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The safari in South Africa from which our family returned earlier this week was easily the most spectacular and memorable trip we have ever taken. In the months prior, countless people shared that their family’s safari vacation was the “best trip they had ever taken,” so we admittedly went with high hopes and expectations. They were exceeded in every way possible. The safari experience was awesome, awe-inspiring, and also a profound reminder of what an infinitesimally small part we are of the world we inhabit.

One of the more astounding things you quickly discover on safari is how incredibly close the all-terrain, open-air vehicles are able to get to the animals. With each beautiful animal encountered during a drive – eating, preening, sleeping, stalking, even mating - it is impossible not to be overcome by both the sense of majesty as well as wonder at the stirring coexistence between the animals and all who are parked and silently observing them in their natural habitat. Although the close proximity might lead one to think the animals have become domesticated, the opposite is true: all of the animals are, in fact, completely wild. In reality, it is precisely because animals in the bush have had zero interaction with or interference by humans in their natural ecosystem that most remain nonplussed by the vehicles.

I found the peaceful coexistence between our two species that is evident while on safari, something most of us have never once encountered in our lifetimes (with the exception, perhaps, of those who scuba dive), to be quite stirring and spiritually uplifting in ways I had not known. Time spent on the nature reserve and at the lodge observing different animals make their way to the watering hole in the distance throughout the day casts a wonderfully disarming spell that we were sad to see end. However, this remarkable experience left me with an indelible, spiritual imprint that will breathe new kavanah (intention and meaning) into tefilah and a beautiful vision of world in which peaceful coexistence prevails, one to which, one day, I pray all will aspire to create.