wanna give you a little
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:bit of disclaimer, the video.
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:The pictures I'm going to share
are not professional quality.
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:They were taken by a complete
amateur me about eight years ago,
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:and I didn't know these would be
shared with the world at the time.
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:I didn't have the appropriate camera or
anything like that, so please understand.
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:They might be a little bit blurry.
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:They might jiggle a little bit and.
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:The sound might not be perfect, but I
want to help you be in the experience
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:that I was in when my life changed for me.
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:This is the experience that ultimately
led to me, co-owning a safari company
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:and led to me bringing people on
safari to Kenya to connect with
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:the animals on a deeper level.
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:. So here's my original experience.
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:I was on safari with two people
from church, and I was at a
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:place called Lake Naivasha.
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:What you hear in the background
are the birds of Lake Naivasha.
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:It was the morning and we were
getting ready to go out for the
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:day, but I took a walk down to
the lake to see what there was.
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:As you can see.
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:I was captivated by the zebras and
the giraffes that were surrounding
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:me, and they were, they were all over.
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:I felt like I was in a, in the garden
of Eden or in a fairy land because the
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:greens were so beautiful and the stripes
of the zebra against the greens and
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:the foliage was just, , extraordinary.
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:I really was captivated by the zebra
who sat there and scratched his
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:belly on the stump, rubbing his body
back and forth against the stump
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:or the giraffes , on the other side
that were, entangling their necks.
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:. I don't know what exactly was going on.
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:Some people have said it's
like juveniles play fighting.
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:Some people say it's fighting.
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:Some people say it's, a romantic thing.
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:I don't know what they were
doing, but it was amazing to see
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:firsthand right in front of me.
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:I started to head back to my room to
get my stuff, and right on the path
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:in front of me was this giant giraffe
at probably 20 or 30 feet away.
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:And if you saw the pictures, you can see
that a zebra could actually walk under
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:a giraffe without touching their belly.
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:That's how big giraffes are,
and it was right in front of me.
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:And for just a moment.
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:I was scared.
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:I mean, it's a wild animal and it
could have kicked me, it could have
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:trampled me, it could have bit me.
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:It could have done all kinds of things,
but that fear quickly dissipated.
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:As soon as we locked eyes, and
suddenly I just felt connected.
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:I felt a peace and a presence, and we
were standing there just eye to eye,
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:heart to heart, me and this wild animal.
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:And I knew I was connected
with God at that time.
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:We stood there for a few minutes before
it moved, and I made my way back to the
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:room to carry on, but the entire rest
of the trip, I knew that if I could have
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:that experience, anyone should , And I
wanted to be able to bring people back
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:to do that, to have that experience.
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:So that's what brings me here
today because I want you to
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:have that deep connection with
something that stirs your soul.
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:And I don't know what it is for you.
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:It's the animals for me, but
it's also the landscapes.
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:It's also art.
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:It's also people.
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:That's why I will have all these
guests sharing their love, the
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:places they connect with, that
you might connect with too.
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:So thank you for being here.
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:You will find us online at soulful.travel.
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:There you will find upcoming trips.
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:You can contact us.
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:Let us know your experiences.
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:Be sure like, and share.
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:Go to the video channel if you're on
audio right now, and I look forward
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:to sharing the world with you.
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:Thank you.