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My African Dream: What Zambia, Botswana, and Cape Town Taught Me About Mental Health

Written by

Laurie Boussom

Published on

December 14, 2025

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“The World is FULL of Restless Hearts” Johnny Clegg

 
As a therapist, I spend a lot of time talking with people about slowing down, regulating their nervous systems, and learning how to actually be present in their lives.
 

Then I went to Africa—and realized how hard that is to truly practice.

My trip through Zambia and Botswana on safari, standing at Victoria Falls, and spending a week in Cape Town didn’t feel like an escape from work or responsibility. It felt like an immersion into what mental health looks like when the environment itself supports calm, awareness, and perspective. This wasn’t a vacation, 
It was a reset of mind, body and soul.

 

Safari in Zambia and Botswana: Nervous System Regulation in the Wild

We spent twelve days on safari in Zambia and Botswana, and within the first few days, something obvious happened: my body slowed down before my mind did. Safari life strips away constant stimulation. There’s no rushing, no scrolling, no illusion that productivity equals worth. You wake at 5:15, sit quietly, and wait. You learn to tolerate stillness, not as a concept, but as a physical experience. From a mental health lens, this is emotion regulation 101. Your nervous system shifts out of chronic fight-or-flight and into a steadier, more grounded state. You listen more. You notice subtle changes. You yoga breathe without trying. Watching elephants move together, lions rest without apology after gorging themselves on a fresh kill and entire ecosystems function without urgency was a powerful reminder I often share with clients:
 calm is not the absence of action, it’s the absence of unnecessary threat. That lesson landed in my body in a way no training ever did or could.

Victoria Falls:  Standing at Victoria Falls is overwhelming in a way that feels deeply therapeutic
 

It’s loud. It’s massive. It’s impossible to intellectualize. And that’s exactly why it matters for mental health.  Awe has been shown to reduce rumination, soften anxiety, and interrupt the endless internal brain  loops many of us get stuck in. At Victoria Falls, awe isn’t optional, you’re soaked in it.  As I stood there, dwarfed by the power of the Zambezi dropping away into the gorge, my problems didn’t disappear, but they lost their inflated importance.  As a therapist, I often help people work toward this realization gently:
 You are not the center of every storm your mind creates.  Victoria Falls teaches that lesson instantly and without asking permission.

Cape Town: Emotional Complexity Without Avoidance

Cape Town was a different kind of teacher.
Yes, it’s stunning,  Table Mountain, two oceans, dramatic light, PENGUINS, unforgettable sunsets. But it’s also a city shaped by deep historical trauma. The legacy of apartheid is not hidden or sanitized. From a therapy perspective, Cape Town models something I work hard to help clients learn: how to hold multiple truths at the same time.  Beauty AND pain,  joy AND grief,  connection AND responsibility.  Mental health isn’t about being positive all the time. It’s about increasing our capacity to stay present with complexity instead of avoiding it. Cape Town doesn’t let you bypass discomfort,  and that honesty felt real AND grounding.

What This Trip Reinforced About Mental Health:

This journey didn’t provide clarity or life answers. What it provided was space, which is often the missing ingredient in mental health. Space for my nervous system to settle.
 Space to notice how much noise I normally tolerate.
 Space to remember that constant urgency is learned, not required, Space to tell perfection to Fuck Off.   As a therapist, I talk a lot about emotion regulation, presence, and self-compassion. Africa reminded me that these aren’t things we force,  they’re things that emerge when conditions allow. and we slow down and shut up enough to notice.